Eligibility: Any mathematician based in the UK is eligible to apply for a grant, but if the applicant is not a member of the Society then the application must be countersigned by a member who is prepared to support the application. This applies both to outgoing and to incoming visits.

Criteria: The status of countries outside Africa will be determined by Programme Committee case by case.

Success of an application will depend mainly and crucially on the likelihood of potential benefit to mathematics in the country concerned. We normally expect incoming visits to be for a period of at least 14 days. If a visit also includes a conference, it must include other academic activities which in themselves would justify the grant, and it should be for a period of 14 days in addition to any time spent at the conference. For such visits, any expenses during the period of a conference will not be met from the Scheme 5 grant.

The Committee will support only mathematical activities or the mathematical component of wider activities, and here the word mathematical excludes mathematics education.

The Society does not like to receive sequential applications for grants to support the same or closely related events, and will not allow its limits for individual schemes to be exceeded by artificially sub-dividing an application into a number of separate requests under different headings.

The academic justification for a Scheme 5 grant should focus on the benefit to the Scheme 5 country (ie a country in Africa or a country in which mathematics is in a similar position). For other visits, Schemes 2 or 4 may be more appropriate. It should not be assumed that the distinction of the visitor renders further justification unnecessary.

Academic and financial reports of the visit are required.

The limits are upper bounds, not standard awards. Grants are made to meet actual expenditure on items in the application, and any surplus must be returned to the Society as soon as possible and may not be used for other purposes.

Form of application: Application forms may be obtained from the Society’s Office or may be downloaded here in RTF or PDF format. Applications should be set out clearly, and preferably typed. They should be self-contained; please do not append substantial documents that contain irrelevant detail or refer to websites for key information. Where a CV is requested it should be no more than two sides of A4, and should include a list of selected recent papers. Please send all applications in hard copy to the Programme Secretary at De Morgan House .

Queries regarding applications can be addressed to the Programme Secretary, Stephen Huggett (tel: 01752 586869) or Sylvia Daly (tel: 020 7291 9971, Wednesday-Friday), who will be pleased to discuss proposals informally with potential applicants and give advice on the submission of an application.

Checklist: Applicants may like to note the following checklist used by the Committee when assessing applications:

• Mathematical quality of the project.
• Well argued proposal, with a clear statement of the mathematical component in the case of a wider project.
• Well thought out and cost-effective budget, with the request restricted to allowable costs, and an appropriate and clearly identified balance of funding from other sources.
• The difference made by our grant to the viability and success of a project.
• Likely beneficiaries.
• Limitation on the number of grants awarded to any individual or department.
• Sufficient time available for publicity of the event.
• Receipt of satisfactory reports on previous grants.

Deadlines and decision timetable: Applications are considered at the October, February and June meetings of Programme Committee. Deadlines for receipt of applications for these meetings are 15th September, 31st January and 15th May. Applications will only be considered between these deadlines in exceptional circumstances. However, please note that applications will not be considered between mid-June and mid-October.

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