A quick round up of some current public engagement / outreach funding opportunities on offer:
British Ecological Society Outreach Grants (closes: 11 September 2017)
Grants of up to £2,000 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. See: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/funding/outreach-grants/
Alexander Fleming Dissemination Scheme awards by the Medical Research Foundation (MRF) (closes: 12 September 2017, and then 2 January 2018)
To fund the dissemination of MRC and MRF-funded peer-reviewed research results beyond the scientific press to patients, research participants, practitioners and policy makers. Awards will be made to meet the costs of the dissemination activities and will be no greater than £30,000. See: https://www.medicalresearchfoundation.org.uk/for-researchers/funding-opportunities/alexander-fleming-dissemination-scheme/
Ingenious: public engagement awards (closes 18 September 2017)
Ingenious is an awards scheme for projects that engage the public with engineers and engineering. Ingenious has funded over 189 projects to date, providing opportunities for over 5,000 engineers to take part in public engagement activities, to gain skills in communication and to bring engineering to the very centre of society. Funding is available from £3,000 to £30,000. See: http://www.raeng.org.uk/grants-and-prizes/ingenious-grant
The Biochemical Society Outreach Grants (closes: 22 September 2017)
To support activities and events that help communicate the excitement of the molecular sciences to school children and/or the general public. Applications are invited for sums up to £1000 to assist with the direct costs associated with an event and expenses incurred (e.g. transport and/or teacher cover). There are two round of applications per year in September and April. See: https://www.biochemistry.org/Grants/ScientificOutreachGrants.aspx
Society for Endocrinology Public Engagement Grant (closes: 30 September 2017 and typically again in March)
Grants of up to up to £1,000 to support organisation and delivery of outreach activities, in the areas of aimed hormones and the impact of endocrinology. Aimed at school children and/or the general public. See: https://www.endocrinology.org/grants-and-awards/grants/public-engagement-grant/
British Society for Immunonology – Communciating Immunology Grants (closes 1 October 2017 and then 15 January, 1 April, 1 July 2018)
The aims of the BSI’s Communciating Immunology Grants are to stimulate interest, discussion and understanding of immunology amongst a wider audience, support formal and informal learning about immunology, 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. See: https://www.immunology.org/grants-and-prizes/communicating-immunology
Microbiology Society Education and Outreach Grants (closes: 1 October 2017 and then 1 April 2018)
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 will be two rounds of application per year. Closing dates are 1 April and 1 October. See: https://www.microbiologysociety.org/grants/grants-prizes/education-and-outreach-grants.html
Royal Society Chemistry Outreach Fund (closes: 2 October 2017)
Our Outreach Fund provides financial support to members, individuals and organisations in order to enable them to run chemistry-based public and schools engagement activities, this may include increasing chemistry and chemists’ influence in public discourse and decision-making in line with the findings of the Public Attitude to Chemistry research. The Outreach Fund is split into two categories: Small grants – up to £2,000 Applications are now open and will remain open throughout the year. We run a rolling application process and the next deadline is 2 October 2017) and Large grants – between £2,000 and £10,000. (Applications for 2018 will reopen in January 2018). See: http://www.rsc.org/awards-funding/funding/outreach-fund/
The 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. We’ve supported a variety of activities, from exhibition stands at science festivals to ‘science slams’ that help researchers communicate their work. Engagement grants up to £1,500: Annual call – closes 22 May 2017. Seeding grants up to £250: Open for application all year round. See: https://www.bps.ac.uk/membership-awards/support-for-outreach-and-teaching/outreach-grants
Institute of Physics’ Public Engagement Grant Scheme (Opens in October)
The grants are worth up to £2000 and aim to support physics-based outreach activities in the UK and Ireland. Activities should provide engaging experiences of physics to public audiences. There are two round of applications per year in October and April. See: http://www.iop.org/about/grants/outreach/page_38843.html
Institute of Mathematics Education Grant Scheme (Applications open all year round)
The Institute of Mathematics are looking for grant applications of 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 which will help increase the popularity of mathematics with learners and encourage the take up of mathematics post-16. See: https://ima.org.uk/support/grants/education-grant-scheme/
Wellcome Public Engagement Fund (Applications open all year round)
This funding is for anyone with a great idea for engaging the public in conversations about health-related science and research. We fund activities, projects, creative spaces and capital investment. Awards can range from £5,000 to £3 million. Your project can be short or last for up to five years. There are no application deadlines – you can apply online at any time. See: https://wellcome.ac.uk/funding/public-engagement-fund
The following funding schemes are not currently open, but do watch out for forthcoming calls:
MRC Public Engagement in Science Activities – Seed Fund (Applications open all year round)
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, respond to a societal need. See: https://www.mrc.ac.uk/research/public-engagement/public-engagement-funding/
The Physiological Society Outreach Grants
Outreach Grants provide up to £1000 per calendar year for Ordinary Members, Affiliates and Associate Members of The Society to run an outreach or public engagement activity. This could be a schools visit, a Meet the Scientists event at a science museum or an event at a science festival. It could be a stand-alone activity, or organised as part of a wider event such as Brain Awareness Week. Several rounds per year. See: http://www.physoc.org/outreach-grants
Royal College of Pathologists Public Engagement Innovation Grant Scheme
The Scheme was introduced to give financial support for the delivery of a range of pathology-related events throughout the UK. Grants of up to £1000 are available for individuals or organisations who wish to develop pathology-related public engagement activities or events. See: https://www.rcpath.org/discover-pathology/events-landing-page/funding-for-public-events.html
Royal Society Partnership Grants Scheme (typically March)
Through the scheme, grants of between £250 and £3,000 will be available to support teachers, scientists and engineers help develop science projects, with the aim of making the teaching science more interesting within primary and secondary schools. Any UK primary or secondary school teacher or practising scientist/engineer can apply as long as the students involved in the project are between 5 and 18. See: https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/partnership-grants/
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. 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); and School Grants Scheme (Promoting physics & engineering in schools & colleges, in partnership with the IOP and IET). See: http://www.stfc.ac.uk/public-engagement/public-engagement-grants/pe-funding-opportunities/
The Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology, Community Engagement Award (closes 1 March)
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 which seek to develop innovative forms of engagement and proposals which demonstrate the potential to engage non-traditional audiences are welcome. Funding available up to £500. See http://www.spma.org.uk/prizes-and-grants/community-award
The British Psychological Society, Public Engagement Grants
Open annually to Society members for a range of activities which promote evidence-based psychology to the public and helps the Society achieve it’s objective to ‘take psychology to Society’. See: http://www.bps.org.uk/what-we-do/awards-grants/public-engagement-grants/public-engagement-grants
Posted by Dee-Ann Johnson, Communications Officer, Researcher Development, Faculty of Science and Engineering Twitter: @deeannj