Following in the footsteps of PyCon North America, PyCon Australia offers a generous financial aid 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 aid -- 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 speakers at the conference "get bumped to the top" of the applications so that we don’t lose a good talk because of financial need. We also don’t ban anyone from applying.
Essentially, the financial aid 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 aid 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 aid. Grants are allocated on the basis of need, and applications will be assessed by our financial aid 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.
There are three types of grant available, 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.
To be eligible for accommodation assistance, you must live more than 60km by road from the conference venue at Southbank 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
This is the easiest variety of grant that we are able to provide. We will offer either discounted, or complimentary enthusiast registration.
We can grant accommodation at a nearby hotel for the conference nights you are planning on attending. Accommodation grants take the form of twin share accommodation -- this is so that we can stretch our accommodation funding budget as far as possible. In most cases, we will assign you a room share partner in one of our preferred accommodation providers. In limited circumstances, you may nominate your own room-share partner and seek reimbursement after the conference.
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:
To apply for financial aid, fill out our application form. The first round of applications will be considered after Friday 13 June 2014; the second round of applications will be considered after Friday 27 June, 2014.
