Travel & Professional Development Awards: Application Form

All applications must be submitted electronically via the form below. Applications should be written in plain English and be free from spelling and grammatical errors.

Section A – Eligibility and Personal Details

  • Ophthalmologists are eligible to apply for an award if they are presenting research at a conference while in specialist training years 1-7, during Out of Programme Research (OOPR) or have been offered the opportunity to carry out an external Fellowship post ST7.
  • Travel awards may also be made available to ophthalmic nurses presenting at international conferences, when funding is not provided by the employer.
  • The Charity is currently unable to consider grants for optometrists and orthoptists presenting at conferences. Support for orthoptics and optometry is provided through undergraduate bursaries.
  • Applications must be for the purpose of helping career development through publication of research in a paper or poster presented at a national or international conference or taking up an internship or fellowship position for which a full-time salary is not available.
  • No applicant may receive more than one award in a single year. Applicants who have received an award in previous years may apply again but the Charity will not usually make more than two awards in succession.
  • Applicants must disclose funding already obtained, whether from professional organisations, individuals or other bursary schemes.
  • The Charity will not accept applications for maintenance or UK accommodation costs.
  • Awards are made at the sole discretion of the Trustees. Not everyone who applies for a grant will receive funding and an amount given may be lower than the total requested in the application. 

Section B – Conference Details

  • To be eligible for an award, the applicant must be the presenting author. Only one application may be made in respect of co-authored research. You must provide confirmation of acceptance of your poster/paper with the application.
  • All other details should be the same as those submitted to the conference and accepted.

Section C – Costs

  • Applicants are expected to demonstrate how they have sought funding from other sources and to indicate any grants already received to cover conference or fellowship costs.
  • Applicants are expected to demonstrate that they have made cost effective decisions.
  • Membership fees, required for some conferences in addition to the conference fee, cannot be claimed. No claims may be made for subsistence during the conference.
  • Itemised costings are required for travel and accommodation. Those details will form the basis for any award. Awards may be made in any amount, up to a maximum of £1,000, at the sole discretion of the Trustees.
  • Confirmation of costs (receipts or booking confirmations showing the cost of accommodation etc yet to be paid for) must be attached to the application.

Terms and Conditions

The Charity will process the details in your application form in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. By signing the application form, you agree to your data being stored and shared with the Charity’s Trustees and with representatives of The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers for the purposes of assessing, awarding and monitoring this Award Scheme.

By signing the application form you also agree to the Charity’s representatives contacting you or your supervisor as declared on the form if required, to check the validity of the information provided in your application.

The Spectacle Makers’ Charity may wish to use your name and other personal data in its publicity relating to these awards. Please make sure you mark the relevant boxes on the application form to confirm your consent and communications preferences. Consent is not a prerequisite for the grant of an award. You can change your preferences by contacting the Spectacle Makers' office.

By signing the application form, you agree, if an award is made, to acknowledge the assistance of The Spectacle Makers’ Charity and use its logo on your poster/paper and in social media posts. Further details will be provided with the award letter.

You also agree, within 4 weeks of the date of presentation or completion of an external internship or Fellowship, to provide a 500-word reflective report to the Trustees explaining what you have gained from your experience and how you intend to take forward what you have learned.

If you do not complete the assignment or deliver the presentation without advance explanation or notice to the Trustees, or if you do not provide the required report, the Trustees may take action to recover from you the amount of any award already paid to you.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AWARD APPLICATION

For use by ophthalmologists in training or ophthalmic nurses