Scholarships
Every year, IATEFL Besig offers two scholarships:
First-time Speaker Scholarship
for the IATEFL BESIG Annual Conference
Facilitator Scholarship
for the IATEFL Annual Conference
This scholarship is for a first-time speaker at the Annual IATEFL BESIG Conference. It is intended to encourage our fellow business English professionals to share their valuable experience and knowledge with the community. It is an ideal opportunity to actively participate in this dynamic, well-established conference and show others what you have to offer. In return you benefit both professionally and financially.
To qualify you must:
have been a member of IATEFL BESIG for at least the last six months
have participated in IATEFL BESIG activities (e.g. contributed to discussions in social media, have written a post for the IATEFL BESIG blog or an article for the newsletter, attended a webinar or weekend workshop, organised or participated in a local event on business English)
agree to give a talk or workshop on an aspect of teaching business English at the IATEFL BESIG Annual Conference
write up your conference experience for the next edition of Business Issues.
To be considered you should:
submit a 250-word summary outlining how you became involved in teaching, why you
enjoy it, how you found out about IATEFL BESIG and your involvement with SIG activities.
submit your proposal for your talk or workshop by the due date.
write a short bio of 30 words or less.
send a recent photo.
All applicants, including the winner, will be contacted by a set date by the IATEFL BESIG committee whose decision is final.
The scholarship consists of:
a year’s membership to IATEFL including BESIG membership
a waived registration fee for the IATEFL BESIG Annual Conference
a grant of 750 GBP for your travel and accommodation
The IATEFL BESIG Facilitator Scholarship enables an IATEFL Business English SIG (BESIG) member to attend the IATEFL Conference and to give a presentation during the BESIG Showcase.
This scholarship is for a business English practitioner who has been an IATEFL BESIG member for at least six months. It will be awarded to a person interested in starting up and/or facilitating local business English events in their home areas and contributing to IATEFL BESIG through articles for Business Issues or any of BESIG's web-based communication tools.
The scholarship consists of:
registration for the BESIG Pre-Conference Event
registration for the IATEFL Conference
GBP 750.00 payable at the conference, which you can use towards your travel,
accommodation or any other conference-related expenses
To qualify you must:
have been an individual member of IATEFL and the Business English SIG for at least 6 months at the time you apply
have played an active role in IATEFL BESIG, e.g. by writing an article for the newsletter, contributing to the blog, doing a weekend workshop, taking part in the BESIG Electronic Village Online (EVO) session, or organising a local event.
give a presentation or lead a workshop on an aspect of teaching business English during the IATEFL BESIG Showcase at the IATEFL Conference; please note that this needs to be a presentation / workshop which has not been given at an earlier conference
undertake to promote IATEFL BESIG in your area as well as to organize and/ or report on business English events
have good ICT skills and a sound knowledge of Web 2.0 technologies
write a 700-word report of your Conference experience for the Business Issues newsletter by the end of May 2025
To be considered you should submit:
an online speaker proposal on business English by the scholarship deadline which needs to adhere to IATEFL proposal guidelines
a 400-500 word summary outlining your plans for facilitating business English in your area
Previous First-Time Speaker Scholarship Winners
2015 - Joanna Malefaki - Greece
2016 - Sherri Williams - Germany
2017 - Louise Goodman - Italy
2018 - Maria Isabel Huaccho - Peru
2019 - Virginia Lopez Grisolia - Argentina
2020 - Shweta Paropkari - India
2022 - Lucyna Wilikiewicz- Górniak - Poland
2023 - Uma Tadema - Germany
Previous Facilitator Scholarship Winners
2011 - Mercedes Viola - Uruguay
2012 - Jennifer Verschoor - Argentina
2013 - Atul Sharma - India
2014 - Justine Arena & Dana Poklepovic - Brazil & Argentina
2015 - Olena Korol & Evelina Miscin - Ukraine & Croatia
2016 - Jennie Wright & Elena Mateva - Germany & Russia
50th anniversary scholarship - Oksana Hera & Lalitha Murthy - Ukraine & India
2017 - Rob Howard - Brazil
2018 - Alan Simpson - Japan
2019 - Andreea Nechifor - Romania
2020-2021 - Mary Sousa - Hungary
2022 - Karin Heuert Galvão - Brazil
2023 - Julia Koifman - Israel
How to apply
Details on how and when to apply for the scholarships will be announced when they are offered again on the IATEFL events page (First-time Speaker Scholarship) and scholarships section (Facilitator Scholarship).
Applications for the 58th IATEFL Conference in Edinburgh are now closed
Congratulations to all winners!
To view all scholarship announcements, please visit the IATEFL website. If you have any questions about scholarships or the application process, please email conference@iatefl.org.