Small Grants for Scientific Activities
Terms of application
1. Applicants may apply for a maximum of £2000. However, we can be flexible and if you wish to request
more than this please explain clearly why you need the additional amount.
2. We recommend that applications are submitted a minimum of 3 months before the start of the
activity.
3. For applications received less than three months in advance, we will be unable to provide funding
should the activity start before a decision is reached. Applications received within 6 weeks of the
start of the activity will not be considered.
4. Each member can receive one grant per year.
5. Support requested should be “enabling” (i.e. the activity or event could not go ahead without it) or
should scientifically enhance the activity.
6. Applicants must be a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Division that represents their
application’s subject area.
7. If you are not a member of the appropriate Division, your Royal Society of Chemistry Membership will
be updated to make you a member of the relevant Division. Joining Divisions is free. If you have any
questions, please contact us.
8. The activity should fit in with the Division’s priorities and strategy. Details are available on the Division
webpages.
9. The support should be acknowledged. For events, we request that information relating to the
Division’s activities is made available at the event (for example on one or two PowerPoint slides).
10. Divisions request a brief report on the activity, including a summary of the costs (about one page
total). This should be submitted within 4 weeks of the activity.
11. Applications should be for activities related to scientific research and should not be predominantly
commercial in nature.
12. Please note that if your proposed activity is not supported, it may be because it is already covered by
another of our grants. In particular, please note that travel grants are available for PhD students and
post-doctoral researchers within five years of completion of their PhD. You can find more information
about our other funds here, or you can contact us for more information.
Guidance notes
The following additional notes may help with your application. If you have further questions please contact us.
Section
2
Notes
The following are examples of suggested activities and associated maximum amounts. The spirit
of this support is to enable or enhance scientific activities for which members might otherwise have
difficulty securing funds. The maximum level of funding available is £2000. Examples of activities
that we have funded recently are:
a. Contribution for members to participate in scientific meetings (see point 9 below).
b. Support for small or “no-frills” research meetings.
c. Scientifically enhance meetings organised by interest groups or other members of
divisions, e.g. contribution to costs for an international speaker.
d. International scholarly visit by a member to a research institution. (Postgraduate students
and early career researchers should apply to the Researcher Mobility Grant instead)
e. Young researcher meeting.
f. Support for a policy development initiative.
Please return to:
Science Team (email: funding@rsc.org), Royal Society of Chemistry, Thomas Graham
House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0WF, UK
We are also keen to support initiatives that enable research collaboration between members based
in different sectors such as academia, government and industry.
5
9
Applicants seeking funding for outreach activities are now asked to apply to the Outreach Fund.
Please give employer name and department.
Please note that for applicants in academia, support for conference attendance is only available to
early career members who are more than 5 years (and usually within 10 years) post-PhD.
Those more junior may be interested in our Travel Grants for PhD Students and Postdoctoral
Researchers.
10
If you do not fit this criterion but feel you should still be eligible for funding (e.g. if you are more than
10 years post-PhD, but you have taken a career break), please give details in this section.
Please give your best estimate of the budget for your activity, indicating any specific uses you have
in mind for the small grant. We only require a “top level” breakdown.
Please also provide details of the outcomes of any applications made to other sources of funding
(including funds from your employer, if relevant).
For members in industry, we are particularly interested in supporting those in small companies who
may have restricted funding for scientific activities.
Please return to:
Science Team (email: funding@rsc.org), Royal Society of Chemistry, Thomas Graham
House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0WF, UK
Small Grants for Scientific Activities
1. Activity title:
2. Amount requested:
3. Date of activity
(DD/MM/YYYY):
4. Location of activity:
£
__/__/____
5. Contact information
Name:
Email address:
Employer (including
department):
Position/job title:
Telephone number:
6. Which Division are you requesting funds from (please select only one)?
☐ Analytical
☐ Faraday (physical chemistry)
☐ Chemistry Biology Interface
☐ Materials Chemistry
☐ Dalton (inorganic chemistry)
☐ Organic
☐ Environment, Sustainability and Energy
7. Your Royal Society of Chemistry membership number
8. Your highest qualification and the date this was completed
Qualification:
Date completed: (MM/YYYY)
9. Please describe your activity (about 250 words)
10. Budget (estimate of income and expenditure)
11. Are there any conflicts of interest in relation to your application? If so, please give details here
Please return to:
Science Team (email: funding@rsc.org), Royal Society of Chemistry, Thomas Graham
House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0WF, UK
Additional information
This section is optional and your answers will not affect the assessment of your application. However, we
encourage you to take a couple of minutes to complete this as it will help us to better manage your application
and any funds you may receive as well as helping us improve the scheme in future.
What type of activity are you applying for funds for (please select only one)
☐ Attendance at scientific meeting
☐ Organising a scientific meeting
☐ Young researcher meeting
☐ Scholarly visit
☐ Policy development initiative
☐ Other
If you are applying on behalf of one of our Interest Groups, please indicate which one
If you work in industry, what is the size of your company (by number of employees)?
☐ Under 10
☐ Between 50 and 250
☐ Between 10 and 50
☐ Over 250
If your application is successful, how would you prefer to be paid?
☐ BACS transfer (see regulation below)
☐ Via invoice (we will send you a PO number)
If you wish to be paid by BACS, please provide details here for your employer
Name of account holder:
Bank name:
Bank address:
Sort code:
Account number:
For overseas payments:
BIC no.:
IBAN no.:
ABA/Routing No:
Currency:
About payments for successful applicants:
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Payments will be made upon receipt of the report and breakdown of how the funds were spent. We
request that this is submitted within 4 weeks of the activity.
The grant will then be processed and paid within 3 weeks of receiving the report.
Should you require the funds before the activity, please get in touch after you receive the decision on
your application.
BACS transfers will usually be made to your employer’s bank account, unless it is for an activity for
which you have personally incurred the costs.
Please return to:
Science Team (email: funding@rsc.org), Royal Society of Chemistry, Thomas Graham
House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0WF, UK