Grants and Support

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of SIGWEB, User Modeling, Springer and the NSF, we are able to offer student travel grants to attend UMAP 2026. This initiative aims to reduce financial barriers for students as well as early-career researchers from economically developing countries, thus enabling broader participation in conferences and creating a more inclusive academic community.

Eligibility criteria

Most grants are open to all MSc and PhD students, as well as to postdoctoral researchers or non-tenured professionals who are residents in any of the countries listed at https://services.acm.org/public/qj/proflevel/countryListing.cfm. The only exception are the NSF grants: only student authors studying in the US are eligible to receive an NSF student travel grant. 

The grant may be used to support travel to the conference, including flights, accommodation costs, and other costs related to obtaining a VISA. The size of the grant awarded to an individual may vary depending on various factors such as the number of qualified applicants or the distance travelled. Applicants may submit their application prior to learning whether their papers have been accepted. However, preference will be given to individuals who have an accepted paper and who will be presenting that work themselves. 

Applications will be reviewed by a committee composed of the UMAP 2026 General Chairs and Student Volunteer Chairs. US-based applicants for the NSF grant will be assessed by Yong Zheng.

Application process

Applications for a travel grant should include:

• A completed application form. The application form (link) is labeled SIGWEB but will be used for all travel applications.
• 1-2 page CV
• A list of other sources of travel funding the researcher has applied for Students are free to apply for other sources of travel funding in addition to the current application (e.g., Gary Marsden Travel Award (see further down), a travel grant by your own national science foundation). Please include these in your application as a separate document (if relevant).

You do not have to specify which sponsorship source (e.g., SIGWEB, UM, Springer, NSF) you wish to apply for; the review committee will use their combined resources to support as many students as possible in attending UMAP 2026. Please note that the Gary Marsden Travel Award should be applied for through a separate process described further down on this page. Please submit your application by emailing it to umap2026-volunteers@um.org with the subject line “[umap 2026] travel grant application”. 

Important dates:

• Submission deadlines: April 20, 2026
• Notification deadline: May 1, 2026

Please note that these are the final deadlines; applications may be submitted before and may also be granted before these dates.

Special notes with regard to US NSF grants 

• To get reimbursement of the airfare by using US NSF, you must book flights with US-flagged carriers (a carrier operating under a code share agreement with a US carrier is considered a US flag carrier, as long as the ticket is issued using the US flag carrier’s airline designator and flight number).
• Your airline ticket purchases must be compliant with the Fly America Act (U.S. carrier or code shared flights are used). Enclosed please find links to the GSA Fly America Act and Code Share fact sheet.
• For eligible flights with US-flagged carriers, we suggest you book flights directly from USA airlines, e.g., United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Hawaii Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, etc. Even if the flights are operated by a foreign airline (e.g., Air Canada), it is still eligible as long as you book the flights from USA airlines. However, it may not be eligible, if you book a flight from travel agencies (e.g., priceline).