Grants, awards and prizes

This page carries information of a range of smaller grants, awards and prizes intended mainly for early career researchers and others, particularly in STEMM areas. These can be offered in recognition of either academic merit or financial hardship. They are generally made as a one-off payment.

For funding information, also see the RIS Funding webpage and SharePoint site.

Awards intended mainly or wholly for early career researchers:

• The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) is US-based. It collates details of various awards, some of which are restricted to US citizens or residents.
• The Daphne Jackson Trust Special Discretionary Fund supports exceptional needs for either research or other costs.
• Various types of Fulbright Awards can be made to US citizens at postgraduate, postdoctoral or higher level, to study and work in a designated UK research institution.
• IET Travel Awards can assist researchers (who must be IET members) with travelling expenses for conferences and professional activities.
• The Institute of Physics' Very Early Career Woman Physicist of the Year award is made annually to a woman who is within three years of completing her undergraduate degree, and acknowledges both research and outreach work.
• The Royal Society administers a number of awards for travel and equipment purchase.
• STEM for Britain is an annual poster presentation contest with cash prizes, aimed at ECRs, RAs and ‘second career' scientists.

Wider awards

• ResearchProfessional.com carries a database of grant-awarding sources, plus discipline-specific newsletters. The University of Southampton has a subscription, and you can create a personal account.
• British Academy/Leverhume Small Research Grants are intended for initiating projects in the humanities and social sciences.
• The British Science Association Media Fellowships help bridge the gap between journalists and scientists, social scientists, clinicians and engineers. Media Fellows spend 3-8 weeks over the summer working with a press, broadcast or internet journalist to gain a greater awareness and understanding of the workings of the media.
• The Daiwa Foundation 's scholarships provided a structured programme of intensive Japanese language study for graduates, followed by a relevant work placement in Japan. The Foundation also offers a number of grants and awards for individuals and institutions, including Anglo-Japanese collaborative projects.
• The Engineering Council website carries a list of all professional engineering institutions, each of which generally has some form of award or grant scheme.
• FEBS Summer Fellowships enable PhD students to gain experience in an overseas institution. Applicants must be members either of the Biochemical Society (UK) or an equivalent.
• Funds for Women Graduates (FFWG) offers needs-based grants to help female postgraduates with living expenses.
• The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)'s Ambition Awards are aimed mainly at doctoral students; IET also provide a number of undergraduate scholarships.
• The Jack Wright Memorial Fund assists with overseas travel to study water management.
• The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust supports travel and research in geology, conservation and outdoor activities, with a particular remit of widening access for people with disabilities.
• The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS), administered by the Higher Education Academy, includes individual awards to support professional development in teaching in higher education.
• The Nuffield Foundation co-supports bursaries in a range of subjects, including some aimed at undergraduates.
• The Open Society Foundations offers various types of awards for work that will benefit a community or society more widely, including health-related projects.
• The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) offers prizes to mark excellence in a wide range of disciplines, including education.
• The Society of Biology sponsors an annual Travelling Fellowship, for study, teaching or research. The Society's websites also carries links to further specialist groups advertising awards and prizes, for example endocrinology .
• Wellbeing of Women is a charity dedicated to improving the health of women and babies. A range of grants and training fellowships are available annually.
• The Women's Engineering Society (WES) offers a range of grants and bursaries, and also publishes a list of other sources of funding.

Public engagement

Many funding organisations also have money available to support outreach events, allowing researchers to demonstrate the relevance of their work to a wider audience.

Any other business

When bids for conventional funding has led nowhere, Petridish aims to find public sponsorship, and hence crowd-fund science-based research projects.

If you know of other sources of funding, please let us know by emailing [email protected]