OPTIMA Disability and Carers Grant for Conference Attendance

Purpose

The OPTIMA Disability and Carer’s Grant for Conference Attendance provides financial support to enable carers or individuals requiring care to attend academic and professional conferences. The grant covers expenses for alternative care arrangements, promoting inclusivity and enabling carers or individuals requiring care to access professional development opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible.

This grant is available to OPTIMA members who:

  • Are carers providing significant support to an individual (e.g., a child, partner, or relative).
  • Require care themselves to facilitate conference attendance.

The grant covers care arrangements that go beyond usual provisions, enabling recipients to travel or attend conferences to conduct or present research.

Eligibility Criteria

To qualify for the OPTIMA Carer’s Grant, applicants must meet the following conditions:

Status:

  1. Carers: Must provide significant care to an individual (e.g., child, partner, or relative) and demonstrate caregiving responsibilities.
  2. Requiring care: Must demonstrate the necessity of a carer to facilitate travel and participation.
  1. Conference Relevance: The recipient of the award must be registered for a conference relevant to optimisation.
  2. Employment or Student Status: Must be currently employed, studying, or working in an industry, academic, or research capacity within the optimisation field.
  3. OPTIMA Membership: Must have been a member of OPTIMA for a minimum of six months prior to application.
  4. Location: Grants may be available for conferences held locally, interstate, or internationally.
  5. Residency: Applicants must be residing in Australia at the time of application.

Covered Expenses

The grant may cover expenses directly related to alternative care arrangements, including:

  • Professional Care Services: Such as in-home care or childcare.
  • Travel and Accommodation: Costs for transporting a carer or dependant to the conference venue or a suitable care facility.
  • Temporary Care Arrangements: e.g., respite care or short-term enrolment in care facilities.
  • Reasonable Costs: All expenditure to be reimbursed must be authorised as reasonable costs.

Exclusions

This funding does not cover:

  • Applicant’s own travel: Accommodation, or conference registration fees (unless explicitly stated).
  • Existing care arrangements (e.g., regular childcare or respite care services): Example: For a local conference, we may pay for additional care on days not already covered by regular arrangements. If your child attends care on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, the grant will only cover Thursday, Friday, and weekends during the conference period.
  • Other travel expenses related to your participation: Travel expenses unrelated to caregiving (e.g., visa application fees, meals, or personal travel, conference registration, and other expenses that you would already be incurring by attending the conference/meeting).
  • Travel expenses for extended stays: Only one night before and one night after the event is eligible for coverage.
  • Meals or drinks
  • Unreasonable costs: All expenditure must be deemed reasonable. i.e. flying in and out of the event city, accommodation costs that are not excessive.

Grant Amount

  • Up to $2,000 (inclusive of GST)

Grants are one-time payments and are non-renewable.

Application Process

  1. Application Form: Applicants must complete the grant application form, available on https://go.unimelb.edu.au/r9k8.
  2. Supporting Documentation:
    • Proof of caregiving responsibilities or the need for care to enable travel (e.g., documentation of carer status or a support letter).
    • Conference registration details and relevance statement.
    • Estimated budget for care-related expenses.
    • Additional evidence of current caregiving commitments if requested.
  3. Submission Timeline: Applications must be submitted no later than six weeks before the conference start date.
  4. Review Timeline: Applications are reviewed monthly at the OPTIMA Executive meeting on the first Friday of the month.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be reviewed based on:

  • Demonstrated need for care or caregiving support.
  • Relevance of the conference to the applicant’s professional or academic development within optimisation.
  • Feasibility and appropriateness of the proposed care arrangements.
  • Level of the applicant’s commitment to OPTIMA activities, such as participating in events, seminars, committee memberships, volunteering, completing reporting requirements, acknowledging OPTIMA in publications, or sharing the OPTIMA logo in presentations.

Terms and Conditions

  • Pre-approval: All travel-related costs must be pre-approved; non-approved expenses will not be reimbursed.
  • Payment Disbursement: Grants will be paid directly to the applicant or to the service provider, depending on the arrangement.
  • Documentation:
    • Applicants must submit all relevant receipts and invoices within 30 days post-conference to verify the use of funds.
    • Proof of participation must be submitted within 30 days post-conference to verify full attendance. A letter from the conference organisers outlining your level of participation will suffice.
  • Grant Repayment: Applicants must notify OPTIMA if they are unable to attend all or part of the conference.
  • Non-Transferable: The grant is awarded to the applicant only and cannot be transferred to another individual.
  • Funding Acknowledgment: Recipients are required to acknowledge the OPTIMA Disability and Carers Grant for Conference Attendance in any presentations or materials, where applicable.
    • If you are given this fund to present a seminar or poster, we may ask to see proof that you used OPTIMA’s logo.
  • Compliance: Misuse of funds will lead to forfeiture of the grant and possible disqualification from future funding. OPTIMA reserve the right to request repayment if attendance requirements are not met.
  • Travel Insurance: Please note that family members or associates are not covered by the University Travel provider. You will need travel insurance if the event/conference is not local. The costs can be reimbursed as part of your travel grant.

Reporting and Feedback

Grant recipients must submit the following within 60 days of the conference end date:

  • A brief report on how the conference attendance benefited their professional or academic pursuits.
  • Receipts for care-related expenses (to be submitted within one month of travel completion).

Apply https://go.unimelb.edu.au/r9k8