UKALTA Awards and Sponsorship

UKALTA Awards and Sponsorship programme for 2024/2025

UKALTA offers annual sponsorship and grant funding opportunities to support members and the wider field, promoting activities that are consistent with our organisational objectives. Applications for funding are normally reviewed by a UKALTA Awards and Sponsorship sub-committee and evaluated against specific criteria. Recommendations are ratified by the Executive Committee and award recipients may be asked to write up a short post-event report for the UKALTA website.

  • UKALTA Student Awards 2025 – up to £500 per individual award

    Aim: To enable student members of UKALTA whose oral presentation or poster has been accepted for Language Testing Forum (LTF) to receive funding towards registration, travel, accommodation and/or related costs.

  • UKALTA LTF First-time Attendee Bursary 2025 – Registration reimbursement and conference dinner covered at LTF 2025

     Aim: This initiative supports individuals who have never before attended the Language Testing Forum (LTF).

  • UKALTA Grant Funding – up to £1500 per annum

    Aim: To support activities organised by individuals, groups or associations that promote UKALTA’s stated aims (e.g. training webinar or small-scale colloquium). The Award may be split across more than one recipient.

  • Jamie Dunlea Student Presentation Award (sponsored by British Council) – £100

    Aim: To recognise and encourage student contributors to Language Testing Forum. All student presenters at LTF are eligible and papers are reviewed and rated during the conference to identify the winner/s.

  • Best Poster Award (sponsored by Text Inspector) – £50

    Aim: To recognise and encourage poster contributors to Language Testing Forum. All posters are eligible and are reviewed and ranked by conference delegates to identify the winner/s.

  • UKALTA/Hornby Trust Scholarship Award – £500

    Aim: This new award is to support a Hornby scholar – an international ELT scholar undertaking the Med TESOL at the University of Exeter – to attend Language Testing Forum as part of their UK study experience in order to develop their professional expertise in the area of language testing and assessment. (The award is managed by the A. S. Hornby Educational Trust and the University of Exeter which delivers the Hornby English Language Teaching Scholarship through their MEd TESOL programme).

    Previous recipients:

    2024: Estelle Ejoh (MEd Student in TESOL, School of Education, University of Exeter):

    “My experience at the LTF broadened my understanding of the field. Before attending, I had a simplistic view of what language tests were and unaware of how profound they could be. I gained insights about the strengths, challenges, and areas of development of various language testing systems from both practitioner and researchers’ perspectives. There were also takeaways that can be integrated into my own practice as a language teacher. As a TESOL Student, this experience has greatly impacted my studies, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have attended.”

    2025: Ngo Thanh Tam (Tam) (MEd Student in TESOL, School of Education, University of Exeter):

    “I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to attend the Language Testing Forum 2025 at the University of Southampton with the support of UKALTA-Hornby Scholarship. As a newcomer to the field, I gained invaluable insights into current trends in test development, the challenges of creating valid and reliable assessments, and emerging topics like AI-supported testing and innovative research methods. The conversations I had with leading researchers and practitioners were really inspiring. Looking back, this experience has influenced my study and my research interests in Language Assessment Literacy and AI integration in assessment, and shaping my dissertation project. I look forward to further my understanding and sharing what I have learned with fellow students at the University of Exeter and my colleagues in Vietnam. I deeply appreciate this incredible opportunity.”

The annual UKALTA Awards and Sponsorship programme takes into account:

  • our stated aims and objectives as a professional association, together with the perceived benefits to recipients of grant funding from UKALTA.
  • the amount of money UKALTA can sensibly and sustainably set aside from its annual budget
  • the level of additional sponsorship support that can be secured from partner organisations

The annual programme is kept under review and may be adjusted if circumstances require it.