Conferences are an excellent place to get feedback on research and road-test new ideas. Attending and presenting at conferences is an expected item on any academic CV and is an excellent way to network with your peers and meet big-name scholars in your field. 

Conferences range in size, from the major annual conferences that pull in thousands of attendees from across the globe, to smaller symposiums at individual institutions organised around a specific and often timely subject. Both can be excellent places to gain new insights, generate new ideas and even meet future collaborators and mentors.

Your supervisor and your peers within your department will be excellent sources of wisdom when it comes to finding and choosing the right academic venues to showcase your research. 

While the move online has made conferencing much more accessible, attending conferences in-person often entails costs, both in the form of registration fees and in the form of travel and accommodation fees. 

Some faculties and departments have funding available to help students manage the cost of conference attendance, as do most colleges.

In addition, also check to see if your conference is offering any travel bursary, or graduate student awards, as these can also be helping in meeting the costs of registration, travel, and accommodation.

During your time at Cambridge, you may also have the opportunity to host an event of your own. Running a conference or similar event not only allows you to bring together researchers on a topic important to your research interests, but gives you a chance to gain transferable skills in project management, event planning, and communications. 

Certain funding bodies have schemes available to support students in hosting their own conferences and events, and the Centre for Research in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) runs an annual funding competition to support student-led events  

Image credits

All Rights Reserved, University of Cambridge, 2021