Travel and attendance award

Monday 14 to Friday 18 June 2021

Background

The aim of this award is to encourage the attendance at the BINDT annual conferences by contributors from overseas nations. The target group for this award are individuals from the profession of condition monitoring (CM) who wish to attend the conferences but are unable to do so due to financial constraints. Applicants can range from individuals at an early career stage or be experienced contributors who are unable to attend because of restricted finance. The title of the award will be ‘The Conference Travel and Attendance Award’.

Key principles

The award is expected to be available annually for attendance at the CM conference to present a paper of interest to the relevant community.
The award will consist of free attendance to all five-days of the webinar.
The recipient will be asked to provide feedback to the Institute indicating benefits or problems to ensure that future awards meet their objectives.
It is anticipated that one award will be available annually for each conference.

Financial arrangements

The Institute has allocated a fund from which these awards will be made.
The recipient's name and employer will be publicised at the conferences because they are both relevant to the award.
If no suitable applicant is identified the award will be held over for subsequent years.

Judging panels

The judging panels will consist of five members (with expertise in CM) for each conference who are appointed by the Council of the Institute. Normally they will comprise the chairpersons (or other representatives) of the main committees (NDT and CM Technical Committees, Industry, Executive Committee, MQ&E and CMC).

Eligibility criteria

Applicants should be permanent residents of an overseas nation.
Recipients must have had a paper accepted for presentation at the relevant conference that they wish to attend, at which point they will be asked to submit an application form.
Recipients must have demonstrated that conference attendance will make a strong contribution to their professional activities and be supported by referees who would normally be their managers or senior colleagues.
Recipients must supply a description of the financial limitations that the award is intended to overcome.

Judging criteria

This award is intended to enhance the conference by allowing contributions from someone who would not otherwise be able to attend. The selection process must consider the following aspects for each applicant.

Technical content of the paper – the criterion here is the value to the other conference delegates in having the author present their work. The Award will be made mainly on the basis of the quality of the written paper, rather than on the quality of the oral presentation. This will allow the judging process to be completed before the conference. However, a check will be made by members of the CM Technical Committee to ensure that the quality of the oral presentation of the proposed winner is acceptable.

Professional development – the criterion for this aspect of the award is the extent to which attendance will contribute to the professional development of the applicant in the field of CM.

Limited finances – the key criterion will be the description of the limitation on funds available balanced against the benefits of attendance.

The judging panel may take other factors into account in reaching their decision.

Award schedule

The Institute is able to offer an award, to support speakers from outside the UK with the cost of attendance. The award is aimed at individuals who will make a significant contribution to the conference by submitting a full paper and attending the webinar conference to present the paper but may be restrained from attending due to limited finance. To apply for this award please submit an abstract and upon approval you will be sent an application form to complete, alternatively please request an application form from karen.cambridge@bindt.org, provided the paper is accepted for presentation, ensure the completed form is returned by 26 March 2021 with the necessary supporting documents. The successful applicant will be notified by 7 May 2021.

Applicants must request an application form. The deadline for receipt of completed forms for an award will be 26 March 2021. This provides time to judge any applications received before travel arrangements need to be made.
Judging panel to review any applications and issue offer letter to the successful candidate.
Unsuccessful applicants to be informed. Deadline 7 May 2021.
Recipient to claim award via submission of receipts for legitimate expenses, with feedback report. Deadline 30 July 2021.
Technical Committees to assess the feedback report and award process to verify it meets the objectives.

To download the Travel and Attendance Award Application form, click here.

Please send all information to:

karen.cambridge@bindt.org
The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing
Midsummer House
Riverside Way
Bedford Road
Northampton
NN1 5NX

Elements to be included in the written application:

Applicant's details and contact details
Date
Affiliated organisation
Title of paper accepted for presentation
Referees (2 preferred)
Justification for award (max 250 words)
Comment by Manager/Supervisor.

For further information contact: Conferences and Events Department, The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing,
Midsummer House, Riverside Way, Bedford Road, Northampton NN1 5NX, UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1604 438300; Fax: +44 (0)1604 438301; Email: cm_mfpt@bindt.org; Web: www.cm-mfpt.org