CONFERENCE SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPING NATIONS

The Board of Governors (BoG) of the Control Systems Society (CSS) allocates funds to help authors from developing countries present their papers at the annual Conference on Decision Control (CDC) and MSC Multi-conference on Systems and Control (MSC).  The CSS BoG has been supporting travel expenses of researchers from developing countries since 2001 and the program has been modified over the years in order to make it more effective.  The total amount allocated per year since 2001 is $25,000.  Currently the program is referred to as: IEEE CSS Travel Support for Developing Countries.  Further details about the program are provided below.

Under this program, the Control Systems Society provides an award that covers the Regular Conference Registration fee to present a paper at either the CDC or MSC.  Additional cash support of up to $500 US might be available for the applicant.

Eligibility and Requirements

In order to be eligible, the applicant must satisfy the following essential criteria:

1.    Applicant must be working in, or be a student of, an institution of one of the selected countries at the time of his/her application for funding, but not as a visitor from a country that is not on the list. List of Eligible Countries below.

2.    Applicant must have a paper accepted at the conference and be the presenter of that paper. All authors of the paper must be working in a developing country.

3.    No more than one travel grant will be allocated for one paper or to one person in the same year.

Eligible applicants can apply for the Conference Support program for Developing Nations or for the Student Travel Support program, but NOT for both programs simultaneously.

In case the number of applicants exceeds the budget, additional criteria will be used to make a selection among the applicants. The criteria to make the awards in this case include:

i)   Applicants who have not benefited from this support in the last two years.

ii)  Applicants who are minimum income IEEE/CSS members.

iii) Applicants who can demonstrate active participation in CSS.

iv) Applicants who will present more than one paper at the Conference.

In addition, the selection committee may decide to limit awards where more than one presenter from the same institution would otherwise be offered an award to attend the same conference.

Application Procedures

A person submitting a paper to the MSC, who satisfies the essential criteria above, can apply to the IEEE CSS Conference Support for Developing Nations Program by downloading the Application Form (click here to download), filling it, converting it into the PDF format, and uploading it through PaperPlaza by April 25, 2008. The following steps are needed to upload the form:

Step  1: Select "Submit a contribution to 2008 MSC"

Step 2: Under "First Submissions" select  "Submit" a Developing Country Travel Form and follow the instructions.

The IEEE CSS Conference Support for Developing Nations form asks for the following information.

1.    Name (Last Name, First Name, and possibly Middle Initial)

2. IEEE (and Control System Society) membership number, status and years of membership (if available)

3.    E-mail

4.    Institutional Address

5.    A statement of whether or not the applicant is a minimum income IEEE/CSS member

6.    Session/Title of the Paper to be presented

7.    Additional papers (if any)

8.    History of prior support from similar support programs

9.    A description of the applicant’s CSS related activities

10.  Amount of additional support requested, if any (up to $500  - actual support will depend on the number of
       applicants and funds available)

11.  A paragraph of justification for the request of financial support

Deadlines and Award Notification

Conditions of the Award

1.    The award is not transferable.

2.    The awardee will participate in and present at least one paper at the conference.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

If you have questions about this program, please contact, Prof. Luis Alvarez-Icaza (alvar@pumas.iingen.unam.mx) who is the “Financial Support Chair” for the 2008 MSC.

List of Eligible Countries (last updated 2006)

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo Dem. Rep., Congo Rep., Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt Arab Rep., El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea Dem. Rep., Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia Fed. Sts., Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovak Republic, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-este, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen Rep., Zambia, Zimbabwe.