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[takasugi]

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[Eudaimonia]

If you're still in research, I would think your supervisors understand the need to attend conferences. In my own opinion they're usually not that useful to go to, but it's very common and you shouldn't have problems convincing your supervisor if you want to go, especially if you'll go with your own funding. 

Conferences are a good place to network with other researchers for collaborations, and get some ideas about current research in the field. Depends how important that is to you.