Conference Grants

Individuals within the eligible categories must hold a contract of employment with Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Trust or UCL at the time the conference is attended.

To see if you can proceed to submit an application, please refer to the full-size download of the eligibility flowchart and criteria below.

• Medical and non medical research fellows can apply for a Conference Grant if they are presenting research derived from Moorfields work at national or international meetings.
• Speciality trainees can apply for a Conference Grant if they are presenting research derived from Moorfields work at international meetings. National meetings will not be considered. They will be expected to claim for eligible expenses via their deanery funding, and the charity will only consider reimbursement of eligible costs that cannot be covered through their deanery funding.
• Non-medical research active Moorfields staff can apply for a Conference Grant if they are presenting research derived from Moorfields’ work at national or international meetings. Eligible staff will normally hold a full time or substantial contract of employment with Moorfields.
• Honorary staff can only apply where the individual is a medical graduate and appears on a relevant clinical profile in Moorfields at the time of application and the conference. For avoidance of doubt we expect these individuals to be part of a clinical service at Moorfields and as such are seeing patients in a capacity unrelated to research.
• MEC Springboard award holders or named researchers can apply if they are presenting work derived from our grant held at UCL at national or international meetings. Eligible staff will have a contract with UCL at the time of conference.
• PhD students on a Moorfields Eye Charity funded PhD Studentship grant awarded from 1st December 2024 can apply if they are presenting work derived from their PhD.

For full details of all eligibility criteria please refer to the programme guidelines.

Our Conference Grant supports the cost of the conference registration fees, travel and accommodation. For virtual attendance, only the registration fee is considered.

A budget is not required for the application form but you should be aware that if you do not adhere to the grant conditions and any conditions included in the award letter, payment of expenses will not be forthcoming.

Applicants are advised to read the funding programme guidelines carefully ahead of submitting an application to ensure they are fully aware of the allowed and disallowed costs.

Please ensure that you have read the following:

Applications should be submitted via our grant management system, Flexigrant.

Applicants who have previously held or applied for a Moorfields Eye Charity grant will already have an account set up on Flexigrant. Please follow the guidance on our Advice for Applicants webpage for details on activating your account.

For applicants who have not applied for a Moorfields Eye Charity grant, please visit Flexigrant and click register to create an account.

Please refer to our application guidance for further information on completing an application.

Applicants must comply with the instructions and eligibility criteria outlined in the grant guidance.

Funding will be provided against the following areas (only):

• Contribution towards economy air/​train travel to/​from the conference. Normal maximum of £200 for UK/​European conference and £800 for an international (outside of Europe) conference
• Standard accommodation for the duration of conference attended to a max of one night prior to the first day to the night before the last day of the conference. Normal maximum of £160 per night - please note this rate applies only to conferences taking place on or after 1st April 2026. For conferences taking place before this date the limit is as outlined in the award letter.
• Registration fee for the conference. It is expected that only early bird levels will be requested. Late/on-site registration fees will normally be automatically capped at the early bird level. Membership fees will only be considered at the lowest level and if it guarantees a reduced early bird registration fee. 

The following cost caps will apply

• £2,000 will apply for an international conference
• £1,000 will apply for a UK/​European conference
• £3,000 will apply per individual in any financial year (April to April) but note, the charity has the right to decline an application which would result in a person utilising a large proportion of two financial year allowances within the same 12 month period.

These allowances are absolute ceilings and you should not consider them an ​‘available budget’ to spend up to or that allowances can be moved between categories. Excessive or unreasonable claims will be subject to review and may be reduced or rejected.

For virtual conferences, funding will only be provided to cover registration fees for the conference. It is expected that only early bird levels will be requested. A total cap of £500 will apply.

Successful applicants will be required to follow our requirements around branding and acknowledgement.

After the conference, grant holders must complete the following steps:
1. Submit a Conference attendance report form
2. Submit Claim form(s) for your expense claims

Applicants will be sent a reminder to complete these tasks and they will be completed within Flexigrant. Guidance for how to complete these can be found within our guidance notes.

Our Conference Grants come with requirements around how you present your research and claim back expenses.

More details can be found here: