SASDG

SASDG believes its mission of advancing the science of digital games is well served by growing the global community of scholars who study digital games. One aspect of this is ensuring that promising young scholars have the opportunity to attend the yearly Foundations of Digital Games conference. The SASDG Travel Assistance Program provides, for selected scholars, reimbursement for a substantial fraction of the cost of attending the Foundations of Digital Games conference.

Eligibility

The Travel Assistance Program is open to all digital game scholars. However, very strong preference will be given to current PhD students, and authors of accepted conference or workshop papers.

Award Amount

Scholars selected to participate in the program will receive reimbursement for actual travel expenses to attend the 2010 Foundations of Digital Games conference. While the actual amount is up to the discretion of SASDG, and may vary by individual, the expected reimbursement amounts in 2010 are anticipated to be US $800 for scholars in the United States and Canada, and US $1,400 for scholars elsewhere. These amounts are intended to cover appx. 70-80% of the cost of attending the conference. The program expects to make between 7-12 awards in 2010.

To Apply

Scholars interested in applying to the Travel Assistance Program should send the following information to Jim Whitehead via email <ejw@cs.ucsc.edu>:

• - Current curriculum vitae/resume
• - Whether you have an accepted paper in the conference or workshop (give title and venue)
• - Estimate of your airfare cost
• - Current status: PhD student, other student, faculty member, other (describe)

No letter of recommendation is necessary. SASDG reserves the right to request additional documentation of a student's active status with their university.

Deadline

Applications for the 2010 Travel Assistance Program will be accepted until June 4, 2010. However, preference will be given to applications received by April 7, 2010 (so awards can be made prior to the April 9 conference early registration deadline). After April 7, applications will be considered on May 3, and then on June 4, or until funds available have been committed.

Conditions

Scholars who receive assistance under this program will receive reimbursement only after they have attended the 2010 Foundations of Digital Games conference. Failure to attend the conference for any reason will lead to loss of assistance. Scholars participating in this program are expected to stay in the Asilomar Conference Center.

Expectations

The intent of this program is to provide travel support to those games scholars who have limited ability to secure funding for travel to the FDG conference. Hence, the expectation of SASDG is that applicants to this program will do so only in cases where they would be unable to attend the FDG conference without such support. This is in contrast to, say, a situation where it would be merely convenient to stretch out an existing grant by shifting some of the costs to SASDG. We recognize that there are many different funding situations, and so we are dependent on each applicant to use their best judgment concerning this issue.