Call for 2026 Travel Awards Applications

• The Society of Nematologists Honors and Awards Committee anticipates awarding 15 student travel grants to support students presenting papers (oral or poster) at the 2026 Annual Meeting.  Awardees will receive a $500 industry-sponsored travel grant supplemented by $150 from the Society of Nematologists.
  Note: awardees will be responsible for the registration costs in excess of the $150 SON-sponsored discount.
  
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   Nathan A. Cobb Travel Awards

• The N.A. Cobb Foundation will be granting travel awards, each worth $1,000, to support students presenting papers (oral or poster) at the 2026 Annual Meeting. Each recipient will receive their award during the conference.

• Note: The Richard Sikora Fund for Plant-parasitic Nematode Management is the only Cobb award that is open to both students and early career post-doctoral researchers alike, but recipients must be SON members.  Post-doc awardees will be required to give an oral presentation in a regular session to qualify for the award.
  

• For more information about Cobb Foundation awards and endowments see  https://nematologists.org/Cobb_Endowments. Awardees will be responsible for their conference registration costs.

Eligibility Requirements for Travel Award Applicants:

Procedure for Applying for a Travel Award:

• Applying for a travel award requires completing three steps. Applicants must 1) fully complete the online travel award application page (button link below), 2) wherein you will be required to submit a cover letter and presentation abstract as a single PDF file, and 3) submit the same abstract (no cover letter) but in word document format at the same time as submitting the travel award application materials.
  

• The cover letter required for step 2 above must be no more than 1 page long and describe the student’s research and also explain why the student wants to attend the SON meeting. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR LAST NAME IS INCLUDED IN THE NAME OF YOUR PDF FILE SUBMISSION. (e.g. "WramC_SON2026TravelAward.pdf")

• The abstract must follow the guidelines for the annual meeting, as described on the 2026 Annual Meeting Abstract Submission Guidelines.  NOTE: Abstracts submitted must be reviewed by two people, and submitting an abstract for the meeting requires payment of a $50 fee. If you are not selected for a travel award and are unable to attend the conference, this fee will be reimbursed to you.

Criteria for selecting award recipients will be based primarily on the quality of science; however, instances of financial need may be taken into consideration.

Special thanks to our Travel Award Sponsors: