ICLR 2025 Financial Assistance and Volunteering
The ICLR 2025 Financial Assistance program aims to fund student and other early-career contributors (conference authors, workshop and tiny paper authors, reviewers, etc.) to attend the ICLR conference and workshops in person and virtually. We aim to simultaneously consider inclusion criteria, such as affinity group membership, financial hardship and cost of attendance, and first-time attendance at ICLR. Financial assistance recipients will receive a combination of a prepaid registration (to conference and workshop events) and/or a prepaid hotel stay (up to 6 nights) next to the event venue. Recipients can also opt in an application to instead receive this financial assistance in the form of monetary reimbursement for travel expenses (transit, accommodation, etc.) up to a near-equivalent value.
Sponsoring the ICLR 2025 Financial Assistance Program
The ICLR 2025 Financial Assistance Program directly supports registration fees, accommodation near the conference venue, and travel for those who might otherwise be unable to attend. Last year, we supported 250 researchers to attend ICLR 2024. These grants are made possible through generous contributions from our sponsors and supporters who share our commitment to fostering the machine learning community.
Updates
- The 2025 application forms are open.
Important dates
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Volunteering
- ⏳ Application deadline: March 10th, '25 (AoE)
- ⏳ Application deadline: March 10th, '25 (AoE)
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Financial Assistance
- ⏳ Application deadline: March 2nd, '25 (AoE)
- 📢 Decision notification: March 9th, '25 (AoE)
How to apply
Volunteering
ICLR 2025 Volunteer Application »
Expected completion time: 5 minutes. To fill out the ICLR 2025 Volunteer Application form, you will need:
- An ICLR.cc account.
- Your in-person or virtual availability to volunteer during the conference.
- A final decision on any conference paper submissions to ICLR 2025.
- Your t-shirt size.
Financial Assistance
ICLR 2025 Financial Assistance Application »
Expected completion time: 20–30 minutes. Responses can be modified until the deadline. To fill out the ICLR 2025 Financial Assistance Application form, you will need:
- An ICLR.cc account.
- An OpenReview.net account.
- If attending in person: Details of your intended travel to Singapore (dates, point of origin, approximate cost).
- A final decision on any conference paper, blog post, or workshop paper submissions to ICLR 2025.
- A short justification statement of your need for financial assistance.
- A short motivation statement on the impact of attending ICLR 2025 on your research career.
Note on workshop submissions: If you haven't received a workshop decision by March 2nd, you can still make note of your workshop submission. Workshop papers will be considered as contributions for the purposes of eligibility determination if decisions are announced by March 5th, '25.
Questions?
Before getting in touch, please read the FAQs below to reduce our email burden. For further questions or information regarding this program, please reach to the ICLR 2025 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Chairs via the ICLR contact page.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Can I apply for both financial assistance and volunteering?
Yes, you may apply to both. You may also wait to apply for volunteering until after you hear back from financial assistance. It is unlikely that you would be selected for both programs, but applying to both will not lower the chance of acceptance at either.
Can you extend the financial assistance application deadline to account for a late workshop decision notification date?
No: The financial assistance application deadline is already as late as possible. ICLR 2025 workshop organizers choose their own timelines, but have been made aware of the deadline to announce workshop decisions by March 5th. It is their responsibility to meet this deadline to support their authors. As noted above, if you haven't received a workshop decision by March 2nd, you can still make note of your workshop submission in the application form.
How likely am I to be funded by the ICLR 2025 Volunteering or Financial Assistance programs? Will I be funded if I am (not) a student, or (not) an author of an accepted conference paper?
Our funding determinations will balance conference participation, inclusion, and other factors across the applicant pool, and so we cannot provide eligibility determinations or funding guarantees before the notification date. We have several priority categories in mind: student authors, contributors from underrepresented demographic groups, and contributors from underrepresented geographic regions. Both conference and workshop authorship are considered contributions for the purposes of financial assistance. If in doubt about your eligibility, please just apply.
Do I need to volunteer to receive financial assistance?
No, you do not need to volunteer to receive a financial assistance grant. However, you will need to complete a volunteering shift to receive a refund in the amount you paid for registration as part of the volunteering program. You can apply for both the grant and to be volunteer.
Do the ICLR 2025 Volunteering or Financial Assistance programs cover virtual aspects of ICLR?
Yes: A virtual-only registration.
What is the format of financial assistance given by the Financial Assistance program?
In the Financial Assistance Application form, you may choose one of the following two formats:
- Prepay (*): One or both of: (i) registration to attend the ICLR 2025 conference and workshops; (ii) a hotel stay of 6 nights near the ICLR 2025 venue. Prepaid support would be managed by the ICLR event staff, and would require no up-front payment from the recipient.
- Reimbursement: Between 400 and 1500 USD to cover incurred travel expenses. Reimbursement-based support would require the recipient to pay expenses upfront, and wait for reimbursement for up to 8 weeks after the ICLR event.
(*) We aim to honor all requests for prepay but have a natural upper limit on the number of hotel rooms we can offer within our block (up to 40 rooms). In the case that we exceed this limit, some applicants who selected prepay will instead be awarded reimbursement.
May I receive a combination of reimbursement-based and prepaid support as part of the Financial Assistance program?
To simplify our logistics, we are unable to offer recipients a mixture of reimbursement and prepay. Please choose one of the two support formats that is most appropriate for your situation.
Can I modify my support format that I chose in the Financial Assistance Application form later on?
Because of our tight logistics and timeline, we will not accept requests to modify the support format after the financial assistance application deadline (⏳); however, it is possible to edit your response to this form up to this deadline.
What is the financial assistance amount for prepay / reimbursement as part of the Financial Assistance program??
Financial assistance amounts are determined on a case-by-case basis across three tiers. Financial assistance recipients will be notified of the tier they are awarded on the general financial assistance decision notification date (📢). The three financial assistance tiers are below. Note that the reimbursement option offers lower equivalent monetary value, and requires you to pay expenses upfront, and wait for reimbursement for up to 8 weeks after the ICLR event. However, reimbursement covers more expense categories than prepay.
Tier 1 prepay: registration + hotel stay (valued at 1,745 USD (for students) or more)
Tier 1 reimbursement: up to 1,500 USD
Tier 2 prepay: hotel stay (valued at 1,320 USD)
Tier 2 reimbursement: up to 1,000 USD
Tier 3 prepay: registration (valued at 425 USD (for students) or more)
Tier 3 reimbursement: up to 400 USD
In which hotel are prepaid hotel stays awarded as part of the Financial Assistance program?
Dorsett Changi City Singapore, which offers a free buffet breakfast and WiFi and which is within walking distance of the Singapore EXPO.
What kinds of expenses are eligible to be covered by reimbursement as part of the Financial Assistance program?
Expenses associated with attending the conference in person are generally accepted, which includes transportation (e.g., flight or train tickets) to and from the conference site, registration fees associated with the conference, visa fees required for travel, and food/lodging/taxi/rideshare expenses incurred within the duration of the conference dates.
Does reimbursement from the Financial Assistance program cover a registration fee?
If you choose reimbursement, you may ask for a registration to be reimbursed after the conference, up to the amount that is offered to you.
Can I be reimbursed for a registration fee that I already paid if I choose prepay as part of the Financial Assistance program?
Our system for complimentary registration applies a refund to a paid registration, so it is OK to pay for a registration before the financial assistance notification date (for example, if needed for a visa application).
Would the prepaid registration cover all events at ICLR?
Yes, prepaid in-person registration includes both workshop and conference registration. A virtual pass covers all aspects of the virtual conference.
How will reimbursement be processed as part of the Financial Assistance program?
The reimbursement process will begin the week of the ICLR event, when you will be asked to submit your expense report. Proof of in-person attendance at ICLR alongside proof of valid expenses (receipts) will be required as part of the expense report. Once submitted, reimbursement will be processed within 8 weeks. All reimbursements will be issued as a wire transfer from a US bank to the bank account you specify; US and international bank accounts are accepted. Bank transfers may incur processing fees of up to 40 USD per transaction; these fees will be deducted from the reimbursement amount if (with the fees) the total exceeds the offered amount.
We cannot expedite reimbursement for specific individuals. If your financial assistance needs are timely, please select prepay in the application form.