CROI invites community leaders who engage in communications and educational activities focused on HIV and—new to virtual CROI 2021—COVID-19 prevention, treatment, or cure research to apply for a CROI Community Scholarship. Community Scholarship applicants must demonstrate an established commitment to sharing scientific knowledge with stakeholders as well as an ability to expand research and science literacy among communities affected by HIV or COVID-19.

CROI is an intensely science-focused meeting. Individuals who are awarded the CROI Community Scholarship are leaders who are highly motivated to learn and apply the ever-evolving research around HIV or COVID-19 prevention, treatment, and cure concepts. To be considered for a Community Scholarship, applicants must demonstrate the competency and skills to translate complicated science to a wide array of community members and stakeholders in different contexts.

Scholarship Application Submission is Open

Notifications for the first round of scholarship submissions will be sent by email on or around January 15, 2021.

Community Scholarship submission is closed. Dispositions will be sent out by email on or around February 16, 2021. Visit the Important Dates page for information about other important milestones for vCROI 2021.

Scholarship Details

Scholarship Award

Recipients of a Community Scholarship award will receive complementary access to the conference. 

Please note, this year only registered attendees will have access to the meeting content during and after the conference. vCROI 2021 will have live interactive and engaging sessions in a variety of formats, networking, rich program of on-demand content that will be released each day, and other conference materials. Additionally, registered attendees will be eligible to claim CME credit, ABIM MOC points, and a Certificate of Participation, and will have enduring access to the on-demand materials after the conference. 

Community Scholarship awardees will have exclusive access to live and on-demand sessions and networking opportunities tailored toward Community Scholarship awardees, including the Community Breakfast Program.  

Unlike previous years, access to on-demand presentations and materials will not be  available to the public until 6 months after the conference. Additional details will be available after the conference ends. 

Scholarship Criteria

CROI Community Scholarship awards are limited and highly competitive. Applicants must be actively involved in HIV or COVID-19 in their communities. Only candidates affiliated with organizations that provide communications, advocacy, and/or educational services in support of HIV or COVID-19 prevention, treatment, and/or cure research will be considered (limit of 2 applications per organization).

Applicants will be assessed on motivation, creativity, competency, literacy, and their demonstrable ability to understand and disseminate HIV or COVID-19 research. Scoring will include the overall quality of the application as well as the applicant’s letter of recommendation. The selection committee will consider the following: 1) experience and aptitude in understanding and disseminating conference-acquired information, 2) application quality, 3) work setting, 4) literacy level in science and evidence of strong command of English, and 5) applicant’s degree of financial need.

Preference is given to individuals who:

  • Have demonstrated the capacity and commitment to deliver science- and research-based HIV or COVID-19 information directly related to affected communities.
  • Engage in community communication and/or education efforts beyond those related to direct-to-client prevention services (including biomedical-focused services) and/or recruiting HIV or COVID-19 clinical trial participants.

Medical professionals, administrators, researchers, and media professionals are not eligible to apply for the CROI Community Scholarship.

All CROI Community Scholarship awardees are required to attend the full conference, including the Program Committee Workshop for New Investigators and Trainees. At the close of the Conference, scholarship awardees must have completed the daily and overall conference evaluations.

Scholarship awardees who cannot attend must decline the award. The awarded scholarship is not transferable.

Please note: Preference may be given to those that have not received the Community Scholarship in the past. Due to the transition of CROI 2020 from an in-person to a virtual conference, scholarships received that year will not be included in the consideration of the number of scholarships the applicant has received.

How to Apply

Community Scholarship applications should be submitted as part of the abstract submission process through the CROI Abstract and Scholarship Submission system. The person submitting this application must be the scholarship applicant. Applicants may submit only 1 type of CROI Scholarship (eg, New Investigator Scholarship, International Investigator Scholarship, or Community Scholarship) application.

The Community Scholarship application must include a letter of recommendation from a mentor or leadership from the applicant’s institution or organization. The letter of recommendation should be placed on the institutional letterhead and signed by the person providing the recommendation. The letter must be saved as a PDF file and uploaded by the scholarship applicant.

Visit the Important Dates page for information about other important milestones for CROI 2021.