Diversity and Financial Aid Fund
OWASP New Zealand Day 2023
Applications for support through our Diversity and Financial Fund are now open and will be accepted on a continuing basis, until 23 June (or sooner, if funds are exhausted).
Each year, we have some funding available to help people from around New Zealand attend the OWASP New Zealand Day conference, who would otherwise find it hard to attend. In particular, we welcome applications from women, people of colour, LGBTQ2IA, Pacific Island indigenous peoples, and all others. You all deserve to be able to learn more about security, and we’ll do our best to help make that happen!
For participants from within New Zealand, support provided by the fund can include waiver of the conference registration fee, waiver of Pre-Conference Training registration fees, return airfare to Auckland, an allowance for accommodations in Auckland, an allowance for taxi/Uber/bus fares to/from the airports, and lunches at the conference venue. Other meals and incidentals (including conference t-shirts) are at your own expense.
If funds are available, support may be extended to a limited number of applicants from outside New Zealand. For such applicants, support provided by the fund would be limited to an allowance for accommodations and taxi/Uber/bus fares in Auckland (i.e., no assistance will be offered for international airfares).
A limited number of fee waivers is available for each Pre-Conference Training class. On the application, you can indicate if you’d like to be considered for a training fee waiver, and provide your class preferences. If selected to receive a fee waiver for classroom training, your award may include accommodation for the training day(s), as well.
Our funds are limited, and we’ll be reviewing applications every week, starting in mid-May. Submit your application soon, so we can approve them promptly, and you’ll be in several review cycles!
Another Funding Option
This year, our funds are extremely limited, so our ability to provide funding for travel and accommodation is much less than in previous years.
But, there is another option. Internet NZ has established a Conference Attendance Award program, which is accepting applications for travel support on a first-in, first-served basis.
We strongly encourage you to consider applying for travel support from Internet NZ, in conjunction with a request for waiver of your conference and training fees from us. When applying for the Conference Attendance Award, list the total amount of your fee waiver request ($30 for conference registration, plus $250/$500/$1,000 per class for training registration) in the “Amount Requested from Other Sources” field of the application.
- For more information, visit Internet NZ’s Grants page.
- To get your Award application started, go to their Online Submission Portal
- To request your conference and training fee waivers from us, fill out our Application Form - Mention your application to the Award program in the description of your support request.
Process for Applying for Diversity Fund Support
- Fill out our Application Form
- We will review and approve applications each week.
- We will contact all applicants and let them know the results of the review.
- Successful applicants are responsible for booking their own travel and accommodations.
- Diversity fund travel support is provided as a reimbursement, after the conference, of actual expenses incurred - up to the specified allowance for each item.
We use the following criteria to help us decide who gets approved:
- We are biased towards (but not exclusively for) diverse applicants.
- We do attempt to maximise cost efficiency and will aim to get as many people to the event as possible, with our limited funds.
Applicants’ and funding recipients’ identities will not be disclosed to anyone outside the Diversity Fund committee (including the AppSec NZ Treasurer, who will process reimbursements).
If you have any questions, feel free to drop us an email.