PyCon Australia offers a generous financial assistance programme, so that some attendees and speakers have some, or in rare cases, all of their expenses such as flight, hotel and admission provided to them from the conference budget.
PyCon Australia strongly encourages people to apply for financial assistance -- even if we can’t cover all of your expenses, we will give you free admission based on need. The application process is simple, and straightforward. It’s also very liberal -- the only caveat is that accepted speakers are given priority so that we don’t lose a good talk because of financial need. We also don’t ban anyone from applying.
Essentially, the financial assistance programme is the PyCon Outreach programme -- it's the community holding up the community and making itself accessible at this major event through these financial grants. It is the very spirit of the conference: make the information, knowledge, friendships and connection available to everyone.
The generous contribution of the Python Software Foundation has helped us in offering this programme. Financial assistance is core to the mission of the PSF -- The mission of the Python Software Foundation is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse (http://www.python.org/psf/diversity/) and international community of Python programmers.
Anyone interested in attending PyCon Australia is eligible to apply for financial assistance. Grants are allocated on the basis of need, and applications will be assessed by our financial assistance panel.
Cases that will be looked upon favourably include, but are not limited to:
In short, anyone whose attendance at PyCon Australia will help improve the Python community in Australia, or around the world, is invited to apply.
We can offer assistance for registration, for accommodation, or for flights to Brisbane, you may apply for as many of these as you like, however, applications seeking more funding will be reviewed more stringently. It is also likely that we will not be able to fund the entirety of your requested funding.
As a rule: ask for only as much assistance as would enable you to attend the event. We have a limited pool of funding, and we want to make it available to as many people as possible.
If you require assistance with travel or accommodation, we can provide full or partial reimbursements for costs, up to an agreed amount, after the conference. We will calculate a maximum amount to reimburse you based only on the total of accommodation and travel costs you have requested, provided you can show receipts for that amount.
To be eligible for accommodation assistance, you must live more than 60km by road from the conference venue at in Brisbane. To be eligible for travel assistance, you must live more than 400km by road from the conference venue.
Exceptions to the eligibility requirements will be considered on a case by case basis. Please e-mail contact@pycon-au.org
We can offer applicants either discounted, or complimentary enthusiast registration. This type of assistance is the easiest for us to provide, and if we are unable to consider accommodation or travel assistance, we may still consider registration assistance.
At a minimum, genuine requests for registration assistance will remain eligible for early bird registration rates, regardless of whether that rate is generally available.
We can help cover the costs of accommodation at a nearby hotel for the conference nights you are planning on attending. Accommodation grants will be offered to the value of twin share accommodation -- this is so that we can stretch our accommodation funding budget to as many people as possible.
In most cases, we will require you to source your own accommodation in Brisbane and seek reimbursement after the conference. If you require assistance in finding a room-share partner to help reduce costs, we may be able to pair you up with another financial assistance recipient.
In limited cases, we may provide single-occupancy accommodation. Please contact us by e-mail at contact@pycon-au.org to discuss your circumstances.
We can help cover the cost of airfares to Brisbane. Whilst in some rare cases, we can fund the entirety of the requested travel, in most cases we will only be able to partially fund this cost.
Cases that would be looked upon favourably include, but are not limited to:
We strongly encourage you to search for the lowest possible airfares out of your nearest airport before submitting your application. This includes using low-cost carriers.
To apply for financial assistance, fill out our application form. We will offer assistance to accepted speakers as applications are received. The first round of general applications will be considered after Friday 12 June 2015; the second round of applications will be considered after Friday 26 June, 2015.
The form is currently open for applications from practising educators as part of the Python in Education Miniconf.
