ICLR 2026 Financial Assistance and Volunteering

ICLR 2026 Financial Assistance and Volunteering The ICLR 2026 Financial Assistance program aims to fund student and other early-career contributors (conference authors, workshop and tiny paper authors, reviewers, etc.) to attend the ICLR conference and workshops in person and virtually. We aim to simultaneously consider inclusion criteria, such as affinity group membership, financial hardship and cost of attendance, and first-time attendance at ICLR. Financial assistance recipients will receive a combination of a prepaid registration (to conference and workshop events) and/or a prepaid hotel stay (up to 6 nights) next to the event venue. Recipients can also opt in an application to instead receive this financial assistance in the form of monetary reimbursement for travel expenses (transit, accommodation, etc.) up to a near-equivalent value. Sponsoring the ICLR 2026 Financial Assistance Program The ICLR 2026 Financial Assistance Program directly supports registration fees, accommodation near the conference venue, and travel for those who might otherwise be unable to attend. Last year, we supported around 325 researchers to attend ICLR 2025. These grants are made possible through generous contributions from our sponsors and supporters who share our commitment to fostering the machine learning community. Would your organization be interested in sponsoring the ICLR 2026 Financial Assistance Program ? Contact Andrea Brown to learn more about making a direct impact. Updates 13 Jan: The volunteer application has opened 5 Feb: The financial assistance application has opened Important dates Volunteering ⏳ Application deadline : March 8th, '26 (AoE) 📢 Decision notification : March 16th, '26 (AoE) Financial Assistance ⏳ Application deadline : March 1st, '26 (AoE) 📢 Decision notification : March 9th, '26 (AoE) How to apply ICLR 2026 Volunteer Application » Expected completion time: 5 minutes. To fill out the ICLR 2026 Volunteer Application form, you will need: An ICLR.cc account. Your in-person or virtual availability to volunteer during the conference . A final decision on any conference paper submissions to ICLR 2026. Your t-shirt size. ICLR 2026 Financial Assistance Application » Expected completion time: 20–30 minutes. Responses can be modified until the deadline. To fill out the ICLR 2026 Financial Assistance Application form, you will need: An ICLR.cc account. An OpenReview.net account. If attending in person: Details of your intended travel to Rio (dates, point of origin, approximate cost). A final decision on any conference paper, blog post, or workshop paper submissions to ICLR 2026. A short justification statement of your need for financial assistance . A short motivation statement on the impact of attending ICLR 2026 on your research career. Questions? Before getting in touch, please read the FAQs below to reduce our email burden. For further questions or information regarding this program, please reach to the ICLR 2026 Financial & Participation Chairs via the ICLR contact page . Frequently asked questions (FAQs) Should I register for the conference before being notified about financial assistance / volunteering? ⚠️ If you need a visa: You should register for ICLR, generate your visa letter and apply for your visa as soon as possible. Only registered participants can receive a Visa Invitation Letter. We cannot make exceptions to this policy for liability reasons. We offer an extended cancellation deadline if you apply for your visa by the deadline specified in our cancellation policy , If you do register and later receive a complimentary registration, a refund will be applied to the method of payment used to pay for your registration, so it is OK to register ahead of time. Can I submit my financial assistance application before registering for the conference? Does my registration status (registered/unregistered) affect my eligibility for financial assistance? Yes, you can submit your financial assistance application before conference registration. No, your registration status does not affect eligibility for the financial assistance grant. Can I apply for both financial assistance and volunteering? Yes, you may apply to both. You may also wait to apply for volunteering until after you hear back from financial assistance. It is unlikely that you would be selected for both programs, but applying to both will not lower the chance of acceptance at either. Can you extend the financial assistance application deadline to account for a late workshop decision notification date? No: The financial assistance application deadline is already as late as possible. ICLR 2026 workshop organizers choose their own timelines, but have been made aware of the deadline to announce workshop decisions by March 1st. It is their responsibility to meet this deadline to support their authors. How likely am I to be funded by the ICLR 2026 Volunteering or Financial Assistance programs? Will I be funded if I am (not) a student, or (not) an author of an accepted conference paper? Our funding determinations will balance conference participation, inclusion, and other factors across the applicant pool, and so we cannot provide eligibility determinations or funding guarantees before the notification date. We have several priority categories in mind: student authors , contributors from underrepresented demographic groups , and contributors from underrepresented geographic regions . Both conference and workshop authorship are considered contributions for the purposes of financial assistance. If in doubt about your eligibility, please just apply. Do I need to volunteer to receive financial assistance? No, you do not need to volunteer if you receive a financial assistance grant. However, if you are part of the volunteering program, you will need to complete a volunteering shift to receive a refund in the amount you paid for registration. You can apply for both the financial assistance grant and to be volunteer. Do the ICLR 2026 Volunteering or Financial Assistance programs cover virtual aspects of ICLR? Yes: A virtual-only registration. What is the format of financial assistance given by the Financial Assistance program? In the Financial Assistance Application form, you may choose one of the following two formats: Prepay (*) : One or both of: (i) registration to attend the ICLR 2026 conference and workshops; (ii) a hotel stay of 6 nights near the ICLR 2026 venue. Prepaid support would be managed by the ICLR event staff, and would require no up-front payment from the recipient. Reimbursement : Between xxx and xxx USD to cover incurred travel expenses. Reimbursement-based support would require the recipient to pay expenses upfront, and wait for reimbursement for up to 8 weeks after the ICLR event. (*) We aim to honor all requests for prepay but have a natural upper limit on the number of hotel rooms we can offer within our block (up to 40 rooms). In the case that we exceed this limit, some applicants who selected prepay will instead be awarded reimbursement . May I receive a combination of reimbursement-based and prepaid support as part of the Financial Assistance program? To simplify our logistics, we are unable to offer recipients a mixture of reimbursement and prepay. Please choose one of the two support formats that is most appropriate for your situation. Can I modify my support format that I chose in the Financial Assistance Application form later on? Because of our tight logistics and timeline, we will not accept requests to modify the support format after the financial assistance application deadline (⏳); however, it is possible to edit your response to this form up to this deadline. What is the financial assistance amount for prepay / reimbursement as part of the Financial Assistance program?? Financial assistance amounts are determined on a case-by-case basis across three tiers. Financial assistance recipients will be notified of the tier they are awarded on the general financial assistance decision notification date (📢). The three financial assistance tiers are below. Note that the reimbursement option offers lower equivalent monetary value, and requires you to pay expenses upfront, and wait for reimbursement for up to 8 weeks after the ICLR event. However, reimbursement covers more expense categories than prepay . Tier 1 prepay : registration + hotel stay (valued at xxx USD (for students) or more) Tier 1 reimbursement : up to xxx USD Tier 2 prepay : hotel stay (valued at xxx USD) Tier 2 reimbursement : up to xxx USD Tier 3 prepay : registration (valued at xxx USD for students, or more) Tier 3 reimbursement : up to xxx USD In which hotel are prepaid hotel stays awarded as part of the Financial Assistance program? The hotel has not yet been selected What proof of expenses do I need for reimbursement be processed as part of the Financial Assistance program? A valid receipt for reimbursement through the ICLR Financial Assistance program must be legible and complete, showing: the vendor's name, purchase date, itemized prices, taxes, total amount, and proof that payment was made in full. The receipt must be provided by the vendor. If not in the local currency of the conference, the currency must be clearly indicated. Digital receipts are valid if they contain all required information. If a receipt is in a language other than English, provide a translation of key details. For shared expenses (like a hotel room with multiple occupants), indicate your specific portion. For taxi and ride-sharing services, the receipt must show pick-up and drop-off locations. All expenses require receipts without exception. Receipts missing any required information may result in delayed or denied reimbursement. Booking confirmations, credit card statements, or unpaid invoices are not acceptable because they don't show proof that payment was made to the vendor. To be reimbursed, you must also show that you attended ICLR in person (e.g., by providing a boarding pass to your flight to and from Reo). What kinds of expenses are eligible to be covered by reimbursement as part of the Financial Assistance program? Expenses associated with attending the conference in person are generally accepted, which includes transportation ( e.g. , flight or train tickets) to and from the conference site, registration fees associated with the conference, visa fees required for travel, and food/lodging/taxi/rideshare expenses incurred within the duration of the conference dates. Does reimbursement from the Financial Assistance program cover a registration fee? If you choose reimbursement, you may ask for a registration to be reimbursed after the conference, up to the amount that is offered to you. Can I be reimbursed for a registration fee that I already paid if I choose prepay as part of the Financial Assistance program? Our system for complimentary registration applies a refund to a paid registration, so it is OK to pay for a registration before the financial assistance notification date (for example, if needed for a visa application). Would the prepaid registration cover all events at ICLR? Yes, prepaid in-person registration includes both workshop and conference registration. A virtual pass covers all aspects of the virtual conference. How will reimbursement be processed as part of the Financial Assistance program? The reimbursement process will begin the week of the ICLR event, when you will be asked to submit your expense report. Proof of in-person attendance at ICLR alongside proof of valid expenses (receipts) will be required as part of the expense report. Once submitted, reimbursement will be processed within 8 weeks . All reimbursements will be issued as a wire transfer from a US bank to the bank account you specify; US and international bank accounts are accepted. Bank transfers may incur processing fees of up to 40 USD per transaction; these fees will be deducted from the reimbursement amount if (with the fees) the total exceeds the offered amount. We cannot expedite reimbursement for specific individuals. If your financial assistance needs are timely, please select prepay in the application form. What happens to my financial assistance support if I am not able to attend the conference in person? ⚠️ First, please notify the ICLR Financial & Participation Chairs as soon as you become aware of your change in plans so that we can re-allocate funds (and especially prepaid hotel rooms, which are a financial loss to ICLR if unoccupied). Any prepaid registrations from ICLR Financial Assistance will not be revoked if the awardee does not attend the conference in person; all such registrations cover virtual attendance, and so there is no need to change registration types. If you were promised a reimbursement amount from ICLR Financial Assistance, but you won't attend ICLR in person, you won't be able to claim this reimbursement amount. Successful Page Load ICLR uses cookies for essential functions only. We do not sell your personal information. Our Privacy Policy » Accept