I’m starting my internship at a Japanese NGO working towards eliminating violence against women soon in September. This is part of my university curriculum, so I get credits for it. While there’s no university grant available, I get paid by the organisation – albeit a minimum wage.
They have asked me if I wanted to go to an international conference in the field in Australia. They said they’ll cover the participation fee (1500 AUD) and hotel expenses, but not the flight tickets. It will be around 100,000 yen (which is around 680 USD, and is around 55% of my monthly income from the internship).
For my future, I wanna do academic research in that field. And I will be applying to masters programmes and scholarships for 2026.
So my question is: is it worth it to spend 680 USD to go to the conference, as an investment for future?
I’m still an undergrad student so I’ve never participated any kind of conference. Is having an experience of joining a conference boost my resume and scholarship applications?? I’ve been thinking for so long. And I’d like to hear your thoughts on this…
Comments
You may be able to find an external fellowship of some kind to cover the flights? My take is if you are going to be presenting research (even just something you did in your internship) at this conference, probably worth it, if you will just be a guest, probably not if flights aren’t paid for
680 bucks is a big hit when you’re on student income, I feel you. But if your future goal is research + grad school, an international conference could really stand out on applications, especially since it ties directly to your field. Even just networking and saying you’ve been exposed to global perspectives might help later. If you can swing it without wrecking your finances, I’d lean yes. If it means you’re eating instant noodles for 3 months straight, maybe think twice.
i did something similar! it turned out to be a really good investment in the long run (got collaboration opportunities, papers, a great network, etc) BUT i don’t think i would recommend it or would have done it as an undergrad. i did it during my master’s, i knew i wanted to do a phd, i knew what i wanted to do in a phd, and i specifically attended the conference with goals to improve my chances at a phd acceptance. i also presented research. i don’t think conference attendances mean too much for master’s program applications. if they have the option, maybe attend virtually!
I have been where you are. My grad advisor went all over speaking about our work but didn’t send students. My final year I wanted to go to an international conference. He said fine but he wouldn’yt support me. My parents helped and my mom traveled with me. We had a wonderful time and I met some real influential people including my future postdoctoral advisor there. It would have been great if the my advisor, the dept, or the university had even helped but they didn’t. I learned alot about myself and am so proud of the investment I made in myself and my future. I hope your dept and uni will invest in you but even if they don’t I hope you will choose to invest in yourself. I hope you will have a wonderful experience, develop a strong network and never look back