This year, the deadline to apply for funding to support participation in FOCS 2023 is September 20, 2023. 

Thanks to generous support from the National Science Foundation, there will be a total of $20,000 in support for FOCS 2023 for eligible US-based students and postdoctoral fellows (to partially support the travel for attending the conference).

Additionally, thanks to generous support from Google Research DEI Initiatives, there will be a total of $2,000 in support of DEI efforts in FOCS 2023. The majority of this funding will be available for supporting students of under-represented groups to attend FOCS’23.

Additional travel scholarships are awarded by TCS for All. The TCS for All Travel Scholarships are intended to support early-career researchers in the field. These scholarships are inclusive and available to individuals who self-identify as minorities in TCS and are open to both US and international students. Priority is given to students at the beginning of their studies.

For international students, we haven’t yet been able to secure any funding. We hope the situation may change before the deadline. 

Reimbursement will be made after the conference (receipts will be required).

To apply, email the information listed below to [email protected]. Please use the following subject line: “FOCS 2023 Travel Award Application”.

1. Title of paper, if you are an author, and whether you will be presenting the paper.
2. Whether you are a student or you are a postdoctoral fellow.
3. University name.
4. Amount of other funds that are available to you.
5. A short statement describing your academic standing and interests, your expected graduation date and degree, advisor’s name, and, if available, a URL for a working Web page. Also indicate whether and when you have attended previous major theory conferences (e.g., STOC and FOCS) and whether or not you have received other awards to do so.
6. (For students) a supporting statement from your advisor confirming your status, recommending your attendance, and describing the availability of other funds. This should be included in a message with your name in the subject line which should be emailed by the advisor to the [email protected], the address above. (Note: vague statements such as “funds are tight” are not informative).
7. (Optional) The NSF strongly encourages applications from members of underrepresented groups for these awards. Please indicate if you are part of such a group or at an institution that is not typically represented at IEEE FOCS.
8. (Optional) your demographic information

This information (except for Item 8, which is for information only as part of the NSF grant) will be used to prioritize the awards (see the prioritization for awards below).

You should receive an email acknowledging your applications on September 22, 2023. The awards will be announced around October 1, 2023. Late applications will not be accepted.

Priority for NSF Awards will be based on the following:

• Student authors and co-authors of accepted papers who do not have other support.
• Members of underrepresented groups or from institutions not traditionally represented at the conference who have research interests in areas covered by FOCS and whose attendance would broaden participation at the conference.
• Student applicants whose statements and supporting information make particularly cogent justification for the benefit they will receive from attending the conference.
• Postdoctoral authors of accepted papers who do not have other support.
• First-time applicants and students who have not received other travel-related stipends to FOCS or STOC in the recent past.