Travel grants and Awards

Hayward-Prior travel grants

A limited number of grants will be awarded to MSc and PhD students to cover travel costs, hotel costs and conference attendance. The goal of these awards is to honour the memory of two researchers who pioneered Ralstonia research by highlighting the work of the young scientists who are the future of our discipline, especially those from lower-income countries.

Alan Christopher Hayward (1932-2014) was an Australian scientist who spent his career working on bacterial wilt at the University of Queensland. He collected hundreds of strains in Australasia and South America and published extensively. His 1991 Annual Review of Phytopathology article is still a great introduction to what is now known as the RSSC.

Philippe Prior’s name was added to the symposium after his untimely death (1957-2018). Although he was French, Philippe spent most of his career in Africa, the Caribbean, Australia, and the Southwest Indian Ocean. Fascinated by the diversity of plant pathogenic Ralstonia, he collected and characterized thousands of strains. Philippe's pathbreaking genetic analyses revealed the phylogeny of the R. solanacearum species complex, replacing problematic old subclassifications with the four phylotypes and three species that we recognize today. Above and beyond this, Philippe was an exuberant colleague and a devoted mentor of early career scientists.

The Hayward-Prior awards are financed by a generous contribution from Prof. Caitilyn Allen from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as contributions from our other sponsors.

To apply for a Hayward-Prior travel grant, please register for the conference here and submit your abstract as detailed here. Then apply for a grant by sending an email to ibws2026@gmail.com. The deadline for application is 15 November 2025.

Please include the following:

• short motivation letter (max 1 page)
• short CV (max 1 page)
• confirmation of your status as MSc or PhD student in a relevant field with a letter from an academic authority

Applications will be evaluated as soon as possible after the deadline and the outcome of this evaluation will be communicated before January 15th. In case you wish to cancel your attendance based on the outcome of this evaluation, the full conference fee will be refunded.

Best student contribution award

The IBWS best student contribution awards will be granted to the best oral and poster presentations, and will consist of a special grant as well as a certificate.