SUPA Meeting and Distinguished Visitor Programme

SUPA provides funding for the support of workshops, meetings and conferences and for the support of the expenses of distinguished visitors. The primary aim of these schemes is to advance and further the international reputation of SUPA research. The potential benefit of the meetings or visits to SUPA graduate students and researchers is a major criterion for judging applications.

The annual budget for these schemes is £145K per financial year reducing to £96K in financial year 09/10 (the last year of SUPA I). The Executive Committee allocated an extra £60K of existing SUPA Central under spend to strengthen the distinguished visitor programme at their November 2006 meeting.

The grants are administered by the Graduate School Management Committee (GSMC) which includes a representative from each SUPA institute and each SUPA theme. You are strongly advised to discuss your application with your institute and theme SUPA graduate school representatives and your theme leader. List of GSMC members, Theme Leaders and other SUPA contacts

The committee aims to make a quick decision on all proposals, normally at the next GSMC meeting. Application forms are available on the SUPA website and should be returned to SUPA Central by email not later than three working days before the GSMC meeting. Applications received later or incomplete applications will not be considered. Meetings are held every 4-6 weeks. The date of the next GSMC meeting can be found on the My.SUPA calendar.

Guidelines for distinguished visitor funding

The Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA) Graduate School has instigated a Distinguished Visitor Programme, to enhance the training of physics graduate students within SUPA and to enhance SUPA research. The scheme will fund visits to Scotland by renowned scientists from elsewhere in the world.

Distinguished visitors should be highly regarded and influential internationally.

The scheme seeks to both bring new ideas and concepts to SUPA research and to promote SUPA physics in the international environment.
The calibre of the proposed distinguished visitor will be paramount in making funding decisions. However, this does not necessarily mean highly experienced researchers: applications for visits from young researchers (e.g. holders of leading international fellowships) with the potential to make a strong impact are also encouraged.
The case made in support should be one to three A4 pages in length. Please tell us about the prospective speaker’s experience by including a short biography (2 A4 pages max) listing no more than five recent prestigious publications.
The committee is particularly interested in funding collaborations that could lead to future high impact research programmes.
Funds will not normally be granted for visits that could reasonably be expected to be covered by departmental seminar budgets.
Strong commitment from host department(s) is required, demonstrated both by financial and in kind support (eg admin support).
The length of a proposed visit should be at least one week and no longer than three months.
The maximum amount of funding available per application is £3000.
The presence of the visitor at multiple SUPA institutes is expected.
The provision by the visitor of seminars, workshops or lectures for graduate students would normally be expected and should be described in the application. These lectures should be co-ordinated with, and complementary to, the SUPA Graduate School lecture programme for the relevant theme.

Applications will be considered by the SUPA Graduate School Management Committee (GSMC). A list of the dates for these meetings is available on the SUPA website www.supa.ac.uk. The committee expects to review applications at least 6 months prior to the visit and the deadline for receipt of applications by admin [at] supa [dot] ac [dot] uk is one week before the GSMC meeting.

Any applications that do not fulfil all the above requirements will not be considered.
A one page summary of the outcome of the visit should be submitted within one month of the end of the visit.

List of recently funded Distinguished Visitors (requires a My.SUPA login)

Guidelines for the SUPA Events* Support Programme

The Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA) Graduate School has instigated an Events Support Programme, to enhance the training of physics graduate students within SUPA and to enhance the dissemination of research to and from SUPA. The scheme will fund appropriate Postgraduate Schools, Workshops, and Technical Meetings held in Scotland and organised by members of SUPA.

Applications should explicitly state the potential benefits of the event to: 1) SUPA research; and 2) graduate students and researchers in SUPA, specifying the expected attendance of SUPA graduate students, PDRAs and academic staff.
The case made in support should be one to three A4 pages in length. Please provide details of the event include a programme and a list of confirmed speakers.
Funding will not normally be granted for costs that should be covered by the travel funding associated with PhD studentships, e.g. for the attendance of students at external conferences or workshops.
It is expected that events will have attendees from more than one SUPA institution.
Funds will not normally be granted for events that could reasonably be expected to be covered by departmental seminar budgets.
Strong commitment from department(s) is required, demonstrated both by financial and in kind support (eg admin support).
The maximum amount of funding available per application is £3000. However, funding will typically be provided for one large scale (>10K) graduate school summer school per year. This would normally be expected to be organised under the auspices of SUSSP.
It is expected that events will be held in Scotland.
Funded events are expected to raise the profile of SUPA, and SUPA exposure should include but not be limited to, the addition of a SUPA logo to all advertising publicity, slides, posters, etc.
Applications will be considered by the SUPA Graduate School Management Committee (GSMC). A list of the dates for these meetings is available on the SUPA website www.supa.ac.uk. The committee expects to review applications at least 6 months prior to the event and the deadline for receipt of applications by admin [at] supa [dot] ac [dot] uk is one week before the GSMC meeting.
Any applications that do not fulfil all the above requirements will not be considered.

A one page summary of the event should be submitted within one month of the event, confirming the total number of SUPA attendees; broken down into the categories of graduate students, PDRAs and academic staff.

* workshops, meetings, conference and summer school funding

Full list of recently funded meetings applications (requires a My.SUPA login)

SUPA Advanced Training Workshops

Although courses offered to students and staff at a distance via video links across Scotland are cost-effective, it is vital to bring graduate students, contract researchers, research fellows and academic staff together for short periods in order to extend their knowledge and skills by direct interaction and discussion. We therefore provide concentrated workshops offering intensive training sessions near the start of teaching modules which will allow students and staff to get to know each other and thus provide a strong core to inter-university interactions. These sessions also offer contact with distinguished international visitors invited to Scotland hence providing an efficient method for advice and knowledge gain from the top research laboratories around the world. The material discussed is broadly based in order to provide a solid overall grounding and understanding of the subjects and sessions may include a number of overview lectures on theme areas. Five advanced training workshops per year are planned to cover the identified strengths in Scottish physics research. To apply for funding for SUPA Advanced Training Workshops, please use the meetings form.

International Summer Schools

SUPA works in cooperation with the SUSSP (Scottish Universities Summer Schools in Physics) to support international summer schools withing the SUPA Themes. The Schools follow the successful format of two-week residential schools with 12 to 15 lecturers invited from the best laboratories around the world. To apply for funding for SUPA International Summer Schools, please use the meetings form.