Funding for conference papers

For researchers, attending conferences is a way of keeping up-to-date in your research field, by sharing information, getting feedback from colleagues in the same research area and networking.

Some conference papers may be published in conference proceedings.

Conference funding

There are a number of opportunities to get assistance with funding to present at a conference.

Fake conferences

It is important for all researchers to be aware that, in a minority of cases, the conference advertised may not be legitimate. This is a relatively new phenomenon where 'predatory publishers' create fake conferences to raise revenue. For example, there was a recent case where a predatory publisher organised a conference using the exact same name as a legitimate conference on the same topic, a conference sponsored by a small and authentic scholarly society.

Though alarming, please be assured that it is a very small minority of conferences that can be assessed as fake. That said, you should always check for previous conferences of the same name, and investigate the conference organiser for authenticity.

If unsure, please contact your College Librarian to help with the investigation.

HERDC requirements for a conference paper

To fulfill Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) requirements, the paper must meet the definition of research, according to the most recent specifications on the HERDC website.

In addition:

  • the paper must be published - publication of the abstract only is not sufficient
  • the paper must be peer reviewed
  • the conference, workshop or seminar must be of national or international significance
  • information about the conference should be easily available - ideally online
  • at least one of the authors must be affiliated with VU.

If the conference paper is published in a journal, it's better to enter it as a journal article.

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