Financial Supports to attend

Gary Marsden Travel awards

The Gary Marsden Travel Awards aim to support undergraduate and graduate students and early-career researchers (i.e., those who received their Ph.D. ≤5 years ago) in attending HCI conferences and events. SIGCHI will prioritize presenters and first-timers.

There are seven deadlines: the 9th of January, February, March, May, July, September, and November at 11:59 PM AoE.

This fund is named in honour of Gary Marsden’s contributions and inspiration in HCI4D and for the global HCI community. 

Apply to the SIGCHI Gary Marsden Travel Award


Who was Gary Marsden?

“Gary Marsden a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa, was a passionate advocate for people – all people.  He pioneered the field of Information and Computer Technology for Development (ICT4D) and, in his own wonderfully unpretentious way, he changed the world in positive ways for his students, his colleagues, his community, the profession and, indeed, the world.  A self-described geek, he created technology WITH people rather than just for them, so that the result would actually meet their needs so that it would empower them.  After getting his doctorate and working for several years in London, he moved to South Africa to teach at UCT in 1999.  There, his research focused on mobile device interfaces because mobiles are ubiquitous in most of the “developing” world, and he became world-renowned for his work.  He died very suddenly of a heart attack in December, 2013 at the age of 43, just days before his birthday.  It is in his honour and memory that this program is named for him.” 

For more information on Gary’s life, see this 2014 article http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/march-april-2014/in-memory-of-gary-marsden

For more information of this program of student support from SIGCHI please see: https://sigchi.org/awards/gary-marsden-travel-awards/