ESA Academy Conference Student Sponsorship Programme

The ESA Academy is pleased to sponsor the attendance of up to five tertiary education students at the Joint i-SAIRAS & iSpaRo Conference 2026 under the ESA Academy Conference Student Sponsorship Programme.

Eligibility

The ESA Academy Conference Student Sponsorship is available exclusively to tertiary education students who have submitted an abstract to i-SAIRAS.

Please note that students who have submitted a paper to iSpaRo are not eligible for funding under the ESA Academy Conference Student Sponsorship Programme.

The sponsorship covers:

• a special reduced student registration fee (215 Euro)
•  up to EUR 350 for travel costs
•  up to EUR 300 for accommodation costs (up to 4 nights).

 To be eligible for an ESA Academy Student Sponsorship, students must fulfil the following criteria at the time of application:

Eligibility criteria:

• individually present an accepted i-SAIRAS contribution at the Joint i-SAIRAS & iSpaRo Conference 2026, either as an oral presentation or a poster presentation.

• be minimum 18 years old at the time of the conference;

• be a citizen of an ESA Member State, Associate Member, or Canada;

• be enrolled as a student (Bachelor, Master, Doctorate) in a tertiary education academic programme (not graduating before the Conference);

• not benefit from an overlapping financial support to attend this conference, unless duly justified;

• agree with the conditions of the ESA Academy’s Privacy Policy

Priority will be given to students who have less than 2 years of professional experience and have never taken part in an activity sponsored by the ESA Education Office.

ESA is committed to achieving diversity and creating an inclusive environment. To this end, applications from all eligible candidates irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability, social origin or other characteristics are welcome.

In case of difficulty in advancing the payment for the registration fee, ESA Academy may provide support to selected students to accommodate specific needs.

Reimbursement

Reimbursements will be made by ESA Academy via a single bank transfer after the event, upon submission of the required receipts.

Pre-Registration

We look forward to receiving your pre-registration for the ESA Academy Conference Student Sponsorship Programme.

Students interested in being considered for the sponsorship are kindly requested to complete the pre-registration form provided below and submit it to the i-SAIRAS Chairs , email isairas@dlr.de by 30 September 2026.

Please note that the pre-registration does not constitute the final application to ESA Academy. Further information on the application and selection process will be provided to eligible candidates.

Pre-Selection and Final Selection Process

The i-SAIRAS Chairs will conduct the pre-selection of candidates based on the submitted pre-registration forms and their  abstracts.

Following this review, the i-SAIRAS Chairs will nominate up to eight candidates and forward their nominations to the ESA Academy for final consideration.

The ESA Academy will conduct the final selection and determine which candidates will be awarded sponsorship under the ESA Academy Conference Student Sponsorship Programme. Up to five students may receive sponsorship.

The deadline for applications is 30 September 2026 (24:00 CEST).

The decision by the Selection Committee will be communicated by: 9 October 2026

Once ESA has made the final selection, the Chairs i-SAIRAS ot the Joint i-SAIRAS or ISPaRo conference will inform both selected and non-selected students of their application status by email.

Information concerning the registration Process for the Selected Students

The conference organizing team will provide the selected students with the required invitation code for registration. By using this code for registration, the five students selected for the ESA Academy Conference Student Sponsorship Programme will benefit here from a specially reduced student registration fee, of 215 Euro, instead of the regular student registration fee of EUR 790. The reduced registration fee will be reimbursed together with the other eligible costs, after the conference.

Students selected for the ESA Academy sponsorship will be 9 October  2026 by the I-SAIRAS Chairs ot the Joint i-SAIRAS or ISPaRo conference at the latest. 

As the registration deadline is shortly thereafter, selected students who have not yet registered are kindly requested to complete their registration promptly upon receiving confirmation of their selection.

Registration closes on 23 October 2026.

Please note:
If you have already registered and paid the regular student registration fee of EUR 790 before being selected for the ESA Academy sponsorship, the original registration fee will be refunded. In this case, you will receive a new invoice from DLR registration provider, BESL, reflecting the reduced fee. Please make sure to pay this new invoice accordingly.