Diary of a nerdy lady scientist
International Conferences: A Saga
By Jawi Ramahlo (@wildlife_jawi)
So, you find yourself on the website of a journal and wishful thinking has you clicking on the Conferences *insert current year here* link. ‘What’s the harm in trying?’ you think, knowing full well you have absolutely no funding for a national conference, let alone an international one! But before you know it, you’ve submitted an abstract! Those wily fingers again!
Oh crap! What if the abstract gets accepted?! What then??!!
All the travel grant forces assemble on your Google search results and you sort through them looking for one that can dig you out of the potential hole you’re in.
You also remember that you have supervisors/advisors who are on your side… most of the time… Time to draft the politest email of all time and ask for a handout. Politely!
And then comes the correspondence email. Somehow, you’ve managed to convince someone that your work is good enough to share at an international conference! Suckers! 😁
After an initial freakout, you email the powers that be to inform them. Supervisors. Parents. Friends. The usual crowd. A stream of support and congratulations follows! And then the realist chimes in… How are you going to pay for this? Several deep breaths. Well, there’s some money left over from running costs and there’s the crowd-funding option and there’s also the travel grant thing…
Wildly enough, those random things come together to barely pay for your trip! This is followed by you pulling your hair out from visa application stress and dancing around after it arrives!
The admin has been daunting, but now there’s less than a week to go and you have no presentation! Too busy with everything except the reason for the conference. Get to it!
And then it’s the conference and you’ve survived transit stress and layovers and connecting flights and extreme shuttle prices and you’re at your accommodation. Unclench.
The fun begins!
Wait! First jetlag and time zone stress…
You’ve survived the chaos, and now the fun begins! Time to explore, take the obligatory tourist photos and network like a boss!
