CROI invites community leaders who engage in communications and educational activities focused on HIV 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.

CROI is an intensely science-focused meeting during which a large volume of data- and research-based HIV information is presented. Individuals who are awarded the CROI Community Scholarship are leaders who are highly motivated to learn and apply the ever-evolving research around HIV 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

Scholarship application submission is open. Log in or create an account on the Abstract and Scholarship Submission system to submit a scholarship application for CROI 2021. Before submitting, please review the guidelines on this page.

Scholarship Details

The awards are needs based and include a waived conference registration fee.

CROI Community Scholarship awards are limited and highly competitive. Applicants must be actively involved in HIV in their communities. Only candidates affiliated with organizations that provide communications, advocacy, and/or educational services in support of HIV 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 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 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 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.