Funded by industry partnerships, open to academic researchers
The Jorgensen Foundation awards travel grants to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers attending and presenting at international computational chemistry conferences and symposia. The grant programme is funded entirely by revenue from industry partnerships — companies that subscribe to the platform at the industry rate directly enable academic researchers to share their work with the world.
We believe that scientific progress depends on the exchange of ideas at meetings, and that financial barriers should not determine who gets to participate. Every industry subscription makes it possible for a student somewhere in the world to attend a conference they could not otherwise afford.
Grants are awarded twice per year, in March and September. Applications are reviewed by the Foundation's scientific committee, which includes members of the Jorgensen Research Group and external advisors from the computational chemistry community.
The grant is open to researchers at accredited academic institutions who are actively using Jorgensen Foundation programs in their research. All applicants must hold a current academic subscription at the time of application.
Awards cover direct costs associated with attending the conference. Funds are disbursed after the conference upon submission of receipts.
Register an academic account
Create a Jorgensen Foundation account using your institutional email address. Academic pricing is applied automatically to addresses with .edu, .ac.uk, and equivalent domains. If your institution uses a non-standard domain, contact us to verify your affiliation before applying.
Use the programs in your research
Your application must describe research that uses one or more Jorgensen Foundation programs — BOSS, MCPRO, BOMB, FEP, or the OPLS force fields. The work does not need to be published, but it should be at a stage where you can present it at the conference.
Obtain a supervisor letter of support
A short letter of support (one page or less) from your PhD supervisor, postdoctoral mentor, or department head is required. The letter should confirm your enrollment or affiliation, briefly describe the research, and endorse the application. It may be submitted as a PDF or included in the application as text.
Submit the application form below
Complete the form on this page. Provide the conference name, date, and location; the amount you are requesting; and a brief description (200–400 words) of the research you will present and how it uses the Foundation's programs. We aim to notify all applicants within three weeks of the application deadline.
Attend and submit receipts
If your application is successful, you will receive notification by email with payment instructions. Funds are released after the conference upon submission of receipts for covered expenses. Awardees are also invited to submit a short post-conference report for publication on the Foundation's website.
Complete all fields below. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis during open cycles. The current cycle closes 31 July 2026.
No. You do not need an accepted paper or abstract at the time of application, though preference is given to applicants who are presenting work (oral or poster). If you are accepted to present after submitting your grant application, please let us know and we will update your application accordingly. Research that is in progress and not yet published is fully eligible.
Applicants may apply in both the March and September cycles, but may receive at most one award per calendar year. If you received a grant in a previous year, you may apply again, though priority is given to first-time recipients where the pool of qualified applicants exceeds available funding.
We define an international conference as any meeting that draws attendees from multiple countries and has a formal review process for presentations. This includes major society meetings such as ACS, APS, and EuroQSAR, as well as specialist workshops and Gordon Research Conferences. Single-institution or regional events are generally not eligible. If you are unsure whether your target conference qualifies, contact us before applying.
We aim to notify all applicants within three weeks of the cycle closing date. Applications submitted during an open cycle are reviewed together after the deadline — we do not make rolling decisions mid-cycle. Notification is by email to the address provided in your application. If you have not heard within four weeks of the deadline, please contact us at info@jorgensenfoundation.org.
Applications are reviewed by the Foundation's scientific committee, which assesses the quality and relevance of the research described, the applicant's career stage and financial need, the reputation and scope of the conference, and the extent to which the work uses the Foundation's programs. We aim to distribute awards across different institutions, career stages, and research topics where possible. All decisions are final.