Financial Aid / Diversity and Inclusion Program

The Diversity and Inclusion Financial Aid fund is CLOSED

BSides Melbourne committee cares about making a diverse and inclusive information security conference. This means extending a helping hand to those who need it, whether due to financial need or as members of underrepresented minority groups.

The committee is formed by passionate women and men who come from a diverse range of backgrounds. We truly want to ensure that the decisions we make as a group create an environment where all communities feel included and welcome.

​The Diversity and Inclusion Financial Aid fund is open to anyone who would like to attend the conference, speakers and trainers who wouldn’t normally be able to. In particular (but not limited to) we are very keen to reach out to underrepresented groups in Tech. These include women and those identifying as women or non-binary, neuro-diverse, people of colour, LGBTIQ+, First Nations and Torres Strait Islander, people with disabilities and / or accessibility challenges, remote and regional, career returners and career changers) with assistance to help broaden the diversity of conference attendees. We highly encourage students to apply.

Our Diversity and Inclusion Financial Aid fund is proudly sponsored by our amazing community who generously buy donation tickets.

How does it work?

1. Fill out our short form.
2. We will periodically consider batches of applications, we will contact successful recipients and work through the details of assistance they need.

Please note that in some cases the applicant will need to book something themselves, to be later reimbursed by BSides Melbourne.

It is always challenging to compare and contrast different applications, however, we consistently look for these elements:

• We are prioritising diverse applicants – but not exclusively, hence the name of the fund.
• We do attempt to maximise cost efficiency so we can help more people
• We look for people who are genuine learners and want to contribute back to the wider community, and may already be doing so
• We also look for people who might not yet have many community connections, and that by attending BSides Melbourne, we can help improve their chances for employment

If you have any questions please drop us an email.

(We thank BSidesWLG for letting us borrow many of your words!)