The World Union of Tissue Banking Associations (WUTBA) is supporting ALABAT by organising the upcoming Meeting in Bogota (6 th to 8 th of November 2024).

WUTBAs Initiative has the following objectives:

• Support and bring together the Latin American Tissue Baking Community to give more visibility to this important area of healthcare
• Create a Momentum for exchange and collaboration
• Offer workshops with added value for participants
• Show the global picture and provide valuable input for all participants through local, regional and global presentations and exchanges

In order to get a reliable overview of the situation of tissue banks and donations in Latin America, we will organize a round table at the ALABAT Congress in November. We would like to invite speakers to this round table and support them with a travel grant so that they can present the existing tissue donation and processing structures in their country.

The WUTBA will use the fundraising structures of the German Society of Tissue Transplantation (DGFG) to provide travel grants for these speakers. Which has already been done successfully for the Africa Round Table initiative at the 2022 SATIBA meeting.

Who is providing travel grants for the ALABAT Meeting 2024?

The grants are funded by the contributions of:

• Hornhaut- und Gewebebank Schwerin (a non profit tissue bank of HELIOS and DGFG)
• Lions Club Wedemark
• Deutsches Komitee zur Verhütung von Blindheit e.V.
• Deutsches Blindenhilfswerk DBHV (The German Fund for the blind)
• DGFG

How is it organized?

The DGFG fundraising department is responsible for the technical administration of the travel grants. Choosen candidates are supported in the purchase of travel tickets and hotel accommondation. All payments are monitored and organized by the DGFG’s fundraising department. If they wish, applicants can also book their own flights and accommodation and have the costs reimbursed.

Who can apply for a travel grant?

Anyone who can provide an overview of the current tissue donation landscape in their country of origin (Legislation, health care system, tissue recipients, donation infrastructure, etc). The person should be an expert in the field of tissue donation or processing. Ideally the applicant can also contribute to other thematic areas in the congress

All applicants should submit (in english) a CV, a letter of motivation and a presentation on the current tissue donation/processing landscape in their country of origin. Based on these submissions, a jury selects the most suitable candidates. The jury consists of the organizing committee of ALABAT and the Secretary General of WUTBA.

Preference is given to applicants from Latin America.

The application process will run until 1st September 2024, please send your application to roundtable@wutba.org. Shall you have any doubts, please do not hesitate to contact WUTBA via the same e-mail address.

If you know of any suitable candidates for the travel grants, please contact them or send their email addresses to roundtable@wutba.org so that we can ask them to apply for a travel grant.

How much travel grants are available?

Six travel grants are currently available. Each sponsored person will be supported with a maximum of 1,000 euros (conference fee, hotel and travel expenses).