ALAA ECR Conference Travel Scholarships 2026

The Applied Linguistics Association of Australia (ALAA) is pleased to announce five Early Career Researchers (ECR) Conference Travel Scholarships sponsored by Duolingo English Test to support ECR ALAA members to present their research at the joint ALAA/ALANZ/ALTAANZ Conference 2026 at The University of Queensland, Brisbane.

The scholarships may be used to cover conference registration, travel and/or accommodation expenses. Awards will be provided as reimbursements for documented expenses submitted after the conference.

The recipients will receive a certificate at the ALAA Annual General Meeting (AGM) and their presentation will be highlighted in the conference program.
 

Eligibility Criteria:

To be eligible for a scholarship, an applicant must:

• be a current financial ALAA member at the application closing date;
• be the lead presenter of a presentation accepted for the 2026 Joint ALAA-ALANZ-ALTAANZ Conference;
• meet the ECR eligibility requirement, meaning that the applicant’s PhD was normally awarded or conferred on or after 14 September 2021, five years before the application closing date;
• not have previously received an ALAA ECR Conference Travel Scholarship;
• be able to attend the conference and deliver the accepted presentation.

An applicant whose PhD was awarded or conferred before 14 September 2021 may still be eligible where recognised career interruptions or periods outside research are taken into account. An applicant seeking consideration of such periods must identify their nature and duration but is not required to disclose unnecessary sensitive personal information.

Application Procedure:

To be considered, applicants must submit:

• a completed online scholarship application form;
• evidence confirming that the applicant is the lead presenter of a presentation accepted for the 2026 Joint ALAA-ALANZ-ALTAANZ Conference;
• a copy of the accepted abstract;
• a curriculum vitae of no more than two pages that includes:
  • the date on which the applicant’s PhD was officially awarded or conferred; and
  • if applicable, the nature and duration of any recognised career interruptions or periods outside research that the applicant wishes to have considered in determining ECR eligibility; and
• a statement of no more than 500 words outlining, for instance:
  • the applicant’s need for financial assistance to attend the conference;
  • the applicant’s current employment and funding circumstances;
  • the availability of institutional or other financial support;
  • any relevant circumstances affecting the applicant’s capacity to meet the costs of attendance, such as caring responsibilities, financial hardship, precarious employment, or lack of institutional affiliation; and
  • how conference participation will benefit the applicant’s research, professional development, scholarly networks, or engagement with the applied linguistics community.

Applicants are not required to disclose unnecessary sensitive personal information. Only complete applications received by the closing date will be considered.

All applications should be submitted online. Successful applicants will be notified in due course. For further information, please email Associate Professor Noriko Iwashita (President, ALAA) at n.iwashita@uq.edu.au.

Assessment Criteria:

Applications that meet all eligibility requirements will be assessed by a panel according to the following criteria:

• Financial need and limited access to alternative funding, 60%: The extent to which the applicant demonstrates a need for financial assistance, taking into account their employment and financial circumstances, access to institutional or other funding, anticipated eligible conference expenses, and any relevant circumstances affecting their capacity to attend.
• Career context and access to opportunities, 25%: The extent to which the applicant’s career circumstances limit their access to funded conference participation, research networks, mentoring, or other professional development opportunities.
• Anticipated benefit of conference participation, 15%: The extent to which the applicant explains how presenting at the conference will support their research, professional development, scholarly networks, or future engagement with the applied linguistics community.

The academic quality of the research will not be assessed separately because the presentation must already have been accepted through the conference review process. However, the panel will confirm that the presentation falls within the research areas specified in the eligibility criteria.

If two or more applications receive the same overall assessment, priority will be given to the applicant who demonstrates:

• greater financial need;
• more limited access to alternative funding; and
• more limited access to funded professional development opportunities.

Applicants are not required to disclose unnecessary sensitive personal information. All information about applicants’ financial and personal circumstances will be treated confidentially and used only to assess their scholarship applications.