A limited amount of the overall budget of the EGU General Assembly is reserved to assist early career scientists who wish to present at the meeting. From 2005 to 2012, the total amount awarded grew from about €50k to €80k; for the 2013 General Assembly, the EGU has allocated €90k for support awards.

The financial support may include waiving of the registration fee and a refund of the Abstract Processing Charge related to the abstract for which support was requested. Additionally, the grant may include a support for travel expenditures. The EGU currently runs three different financial support schemes; you can find more details about these awards on the Support & Distinction section on the EGU2013 website.

Scientists who wish to apply for financial support should submit an abstract, on which they are first authors, by 30 November 2012. Late applications, or applications where the young scientist is not the main author, will not be considered.

To submit the abstract of your oral or poster presentation, please enter the Session Programme page on the EGU2013 website, select the part of the programme you would like to submit an abstract to, and study the respective session list. Each session shows the link to Abstract Submission that you should use. More information on how to submit an abstract is available from the EGU2013 website.

To apply for financial support, make sure you click the appropriate box(es) when submitting your abstract. Bare in mind that, even if you are applying for support, you will still need to pay the Abstract Processing Charge. A screenshot of the first screen of the abstract submission process is shown in the Media section below; the support application section is just above the Abstract Title box.

The selection process follows a three-step process:

• The first and most important step, after the submission deadline of 30 November 2012, corresponds to the evaluation (ranking and comments) made by the session convener and/or co-conveners.
• The second step corresponds to the decision made by the EGU support selection committee which is based, on a first instance, on the quality of the abstract, which is reflected on a convener’s higher ranking and favourable comments.
• In the third and final step, the Treasurer/Finance Committee takes into account the overall annual budget allocation, the number of abstracts submitted by each session, and the number of registered participants by country (estimated based on previous-year numbers).

In 2012, of the 1113 applications received, representing 1086 applicants, 218 were awarded financial support. Next year’s financial-support awardees will be notified in late January.