Skemp Fund Support

The Richard Skemp Memorial Support Fund was established to provide financial support for prospective PME participants from under-represented countries, or countries in which no financial support is available, in order to allow them to attend the conference.

The spirit of the fund is to make participation possible for those who might not be able to attend for financial reasons. Where applicants are from, where they are living, where they are working, where they are currently studying, as well as the conditions of their employment and studies are important factors when making decisions on the applications.

Application for Support

Applicants for a grant from the Fund will be considered from those who are (or who become) members of PME and who submit a proposal to present one of the following:

  •  an Oral Communication,
  •  a Poster Presentation,
  •  a Research Report,
  •  a presentation at a Research Forum on invitation of its coordinators,
  •  co-ordination of a Working Session, Discussion Group or a Research Forum.

The application form is available here.

When you have submitted your application form, you should receive a confirmative e-mail (including your response) that it has reached us and that your application will be considered. If you do not receive such an e-mail, please get in touch with the Administrative Manager of PME again.

Please, note that you will have to become a member of PME to apply for a Skemp Fund grant; this is done when you register for the conference. When registering for the conference, you are required to pay the pre-registration fee: this is the conference deposit plus the membership fee. If the pre-registration fee has not been paid, the applicant’s proposal will not be considered. The membership fee is not refundable.

Grants will normally cover conference fees (excluding membership) and may also make a contribution to accommodation and travel depending on the decision of the Skemp Fund committee (recent awards have ranged between 500 Euros and 2000 Euros).

Before applying for the Skemp grant, you need to be aware that some or all of your travel costs will have to be paid initially by yourself or your institute.

Applications for a Skemp Fund grant should be made at the same time as proposals are submitted for presentation at the conference. Please see the First Announcement for details of how to submit – they vary according to the type of proposal. Only applicants who have had their presentation proposal accepted by the Conference Programme Committee are eligible for a grant. No applications will be considered after March 1st of the year of the conference.

In general

  •  only one of the authors of a particular proposal will be eligible to apply for a grant;
  •  those who have already received a grant on a prior occasion will normally not receive an additional grant;

For more information, please consult the Skemp_Fund_Regulations and application form.

The number and size of grants each year depend on the amount available as well as the number of applicants and the relative merits of each application. The funding amount spent each year should consist of the donations from the same year and some of the Skemp reserve fund. The IC aims to maintain the Skemp fund to ensure support in years when fewer or smaller donations are received. Donations to the Skemp Fund other than those from conference participants are much welcome.

The Richard Skemp Memorial Support Fund Committee meets during the second meeting of the International Programme Committee (usually in March before the conference) and makes its recommendations once decisions on the acceptance or rejection of proposals have been completed.

The PME Administrative Manager will contact applicants to inform them about the decision on their application for a grant. This will usually take place before the end of April each year. Please note that grants cannot be carried over to the following conferences. A new application will have to be made for the new conference.

Skemp Fund Ambassadors

PME wishes to attract more participants from under-represented countries, especially those where funding is difficult to obtain. We ask our Skemp Fund recipients to become ‘ambassadors’ for PME, to make PME, and the possibilities of Skemp Fund support, better known in such countries. If you are requesting a grant, please tell us briefly how you might use your knowledge of possible new members in underrepresented countries and non-affluent areas if you are a successful recipient.