Welcome

* * * Applications for the next round of IFAC Activity Fund awards will open in March/April 2025! * * *

What is the IFAC Activity Fund?

The IFAC Activity Fund invites applications for financial support of initiatives that foster and promote the control community. The fund sponsors initiatives that:

  • Maximize control community engagement;
  • Promote inclusion and diversity in alignment with the IFAC guidelines;
  • Increase control engineering influence in public discourse and decision-making.

Financial assistance of Euro 2,500 - 12,500 is provided to activity organisers. Higher amounts can also be requested in exceptional situations. Applications will be sought twice a year. Submission deadlines are in April and October.

The application form for Activity Fund projects is available here.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications should clearly demonstrate that the proposed activity:

  • Has a significant aspect related to control engineering.
  • Fosters and strengthens the control community.
  • Increases control engineering visibility.
  • Demonstrates the relevance of control engineering to everyday interests and concerns.
  • Has a clearly defined impact on the target audience.

Each application needs to be supported by an IFAC entity, normally an IFAC Technical Committee or IFAC National Member Organisation.

Queries, comments and suggestions can be sent to activityfund@ifac-control.org. Be sure to review the Q&A section on this site as well.

Background

The IFAC Activity Fund was set up in 2020 by then-IFAC president Frank Allgöwer to promote a control engineering community, to increase awareness of control engineering and to foster a diverse and inclusive IFAC Community. The Fund was developed in a taskforce by Margret Bauer (Germany, chair), Dan Cho (South Korea), Tariq Samad (US), Carlos Pereira (Brazil) and John Lygeros (Switzerland). The Activity Fund Committee consists of five committee members: Paul Goulart (UK), Charlotta Johnsson (Sweden), Ayoung Kim (South Korea), Carlos Pereira (Brazil), and Tariq Samad (US, chair).