As part of promoting and supporting public involvement at the conference INVOLVE has a small limited fund available to help people with the cost of fees, care assistance, travel, accommodation and any other reasonable expenses. This fund is for people from local voluntary or community organisations, self help groups and individual members of the public who do not have funding from other sources and have either been invited to present or who would like to attend the conference.

• Help with costs (bursaries) are mainly for members of the public who do not have funding from other sources such as a user support group or a voluntary organisation. Where possible, applicants should be encouraged to seek some support from the projects / organisations with which they have been working.
  
  
• Conference presenters of papers, workshops and poster talks are given an opportunity to apply for help with costs for a maximum of two people from each project ahead of all others who want to attend the conference. This is available to presenters nationally (i.e. including devolved nations) and internationally – at the discretion of INVOLVE given our limited fund.
  
  
• For those attending the conference (and not planning to present) or those presenting posters help with costs can only be given to people living in England. This is because INVOLVE is funded through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
  
  
• Help with costs is available to a maximum of two people for each project / organisation giving a presentation or attending the conference.
  
  
• Where the application is for an assistant or carer the costs for one assistant / carer per person can be covered.
  
  
• Please provide an explanation of the support needs, and how much you think it will cost. This is so that we can calculate how much of the fund remains available at any given time.
  
  
• Applications for help with costs will be considered and decisions made by Sarah Buckland and Maryrose Tarpey at the INVOLVE Coordinating Centre. Decisions will be communicated and administered by Professional Briefings.
  
  
• A short reserves list of applicants will be held and managed by Professional Briefings once the fund has been allocated.
  
  
• Please post or email your request for help with costs with a completed conference registration form. We need to know why you need help with costs, what you would like it to cover and how much you think it will cost. This is so that we can calculate how much of the fund remains available at any given time.

Please post or email your application for help with costs and conference registration form to:

Professional Briefings
37 Star Street
Ware
Hertfordshire
SG12 7AA

Email: london@profbriefings.co.uk