Apply for funding to engage the public with science, technology or facilities supported by STFC.
You must work for an organisation that:
Proposals must include a researcher in an STFC-funded area.
The cost of your project can be up to £15,000 (non-full economic cost).
We expect projects to last up to approximately 36 months.
STFC Spark Awards are open to almost anyone based in the UK, including, but not limited to:
You must be eligible to apply on behalf of the organisation that would hold the award.
Your application must include a researcher in an STFC-funded area. The researcher does not have to play an active role in the public engagement activities. They could be acting as an advisor on scientific content.
Organisations that apply must produce an annual financial report and accounts.
These must have been either prepared or submitted by a qualified accountant who is a member of a recognised professional accountancy body, including:
If this does not describe your organisation, you must work in partnership with an organisation that can receive the funding on your behalf.
You may apply for a Spark Award for any new idea, or to resubmit a previous application that can demonstrate it has addressed feedback received during the peer review process.
If you are seeking funding for the direct continuation of a programme previously funded by STFC, you should apply for a Legacy Award.
We are looking to support projects that do one or more of the following:
Spark Awards usually encourage ‘novel approaches’ to engagement and audiences. However, in light of restrictions arising from COVID-19, we are relaxing the requirement for ‘novelty’ in this round. The situation will be kept under review for future rounds.
Programmes must focus on areas within the remit of STFC, including:
You must explain how your project aligns with our public engagement strategy.
In particular, we are seeking proposals in line with our Wonder initiative, which works with eight to 14-year-olds and their families in socioeconomically-deprived areas.
We recognise that there may be ongoing issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic that make traditional engagement modes substantially more challenging than they have been for previous Spark Awards funding rounds.
For this round, we are therefore:
Projects do not need to be digitally-based but those focusing on ‘face-to-face’ delivery are encouraged to actively consider contingency planning should funded activity delivery not be possible if social distancing measures change.
You should take account of the current status and anticipated trajectory of social distancing at the time of submitting your application.
Both STFC and the funding panel will assess these ‘in good faith’ recognising that many aspects of this may be subject to change beyond your control.
We will typically only fund digital content that is part of a wider engagement programme.
Any application for digital content must include:
Up to £15,000 is available to cover the full cost of projects lasting up to 36 months.
Funding can be for a variety of things, including:
For applications from, or for, schools, ‘requests for supply or teacher cover’ and ‘transport costs’ are also eligible.
Spark Awards do not come under the ‘full economic cost’ framework. This means £15,000 is the limit of funding. Any award we make will be the maximum amount payable, and will include any VAT payable.
The following costs are ineligible for support through Spark Awards:
For applications from, or for, schools, please note that requests for the following are ineligible:
You must apply through the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system by 16:00 on 28 April 2022.
To create the document in Je-S, you will need to select the following options:
Together with the relevant Je-S application form, please attach a ‘case for support’ of no more than six pages in PDF format outlining:
You should also attach letters of support (maximum two pages) from any partners making a contribution to your project.
We recommend you start your application early.
You can save completed details in Je-S at any time and return to continue your application later.
You can find advice on completing your application in the Je-S handbook.
If you are successful in getting funding, we will contact you to help you with the full registration process for Je-S.
Full registration can take four weeks.
Together with the relevant Je-S application form, you will need to complete a ‘case for support’ of no more than six pages in PDF format outlining the following.
A short overview of the applicant’s track record in public engagement with science and technology. This track record should focus on areas relevant to the application.
The rationale for the Spark Awards, showing:
A clear plan of the engagement activities the applicant intends to undertake during the Spark Awards.
You should provide details of your plans to deliver these activities, including:
Reference to COVID-19 and the implications of evolving social distancing should be included here.
STFC acknowledges that audience numbers, particularly in-person, are likely to be substantially reduced as a result of social distancing.
Where part of a clear and purposeful engagement plan, applicants will not be negatively impacted by reduced participant metrics.
An evaluation plan showing details of how the outputs, outcomes, and impacts of the Spark Awards will be captured and evaluated.
Applicants are strongly advised to refer to the STFC public engagement framework.
If successful, we require you to report on the outcomes of your Spark Award in line with the STFC public engagement evaluation framework. We strongly suggest that you familiarise yourself with the framework and consider how it could be used to evaluate your engagement programme.
A dissemination plan detailing how resources, learning outcomes, outputs and so on, will be made available to wider audiences.
A justification of the resources requested. This may be up to two sides of A4 (of the total six pages for the ‘case for support’). This justifies the requested funds you have applied for in an application and should:
It should not be simply a list of the resources required as this is already given in the Je-S form.
All items requested in the Je-S form must be justified.
Any proposals from research organisations requesting items that would ordinarily be found in a department, for example non-specialist computers, should include justification both for:
You can choose to propose public engagement that works with the target audience of the STFC Wonder initiative. If so, you should use your ‘case for support’ and ‘project partner letters of support’ to highlight how your proposal aligns with the initiative.
Your ‘rationale’ should clearly indicate:
The ‘plan for engagement activities’ should show clear evidence of being designed in partnership with the target audiences (to the fullest extent practical, taking account of social distancing and the likely wider capacity reduction in potential partner organisations and groups).
Letters of support will ideally be obtained from partner organisations that will work with the target audience as part of the Spark Awards, detailing how their contribution will help to support a successful programme.
‘Project partner letters of support’ should follow the format set out in the STFC guidance for applicants.
Letters of support can be up to two sides of A4 in length. A letter must be dated clearly, within six months of the submission date of the application.
Letters of support are submitted electronically alongside the grant application, via the Je-S system.
The Je-S system will only allow you to submit three letters of support. If you have more than three letters of support, you can upload these as a combined PDF document or contact the STFC public engagement team.
This letter is read alongside the proposal’s ‘case for support’ and is considered as part of the peer review process.
A well-written letter of support will confirm the organisation’s commitment to the proposed project by articulating:
The letter of support should also:
To provide assurance that the project partner has authorised the proposed contribution or commitment, the letter should be signed by a named contact, stating the capacity in which they are providing the sign-off.
Letters of support must show meaningful contribution to the proposed public engagement programme. Letters featuring supportive language but offering no contributions to the project are of little-to-no value and should not be included.
Should you state in your proposal that the involvement of a party or organisation is important to increase the chances of success of the proposed programme, these organisations must be included as either applicants or project partners.
Applications received without these collaborations in place by the point of submission will not be supported.
There is no capital budget for the Spark Awards.
Items of equipment costing less than £10,000 should be requested under the ‘other costs’ heading. You must show that any requests for equipment are essential for the project.
If you are requesting a Spark Award as a contribution to a larger programme, you should make this clear in your proposal. You should also make clear where additional funding for the programme is coming from.
Whenever possible, you should have secured this additional funding before seeking a contribution from STFC. If this is not possible, you must provide details of when further funding will be secured.
STFC reserves the right to reject an application that does not have convincing plans for securing all required funding, or to temporarily withhold funding for successful applications until proof of the required additional funding has been secured.
Your application will be reviewed by an independent panel with expertise in the communication of science and technology and knowledge of STFC-funded research and facilities.
It will be assessed on:
STFC will decide on your application based on the recommendations of the panel.
The result of your application is usually known within 10 to 12 weeks of the deadline for submissions.
All Spark Awards applications that propose working with the target audience of the Wonder initiative will be identified by STFC staff upon receipt of the application.
These applications are assessed by the panel using the same assessment criteria as for other Spark Awards.
However, the panel will create two rank-ordered lists of proposals:
These two rank-ordered lists will be ‘tensioned’ against one another to maintain the relative quality rankings of the proposals.
STFC will then take funding decisions regarding which applications are funded, splitting the available funding between the two rank-ordered lists, as appropriate.
For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal, please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.
stfcpublicengagementteam@stfc.ukri.org
07598 404139
Email: sophy.palmer@stfc.ukri.org
Email: phill.day@stfc.ukri.org
Email: abi.ashton@stfc.ukri.org
01793 444164
STFC intends this scheme to be flexible and reserves the right to deal, as it thinks fit, with application of unusual character and to waive any rule at its absolute discretion.
STFC Public Engagement Spark Awards are governed by the grant conditions as set out in the research grants handbook, unless otherwise stated.
Applications are accepted and awards are made on the understanding that research organisations and award holders agree to observe the terms and conditions and the scheme requirements set out in this document and any amendments issued.
Applicants must take up the award at the host institution identified in the application.
STFC will not allow a Public Engagement Spark Awards holder to change their host institution prior to taking up an award.
Consideration will be given to requests during the course of an award to relocate the grant to a different institution for scientific or domestic reasons. The agreement of the institutions concerned will be required before seeking approval from STFC.
Public Engagement Spark Award holders are expected to regularly update the record of their grant using the research council reporting tool, Researchfish, in line with the STFC public engagement evaluation framework.
There are additional questions for STFC public engagement grant holders. This enables STFC to easily extract data regarding the impact of the work of our Spark Award holders whenever required. It serves as a database of impacts (outputs, outcomes and reach) for an award holder’s own reference.
To assist with their Researchfish return, Public Engagement Spark Award holders are also required, throughout their award, to collect data relevant to their activities in the STFC public engagement metrics spreadsheet. This should be sent to the public engagement team once a year (see ‘contact details’ section).
Publications and other forms of media communication, including media appearances, press releases and conferences, must acknowledge the support received from STFC, quoting the grant reference number if appropriate.
Resources produced as a result of any grants should acknowledge STFC as the funding source using the standard format agreed by funders and publishers and detailed in the additional information accompanying this grant.
To ensure appropriate coordination and opportunities to increase the impact of engagement, external media activity produced as a result of this award must be signed off by the STFC media team before the activity takes place or is published.
This includes:
Award holders are responsible for giving STFC sufficient notice in advance of activities such that STFC can advise on content, or build the activities of grant holders into our own communications and engagement programmes.
It is a condition of every grant that STFC accepts no liability for the manner in which the work in connection with the grant is undertaken. The research organisation and award holder will be responsible in all respects for the work and the consequences of it.
A grant may be terminated, or its conditions varied, at any time at the absolute discretion of STFC. Should the award holder leave their institution for another research organisation or an alternative type of employment, they must notify the public engagement team immediately (see ‘contact details’ section).
If it is not possible to transfer the grant, then STFC will terminate payments from the day immediately after the award holder leaves the host institution. Failure to submit reports will result in termination of the award unless there are mitigating reasons.
The panel members for this call are:
