When should I start attending conferences?

When you are working as an academic, attending conferences is an important part of your job. Attending a conference allows you to present your work to the academic community, to hear about the latest research by others in your field, and to network with fellow researchers to help expand your knowledge and promote your career.

If you're a student and you want to go into a career in academia, you might think about attending a conference yourself. Knowing that they are important for your career, is it a good idea to start attending conferences now? If not now, then when? When is the right time to start attending conferences? This is the topic which we're considering today.

Attending conferences as a undergraduate student

As an undergraduate student, it might be useful to attend a conference in order to see and hear your field in action. Beyond what you are taught in your classes, at a conference you can see what the big issues and major disagreements are in your subject. You shouldn't expect to be invited to present any of your own work as an undergraduate student, but you may attend to listen and learn.

However, it is difficult for an undergraduate student to get funding to attend a conference. You will need funding in order to pay for registration at the conference (which can costs several hundred Euros or more) as well as paying for travel and accommodation if the conference is taking place outside of your home town. Some university departments will have small amounts of funding available to undergraduate students, and some conferences may have a small number of pre-paid places which are awarded to impressive students. But these funding opportunities are rare.

For this reason, it's not usually necessary for undergraduate students to attend conferences. One thing that you can do is to attend smaller events such as workshops or seminars which are held in your home city. In this case, you don't need to pay for travel or accommodation.

Attending conferences as a master's student

During a master's program, there is usually a small amount of money available to fund students attending conferences, either from their home department or from the hosting university. It can be helpful for a master's student to attend a conference in order to hear about the latest research – especially if the conference is focused on their area of specialisation. If you are performing a master's research project as part of a larger group, then your supervisor may wish for you to attend a relevant conference along with the rest of the group.

If you can get funding as a master's student, you might consider attending a smaller national conference. These conferences are generally calmer and cheaper than the big international conferences, so they are a good starting place for new students. If you can't get funding to attend a big conference, then do make an effort to attend events in your home town to broaden your knowledge.

Attending conferences during your PhD

During a PhD is when it's most important for students to start attending conferences. In most PhD programs, there will be money set aside in the budget to pay for students to attend conferences. You might be limited to how many conferences you can attend (for example, attending one conference per year might be typical) or there may be a certain set budget of how much you can spend (for example, you could choose to attend one large international conference with high costs, or attend two or three smaller conferences with lower costs). It's a good idea to find out about the budgets for travel and conference attendance which are available to you, so you don't miss out on this opportunity.

It's also possible that during your PhD you may be invited to give a talk or present a poster at a conference. This is definitely an opportunity worth taking up, as you will get to hear feedback on your work from experts in the field, and having a presentation on your CV will look impressive to prospective employers.

So there you have it – during a PhD is when it's most important to start attending conferences. For a list of conferences which you could attend, have a look at our site at CONFERENCEMONKEY.ORG.

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