About

The IEEE Biometrics Council is strongly committed to support and recognize through its’ DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Travel-Grant Program researchers from communities that have historically been underrepresented at biometrics-oriented events and conferences. The goal of the program is to increase the participation of individuals from racial and ethnic minorities, researchers with disabilities, low socioeconomic status, and diverse cultural background as well as other underrepresented groups at the flagship conferences of the Council. The travel-grant program is primarily meant to support travel to events, financially sponsored by the IEEE Biometrics Council, i.e., the IEEE International Joint Conference on Biometrics (IJCB) and the IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture  Recognition (FG), but support for other (technically sponsored) meetings may also be considered on an exceptional basis.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a travel grant, the candidate must:

  • Be a member of the IEEE Biometrics Council (membership is free and can be arranged from the IEEE membership portal: IEEE BIOMETRICS COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP).
  • Have a paper accepted at the meetings the travel grant is requested for.
  • Belong to an underrepresented group, including but not limited to the following:
    • Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups from any country.
    • Individuals with disabilities.
    • Researchers from low-income countries as identified by IEEE (see: List of Eligible countries).

Both student and non-student authors can apply for the grant, but preference will be given to more junior participants that had limited opportunity thus far attending academic events.

While the grant program is open to all, applications from members of the local Chapters of the IEEE Biometrics Council are especially welcomed.

Travel Grant

The grants will be provided either in the form of fixed-sum stipends or on a reimbursement basis and should be used exclusively to (partially) cover travel expenses to one of the Council’s flagship conferences. The amount of the grants will be determined on a per-conference basis in accordance with the number of applications received and the total budget for the DEI travel-grant program available.

To encourage scientific excellence, the grants will be awarded to applications with the highest quality work accepted and those with the largest need for support.

Application Procedure

An application for the travel grant should include the following:

  • A short academic CV (including a list of the strongest publications),
  • A short cover letter discussing:
    • How the applicant meets the eligibility criteria.
    • What existing funding is available for the travel.
    • Other important information for the application.
  • A short budget break-down for the travel (estimated expenses for flight tickets, lodging).
  • Title and Paper ID of the accepted paper together with the decision letter.
  • [OPTIONAL]: A recommendation/supporting letter (from the supervisor or affiliated institution)

Submission procedure and timeline

A Call for DEI travel-grant applicants is issued by the DEI chairs of either IJCB or FG each year. The chairs define the timeline for submissions and potential additional requirements for the applicants.

The selection of the winners is then conducted by a dedicated committee of the IEEE Biometrics Council.

 Disclaimer

The travel grants can only be used by authors of accepted paper, cannot be transferred (to co-authors or similar) and can only be awarded for in-person attendance.

Contact

The DEI travel grant program is managed by the IEEE Biometrics Council’s:

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