Funding
Public engagement activities are often funded through research grants or specific engagement awards from research funders, professional bodies or learned societies. A round-up of some of the available funding sources on offer can be found below.
If you are looking to design a public engagement activity, submit a funding application or evaluate your activities, you can meet up with our team in Social Responsibility for a one-to-one advice surgery.
To set up a session, email engagement@manchester.ac.uk.
Funding opportunities
You can browse funding opportunities by the following categories:
Health and life sciences funding
Alzheimer’s Research UK – Inspire Fund
The Inspire Fund provides up to £25,000 in funding for innovative projects that engage the public with dementia and the life-changing research going on into the condition. Visit the Alzheimer’s Research UK website.
Anatomical Society – Public Engagement grants
Members of the Anatomical Society can apply to support outreach and public engagement activities that ignite curiosity in young and old audiences about the anatomy of humans and animals. Awards are for sums up to £500. There are six application deadlines throughout the year. Visit the Anatomical Society website.
The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour – Public Engagement grants
The ASAB Education committee is offering Public Engagement grants for organising and delivering innovative and exciting outreach activities. These activities should be aimed at young people and/or the general public to communicate the science of animal behaviour. Grants of up to £2,000 are available. This grant is open to individuals and organisations, researchers, schools, museums, libraries and community groups. Visit the ASAB website.
Biochemical Society – Scientific Outreach Grants
The Society wishes to support scientific outreach activities that communicates the excitement of molecular bioscience to young people and the community. Applications are invited for up to £1,000 to assist with the direct costs associated with an event and expenses incurred, such as transport and teacher cover. Visit the Biochemical Society website.
British Pharmacological Society – Engagement Grants and Seed Grants
The Society offers grants of up to £1,500 to both members and non-members to support innovative pharmacology outreach and public engagement activities. The grants have supported a variety of activities, from exhibition stands at science festivals to ‘science slams’ that help researchers communicate their work. Engagement grants of up to £1,500 and seeding grants of up to £250 are available. Applications are open all year round. Visit the BPS website.
British Society for Plant Pathology – BSPP Plant Pathology Promotion Fund
Awards of up to £2,000 are available. BSPP wishes to promote an understanding and awareness of the importance of plant pathology to a wider audience than its membership. To that end, it has established a fund for the promotion of plant pathology, with the aim of stimulating interest in, and knowledge and awareness of, plant pathology to people who do not normally come into contact with the subject. Visit the BSPP website.
British Society of Immunology – Communicating Immunology Grants
The aims of these grants are to stimulate interest, discussion and understanding of immunology among a wider audience. They support formal and informal learning about immunology, and target a wide range of audiences, with a particular interest in reaching new or traditionally hard to reach audiences. Each grant is worth up to a maximum of £1,000 and grants are awarded quarterly. Visit the British Society of Immunology website.
European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) – Outreach Initiative Fund
This fund supports educational initiatives that improve the public understanding of evolution globally. This includes public outreach seminars and public exhibitions. Awards of between €1,000 and €1,500 are available. There are two applications rounds each year. Visit the ESEB website.
Genetics Society – Public Engagement Grant
Grants are available to members of the Genetics Society to cover costs associated with travel and materials for public engagement activities relevant to genetics. There are two application rounds each year. Visit the Genetics Society website.
MRC Public Engagement in Science Activities – Seed Fund
The fund aims to encourage and support engagement with the public and other stakeholders. Funds are available to enable MRC-funded scientists to pilot new activities and develop innovative engagement opportunities. The fund prioritises activities that build scientists’ capacity and skills, build trust and break down barriers between researchers and society, improve research, influence policy, and respond to a societal need. Visit the MRC website.
Medical Research Foundation – Changing Policy and Practice Award
This award supports the dissemination of a research finding to a specific audience to inform and influence healthcare policy or practice, or to change patient and public behaviour and opinion. Awards will be made to meet the costs of the dissemination activities and will be no greater than £30,000. There are two rounds of application per year. Visit the Medical Research Foundation website.
Microbiology Society – Education and Outreach Grants
Grants of up to £1,000 are available to support relevant science teaching or promotion initiatives, or to support developments likely to lead to an improvement in the teaching of any aspect of microbiology. There are two application rounds each year. Visit the Microbiology Society website.
National Centre for the Replacement Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research – Public Engagement Award
NC3Rs are offering awards of up to £1,500 to support NC3Rs-funded researchers past and present to engage the public with the approaches being taken to replace, reduce and refine animal use in science. The funding is available as an open rolling call, where the applications are reviewed quarterly by the NC3Rs office. Visit the NC3Rs website.
Parkinson’s UK – Patient and Public Involvement Research Involvement Award
Research Involvement Awards provide expert support for Parkinson’s researchers to carry out patient and public involvement (PPI) activities. The award is open to researchers from doctoral level onwards who are working across all fields of Parkinson’s research. Visit the Parkinson’s UK website.
Physiological Society – Outreach Grants
Our outreach grants should be used to increase understanding and awareness of physiology by running an outreach or public engagement activity. Members only can apply for a small grant of up to £500, which is awarded on a monthly basis. Members and non-members can apply for a large grant between £500 and £20,000, which is awarded annually. This funding can be used for travel to outreach projects, production of materials/videos/diagrams or a full public engagement event. Visit the Physiological Society website.
Royal College of Pathologists – Public Engagement Innovation Grant Scheme
This scheme gives financial support for the delivery of a range of pathology-related events throughout the UK. Grants of up to £1,000 are available for individuals or organisations who wish to develop pathology-related public engagement activities or events. Visit the Royal College of Pathologists website.
Society for Applied Microbiology
Funding is available for events that promote microbiology to the public and other relevant stakeholders. This grant is open to both society members and non-members. Society members should have no funding from any additional source. The maximum award is £4,000. The award is open year-round, but events must start at least six weeks after the application submission. Visit the Society for Applied Microbiology website.
Society for Endocrinology – Public Engagement Grant
Up to £1,000 is available to support the organisation and delivery of outreach activities, aimed at school children and/or the general public. Grants are available to society members or public engagement professionals who can be paired with a society member prior to application. There are two application rounds each year. Visit the Society for Endocrinology website.
The British Society for the History of Science – Special Project Grants
Special Project Grants enable members of the Society to promote the understanding of the history and social impact of science, technology and medicine in the wider community through public engagement projects. There are three application rounds each year. Visit the British Society for the History of Science website.
The Royal Society of Biology, Outreach and Engagement Grant
The aim of the grant scheme is to support outreach and engagement events and activities that are creative, impactful and suited for audiences, or based in locations that may have otherwise limited opportunities to engage with bioscience topics or concepts. Small grants of up to £200 and full grants of between £201 and £500 are available. Visit the RSB website.
Wellcome – Engagement Fellowships
Engagement Fellowships aim to support and develop emerging leaders from a range of backgrounds so they can engage the public with health research. The funding covers salary and research expenses over a two-year period. Visit the Wellcome website.
Wellcome – The Ideas Fund
We’re offering early stage grants of up to £25,000 and larger grants of around £90,000 in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, Hull, North West Northern Ireland, and Oldham. The scheme has been designed to test a new way of place-based, mental wellbeing-focused funding that connects communities with researchers to access knowledge, research skills and resources. Visit the Ideas Fund website.
Arts, Humanities and social sciences funding
AHRC – Research in Film Awards
Academics and film-makers are being encouraged to enter their work into the Research in Film Awards, designed to encourage, stimulate and recognise the body of work created at the interface between research and film. The winning film-makers in each category will receive £2,000 towards their film-making. Visit the AHRC website.
Arts Council England funding schemes (England only)
A number of grants for the arts are available for individuals, arts organisations and other people who use the arts in their work and help achieve the Council’s mission of great art and culture for everyone. Visit the Arts Council England website.
Being Human – Festival of the Humanities
The festival provides an opportunity to share research in the humanities in fun and engaging ways with non-academic audiences. A number of grants are available to support public engagement activities across the UK. Visit the Being Human Festival website.
British Society for the History of Philosophy – Public Engagement Funding
One public engagement grant of up to £1,000 per year is available for exhibitions or public events, including public lectures, with a significant component relating to the history of philosophy, and for creating and distributing content related to the history of philosophy on electronic media, including television, radio, websites and podcasts. Visit the BSHP website.
The Elephant Trust – grants to support new visual arts projects
The Elephant Trust aims to develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the fine arts in the UK. Up to £5,000 funding is available to support new work, with priority being given to artists in the fine arts and small organisations and galleries. Visit the Elephant Trust website.
ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize
This is an annual opportunity recognising ESRC-funded researchers and ESRC associates. It celebrates researchers at all career stages whose actions have supported changes in practice, thinking or capacity that create a positive impact in our society, economy and in our lives, both here in the UK and internationally. Visit the UKRI website.
ESRC Festival of Social Sciences
Applications are available for sponsorship of up to £1,000 to assist with events. This celebration of the social sciences takes place across the UK with events being held covering a wide range of topics – AI, mental health, sexuality, parenting, weather, gender, ageing, love, death, economics and education, to name but a few. These events are delivered via public debates, conferences, workshops, interactive seminars, film screenings and virtual exhibitions, among other formats. Visit the UKRI website.
Heritage Lottery Fund grant programmes
Grants for projects related to the national, regional, or local heritage in the UK, including Sharing Heritage, Our Heritage and Heritage Grants. Heritage can mean anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to future generations. Grants range from £3,000 up to millions of pounds. Visit the Heritage Fund website.
The Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology – Community Engagement Award
This award is designed to support individuals, groups and societies in developing new public-facing initiatives, whether one-off events, programmes of activities, digital archaeology or other creative outputs. Proposals seeking to develop innovative forms of engagement or demonstrate the potential to engage non-traditional audiences are welcome. Funding of up to £500 is available. Visit the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology website.
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) funding
Black Environment Network – The Ethnic Minorities Award Scheme for Environmental Projects
Small grants are available to schools, community groups and individuals undertaking projects that concern the environment and involve people from ethnic communities. Visit the Black Environment Network website.
British Ecological Society – Outreach Grants
Grants of up to £2,000 are available to increase public understanding of and engagement with ecology, stimulate discussion about ecology and its implications for society, and develop skills in communicating the science of ecology. Visit the British Ecological Society website.
European Geosciences Union – Public Engagement Grants
These grants celebrate and recognise excellent science communication in the Earth, planetary and space sciences. The €1,500 grants are awarded to EGU members interested in developing an outreach project that aims to raise awareness of geosciences outside the scientific community. Visit the European Geosciences Union website.
IET – Engineering Education Grant Scheme
The Engineering Education Grant Scheme supports UK-based educational projects that increase engineering knowledge among young people aged 4 to 19. It also supports projects that improve wider understanding of engineering. Awards of up to £5,000 (inclusive of any applicable VAT) are available for standard applications, and a small number of awards of up to £15,000 are available each year for projects that aim to make a bigger impact. Visit the IET website.
Institute of Mathematics – Education Grant Scheme
The Institute of Mathematics is looking for grant applications for up to £600 to help with the costs of running or attending an educational activity relating to mathematics. The aim of these grants is to support activities that will help increase the popularity of mathematics with learners and encourage the take up of mathematics post-16. Visit the Institute of Mathematics website.
Institute of Physics – Public Engagement Grant Scheme
The scheme provides financial support to individuals and organisations running physics-based events and activities in the UK and Ireland. Visit Institute of Physics website.
London Mathematical Society – Education grants
Grants of up to £800 are available for partial funding of events that stimulate interest and enable involvement in mathematics from Key Stage 1 (age 5+) to undergraduate level and beyond. Visit the London Mathematical Society website.
NERC – Engaging the public with environmental science
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) offers an annual funding opportunity to engage public groups with environmental science research. Individuals from research and non-research focused organisations can lead projects to develop new ways to engage the public with environmental science. Visit the UKRI website.
Royal Academy of Engineering – Ingenious
Ingenious is a grant scheme for projects that engage the public with engineers and engineering. The grants prioritise projects that reach diverse and underrepresented audiences including communities in the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK, and that engage with engineers and people of different genders, ages and ethnic backgrounds. Funding from £3,000 to £30,000 is available. Visit the Royal Academy of Engineering website.
Royal Astronomical Society – Education & Outreach Small Grants Scheme
Grants of up to £5,000 are available for a range of public outreach activities, including development of public events, training workshops, broadcasting or podcasting, and development of educational material. Visit the Royal Astronomical Society website.
Royal Society of Chemistry – Inclusion & Diversity Fund
Our Inclusion and Diversity Fund provides financial support for innovative products, activities and research projects that promote inclusion and diversity in the chemical science community. We will consider individual applications up to the value of £5,000. Funding greater than £5,000 may be considered for one project each year. Visit the Royal Society of Chemistry website.
Royal Society of Chemistry – Outreach Fund
The Outreach Fund aims to encourage and support the development of projects that raise awareness of the place of chemistry in people’s everyday lives, especially those not already interested in chemistry, and/or develop the science communication skills of people who are already highly trained in chemistry. The fund is currently considering smaller grants on a monthly basis. Visit the Royal Society of Chemistry website.
Royal Society – Partnership Grants
Partnership Grants of up to £3,000 are available to schools to enable students aged 5 to 18 to carry out science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) projects. Additionally, we are looking to support projects on computing and data science. Visit the Royal Society website.
Royal Society – Public Engagement Funding
This scheme provides between £500 and £10,000 for Royal Society Research Fellows to create and lead public engagement projects. We are particularly interested in projects that reach currently underrepresented audiences, encourage collaboration between science and the arts, or enable possibilities for digital engagement. Visit the Royal Society website.
STFC – Public Engagement funding
We offer a range of grant schemes that are designed to allow our community to meet the aims of our public engagement strategy. Visit the UKRI website. Schemes include:
- Leadership Fellows in Public Engagement;
- Public Engagement Spark Awards (delivering new engagement activities and testing fresh approaches with audiences);
- Public Engagement Nucleus Awards (building engagement networks and delivering national programmes of engagement);
- Public Engagement Legacy Awards (supporting our most successful programmes to grow and evolve over time);
- Public Engagement Reaction Awards (quickly responding to unexpected and engaging scientific developments);
- School Grants Scheme (promoting physics and engineering in schools and colleges, in partnership with the IOP/IET).
Multidisciplinary funding
Funding opportunities across all disciplines.
Big Lottery Fund – Awards for All
National Lottery funding can help you to make a difference in your community within the UK. We offer funding from £300 to £10,000 to support what matters to people and communities. Each country is running its own programme. Visit the Community Fund website.
CAPE Collaboration Fund
This fund supports academic researchers and policy professionals to co-develop and deliver policy work in response to policy demand. We welcome approaches to co-production and co-creation with policy stakeholders, including experimental, innovative, and exploratory approaches. Applications could also use funding to cover training, time buy-out, research support, or expert services, for example, as long as these fulfil the co-production brief. Up to £25,000 is available. There are three application rounds each year. Visit the CAPE Collaboration Fund website.
The Granada Foundation Grants
The Granada Foundation aims to encourage the study and appreciation of the fine arts and sciences and to promote education, with a particular interest in activity in the north-west of England. The Council looks for imaginative proposals from organisations that will in some way make the north-west a richer and more attractive place in which to live and work. Visit the Granada Foundation Grants website.
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
The Churchill Travelling Fellowships provide a unique opportunity for UK citizens to acquire innovative ideas abroad. In the process, they gain fresh perspectives on their own field of interest and return with enhanced expertise, able to be more effective at work and in their contribution to the community. Visit the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust website.
University of Manchester funding
Funding available from our University.
Impact Funding Scheme
There are a number of funding schemes available to support translational research projects, knowledge exchange and impact projects across a range of research disciplines. Learn more about the schemes on the Translational Research Support website.