INTRODUCTION

The goal of the CHAPTER SUPPORT program of the IEEE Biometrics Council is to provide funding for different activities of the local chapters and support the travel of selected student members to the biometric schools and events the Council is supporting every year. Within the program, the following items can be supported (on a case by case basis) if approved by the selection committee:

  • Travel expenses to the events supported by the council (e.g., summer/winter schools, flagship conferences (IJCB, FG), etc.,
  • Organization of local events (seminars, workshops, hackathons, …)
  • Other chapter initiatives judged important by the Council.

The CHAPTER SUPPORT program offers concrete and tangible support for chapters that the Chapter’s volunteers can use, provides additional incentives to establish new chapters, and helps grow the biometrics community.

 

IMPLEMENTATION

A fixed-sum fund is made available within this program for the chapters each year. The funds are distributed on a request-based basis, with upper limits on the amount that can be requested for a specific budget item by a given chapter each year. The funding request is evaluated by the CHAPTER SUPPORT program committee, consisting of: 

  • VP Education,
  • VP Technical Activities and
  • VP Finances.

Requests will be accommodated until the depletion of the funds for a given year.

 

SUBMITTING A REQUEST

An official Chapter volunteer/member can submit a request for funding through the Chapter Support program. A request needs to include:

  • Name, Surname, Affiliation, and role within the local chapter (proof of membership is required if the request comes from a Chapter member. This can be a support letter from the Chapter Chair.)
  • Specification of requested amount (typical requests would not exceed 1k USD, with the standard being 500 USD)
  • Description of the planned activity and target audience
  • Description of how the support will be used
  • Contact information
  • Other relevant supporting information

Requests should be sent to VP Technical Activities: vitomir.struc@fe.uni-lj.si

 

EVALUATION OF ACTIVITY

The planned event needs to be entered into IEEE’s vTools Events platform if this applies to the funding request.

Proof of the activity needs to be sent to the VP Technical Activity after its implementation together with a vTools Events report.

Fund are distributed either by covering expenses directly by the Council for the planned activities or through reimbursement if the funding request is related to travel. 

OTHER CHAPTER PROGRAMS 

The Council has other types of programs available for the local chapters. For example, for the Distinguished Lecturer Program can fund talks and travel of visible researchers at events organized by the local chapters. For more information, please see HERE.