Upvote:4
The rule is surprisingly simple: For a stay under 90 days, you need a Schengen visa (type C visa or uniform short-stay visa). There is only one type of visa and it covers all purposes (e.g. on subsequent trips, if you get a multiple-entry visa; the point is more academic for single-entry visas).
Annex II of the Schengen Visa Code provides a “non-exhaustive” list of supporting documents that includes this:
for journeys undertaken for political, scientific, cultural, sports or religious events or other reasons:
— invitation, entry tickets, enrolments or programmes stating (wherever possible) the name of the host organisation and the length of stay or any other appropriate document indicating the purpose of the journey;
That's very broad but it does seem to fit an academic conference. You could therefore choose “Business/Cultural, artistic, scientific and sports event” in the website menu. On the official form, you could also simply check “other” (“autre”) and write “academic conference”.
Upvote:6
What type of visa to apply for attending a academic conference in France?
A short-stay visa. See https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en/web/france-visas/short-stay-visa for details:
It is also issued to persons entering to France to take part in short training programmes, internships, conferences and corporate meetings, or to engage in remunerated activities (whatever the form), not exceeding 90 days.
Choose business -> scientific event, as checkmarked below: