Get a Scholarship

Thanks to our generous supporters, local and international alike, you have a chance to receive a participation scholarship to join the event.

Together with our supporters we are proud to announce scholarships to a number of students, who participate in the hackaton or present posters at womENcourage. A small number of scholarships will be offered to students who do not contribute to the program actively, but have shown exceptional interest in the relevant fields.

Participation Scholarship

The purpose of our participation scholarship is to encourage women in the field of computing to:

• Accelerate in their career through learning from others and asking for help when necessary;
• Converse with others on how best to manage their work life balance and
• Meet with their peers in order to build on their networks of expertise.

This scholarship award is a note of appreciation for your participation. It covers a free womENcourage registration and free one-year ACM Student Membership.

The applications should be filled in online before the closing date. Check out the submission deadlines and apply now. The applications require an abstract indicating the relevance of womENcourage to the applicant. More detailed guidelines can be found below.

Our aim is to provide scholarships to as many different academic levels, universities and across as many different countries as possible so as to promote the ACM and to encourage networking of our participants in their chosen fields. Active contribution and volunteering underpins our scholarship, which is open to participants of any gender, as indicated by the slogan of the event this year “The equation has two sides”.

For more information please contact us at womencourage2020_scholarships[at]acm.org.

Guide to a Successful Application

What are the application review procedures?

• The applications should be filled in on-line before the closing date. The applications require an abstract indicating the relevance of womENcourage to the applicant.
• The review process will take approximately one month.
• Applicants will be notified of the outcome of the review process via the email provided by the learner on the application form. The date of notification is indicated on the website.
• womENcourage and their representatives will not be held responsible for any delay in receiving the participation scholarship.
• Discussion as to the review system will not be entered into.

Who is eligible?

• Applicants must be an undergraduate or postgraduate student in good academic standing in full-time education or in exceptional circumstances an early career educator or researcher.
• The applicant must be currently studying in a European university or equivalent educational institute. Since this year’s event will be online students from outside of the Europe are also welcome to apply.
• The applicant’s field of study should be a computing or directly related field.
• The applicant must not have received a womENcourage grant or participation scholarship in the previous year (2019). If you did not receive a scholarship in the previous year but did in any other year you may apply again this year.
• The applicant may have a poster accepted but it is not essential. Participation scholarships will be awarded to student applicants who have not had a poster or paper accepted and who may be in the first year of their studies.
• In the event of multiple authorship each author should apply separately for the participation scholarship and will be considered separately.
• The applicant must provide a curriculum vitae of no more than 2 pages length in PDF format.
• The applicant’s supervisor or lecturer must fill out the required form. Without this form the applicant will not be considered for the participation scholarship and their application is deemed invalid.
• Applications must be made through the on-line system. Email applications will not be considered.
• The email address provided by the applicant on the form must be the student’s university email account (e.g. student.name@university.com).
• The participant must accept the scholarship within the given time frame (normally 2 weeks) from the date of notification. If the scholarship is not accepted it will be reallocated to the next eligible participant.

How can I apply?

• Applications can be made through the online form.
• Remember to think carefully about why you would like to go to the event when filling in the form.

I am a part-time student, can I still apply?

• Yes you can apply. We do not distinguish between full time and part time students.

I am a male, can I still apply?

• Yes you can apply. We strongly encourage diversity.

If I get a poster accepted does that mean I get a scholarship?

• The poster applications and the participation scholarships are separate processes. You must apply separately for this participation scholarship.
• Where a poster has multiple authors, each author must separately apply for the scholarship. Each other is separately evaluated based on the merits of their application.
• Having a poster accepted does not guarantee nor exclude you from an award.

What happens if I cannot attend?

• You must notify us as early as possible so that we can give the award to the next eligible scholarship applicant.
• If you do not respond to the award email by the allocated date we will assume that you cannot attend and will forward the award to the next applicant.

What are the selection criteria?

• Each application will normally be reviewed by at least three reviewers. To ensure fairness an application will not be reviewed by a reviewer from the institution or any with any affiliation with the applicant. The reviews of the committee are then reviewed by a further group of reviewers before the final selection of awardees are made. Some points to keep in mind include:
  • Is your statement of relevance tailored for the womENcourage? Does it focus on the aims and objectives of the womENcourage participation scholarships? Consider why you wish to attend this event.
  • Did you apply to present a poster in advance of applying for the participation scholarship?
  • Did you fill in all of the fields in the application form? Make sure that each field has the correct information. Does the applicants name on the Participation Scholarship match that of the one on the poster/paper application? Does the name match exactly with the details of your bank account? If you have made any mistakes, please email the participation scholarship committee.
• Ask your supervisor(s) if they can fill in the recommendation form. If they are unavailable during the time period immediately after the closing date you should consider selecting another recommender. Check with your recommender if they have filled in their required section after the closing date for applications. The recommender must be a lecturer/professor/dean from the university of which you are currently a student. The recommender cannot be an applicant for a scholarship nor can it be another student. Without the recommendation letter from your university your application cannot be considered.
• We hope to sponsor as many applicants as possible from a variety of academic levels, universities and countries to help encourage diversity. 
• We encourage applicants of all genders to apply for the participation scholarship and any other scholarship which becomes available.
• Note: The information in this document is subject to change.

What are the requirements if I am awarded the scholarship?

• Applicants must attend all of the dates of the womENcourage event.
• Applicants agree to authorize usage of their tagged and untagged images from the event as appropriate for advertisement purposes.
• Applicants may be requested to carry out a designated task to assist with the event. Failure to carry out the volunteer work will result in loss of the scholarship except in the case where health or other reasons preclude them from carrying out tasks.

What happens if I don’t get the scholarship?

• There are many sources of funding some of which come from our generous sponsors.
• Refer to the ACM-W website for ideas.