Participation Fund

Members may be aware that, prior to 2011, AEA-Europe ran a scheme, funded through voluntary contributions from members over and above the annual membership fee, to support attendance at the annual conference for those for whom the costs of attending would otherwise be prohibitive.

As the organisation is in good financial health the Council has therefore decided to make provision of €5,000 to fund a similar scheme going forward. This fund will be known as the Participation Fund.

The Participation Fund can be used where cost is a real barrier to a member being able to attend the conference. He or she may make an application to the Council to have a part of the costs covered by the Association. The application should detail:

the member’s current role and contribution to assessment development within Europe

where any part of the costs can be covered from and which costs would be needed from the Association

how the lessons learned from attendance at the conference would be used to improve assessment provision in Europe

whether the member has had a presentation or a poster accepted for the upcoming conference.

As well as being open to members of the association, the Fund will be open to applications from teachers or other educational professionals from the country in which the annual conference is being held.

All applications for assistance from the Participation Fund must be submitted to admin@aea-europe.net by 15th September 2024.

The Council will consider all applications received by that date and inform applicants of the outcomes as soon as possible thereafter. In deciding on each case, the Council will consider whether:

the applicant or their organisation would not otherwise be able to attend

other sources of funding have been sought

the applicant has sufficient background knowledge of assessment issues to participate in conference and benefit from it

the applicant will make arrangements to disseminate to others in their own country

the applicant is in a position in their country to assist in the development of the assessment system or its reform

We would also very much welcome (corporate) members to voluntary contribute over and above the annual membership fee to add to the Participation Fund. Or perhaps corporate members could sponsor the participation of particular people. Please do get in touch if you are able to help in this way.