Awards and grants

The British Society for Population Studies holds several events throughout the year, in addition to the Annual Conference. These are organised by members on topics that they feel merit discussion. Suggestions for future events are always welcomed by the Secretariat, and may be jointly promoted with other organizations. BSPS provides a limited amount of funding and administrative support for these seminars. If you would like to organise a seminar, please use the proposal form below.

BSPS Day Meeting Funding Form

BSPS supports students of demography and UK local government demographers to attend its Annual Conference by awarding a limited number of bursaries to individuals to cover the registration and accommodation costs of participation, in the form of a waiver. 

Applicants must be presenting a paper or poster at the conference and be current BSPS student or local government members.

Application is via responding to the Conference Call for Papers, which generally runs February - April each year. The conference is held in September.

The Anne Shepherd New Investigator Award celebrates a promising early career demographer by giving them the opportunity to present their research in a plenary session at the annual conference.

Any BSPS member in academia who is within 5 years of receiving their PhD on the deadline is eligible to be nominated. Nominations are also welcomed from early career researchers working in local or national government, within 5 years of their appointment. Nominees who have worked part-time, taken periods of leave, or changed career may discount their time away from the profession. Candidates are frequently self-nominated but can also be nominated by a BSPS member. Nominations are made using the Nomination Form (see below).

In awarding this prize, the BSPS seeks to highlight both the scholar’s research achievements to date and their prospective research agenda, with significant contributions to population studies in the future in mind. In addition, the committee will consider service to the demographic community (serving on committees, organizing events, contributing to BSPS), contributing to public discussion of demographic issues, & developing novel demographic teaching methods. We welcome nominations from across the BSPS membership, including academia, local government, central government, or any other sector.

2027 deadline: 5pm UK time, Wednesday 21 April 2027

BSPS-Anne-Shepherd-New-Investigator-Award-nomination

The BSPS Low and Middle Income Countries Initiative sponsors an annual visit by a demographer from a low or middle income country who gives a presentation at the BSPS Conference, where they also get the opportunity to meet and develop contacts with UK demographers. The overall aim is to encourage long-term collaboration and joint projects, and it is anticipated that contacts will already exist between the person to be funded, and a UK institution or UK demographers, & that other appropriate meetings will be arranged by the UK contact during the visitor’s stay in the UK. 

The World Bank classification will be used to exclude applications from those working in High Income countries. See:

https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519-world-bank-country-and-lending-groups

There is one place available, for a budgeted programme of up to £2000, excluding conference registration & accommodation, reserved for activities that encourage collaboration between population demographers in the UK and low and middle income countries. Criteria to judge between applications will be the country’s average income, the potential to encourage collaboration between that country’s demographers and demographers in the UK, the potential for long-term collaboration and joint projects, the existence of links that can be built on, and the fulfilment of budgetary and other guidance provided by BSPS.

Applications should be completed jointly by the person intending to visit and their UK-based co-applicant. The UK-based co-applicant should submit the form to pic@lse.ac.uk by 5pm UK time, Monday 15 March 2027.

The LMIC visitor candidate should ensure that they also provide details of the paper they are proposing to present at Conference via the Call for Papers submission process when that is open at the Conference page (generally February-April each year).

The UK co-applicant should be a BSPS member. Successful LMIC visitor applicants will be awarded a year’s BSPS membership. 

Download form

BSPS provides bursaries for members of the society to attend conferences and professional meetings outside the UK. BSPS will normally offer support only for open conferences held overseas and not for internal seminars.

International travel grants are not awarded for the attendance of overseas members at the BSPS Conference, nor for other conferences held in the UK.

Applications will be considered at any time during the year. Applications must be made well in advance of the conference date. Grants are awarded on a first come, first served basis, at the discretion of the President and Honorary Treasurer, whose decision is final. A completed application form (below) must be submitted.

Up to 4 grants are awarded annually, up to a maximum of £500 per grant.

Eligibility criteria:

• Must have been a BSPS member for the full calendar year before the year of application, and the membership subscription must be up-to-date at the time of application.
• Awards are usually made for oral presentations. Posters may be considered.
• Presentations must be on a demographic topic.
• You may apply for an award at most every other year
• Must have exhausted other funding possibilities such as own department
• Preparation of a report of the conference for the BSPS Newsletter
• Presentation of a financial account
• Entry requirements to the country in question have been satisfied and a visa is in place, if required.

BSPS will monitor said conditions.

BSPS-international-travel-grant-application

Entries are invited for the 2025 BSPS Prize for the entry judged to be the best MSc. Dissertation on a demographic topic from the year 2025 (which would normally be at or around distinction level).

A cash prize of £300 is offered, which will be increased to £400 if there is a tie for first place and the Prize is split between two winners. The winner(s) will be announced at the BSPS Conference in September. For the purposes of this prize, demography is defined as: 

• the scientific study of human populations, especially with reference to their size, structure & distribution
• the scientific study of the determining processes, such as fertility, mortality and migration, and the relationship of these with the social, economic and cultural context within which they exist.

Please note that all entries should be submitted by the institution awarding the degree, or by the supervising academic, and not by the authors themselves.

A maximum of two entries per institution will be accepted. A word limit of 12,000 words per entry is encouraged, on the basis that it is very difficult to judge and compare entries of vastly differing lengths. However, longer dissertations may also be entered, with a section not exceeding the given word limit being nominated for judging.

Entries should be received as email attachments, one pdf per entry, by 5pm UK time, Friday 29 May 2026 at the BSPS Secretariat - pic[at]lse.ac.uk