/ Grants at the Royal Society / Partnership Grants

How to apply for a Partnership Grant

The Partnership Grants scheme funds schools and colleges up to £3,000 to work in partnership with STEM professionals from academia or industry to run an investigative STEM project.

Apply on Flexi-Grant® Book online intro session

  • Open date

  • 1st application deadline

  • 2nd application deadline

  • 3rd application deadline

  • Close date

Application deadlines

The annual funding round for the Partnership grants opens in February each year. There are three possible submission deadlines across the year (please see table below). The round closes after the final submission deadline which is at the end of November/start of December. 

Submission deadline (Stage 1 and 2)

Notified about outcome of application

Term project can start from

End of April

July

Autumn term (October onwards)

Early July

October

Spring term (January onwards)

Start of December

February

Summer term (April onwards)

 

The Partnership Grant application process is completed through Flexi-Grant®, an online system used to administer all Royal Society grants. Applications cannot be accepted via email.

Application process

Who can submit an application?

Applications must be started by somebody in the school or college applying for the funding as, if successful, it is their organisation that will receive the grant payment. Once an application has been started, they can invite the lead STEM partner to contribute to the form.  

What needs to be submitted in the application?

The application form is made up of two stages. 

  • Stage 1 is basic information about the grant to ensure the school or college, project, and STEM partner are eligible. 
  • Stage 2 asks for more details about the budget, timeline of grant activities and STEM partner engagement. 

Stage 2 needs to be countersigned by the lead STEM partner and the school or college head teacher or principle. Both stages of the application must be submitted to be considered. 

Click here to start your application in FlexiGrant®. 

Stage 1 and Stage 2 checklists are available from the downloads on the right hand side of this page.

This project planning guidance document is available to help you draft how your project will run, from the kick off meeting through to the end of the investigation. In the Stage 2 application form, you will have a blank version of the table you will need to complete, so working on it advance can help you plan your project. This application planning document with examples will help you to consider what elements to include in your own project. There are also four examples of successful applications forms provided, covering primary, younger secondary, older secondary and all through levels.

Notification of application decision

Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their grant application within 3 months of the submission deadline.  

If successful, grant projects may be able to start 2 – 3 months after this once the grant agreements and payments have been arranged (4 – 6 months in total between application and funds being received). For example, a project submitted for the start of December is likely to receive funding ready to start the project after the Easter break.

If an application has been unsuccessful the school or college can work with the Schools Engagement team to re-write their application and submit again in a future funding round. 

Application support

The Schools Engagement team can provide advice on finding STEM partners, developing project idea, as well as providing feedback on draft applications, and providing any required technical support for Flexi-Grant® to ensure you have the best possible chance to receive funding. 

Free online introduction sessions are run throughout term time for teachers and STEM partners and aim to give attendees a better understanding of the scheme and application process.

You can find a list of our guidance documents and exemplar application forms to download on the right hand side of the page.

The questions below are questions commonly asked by prospective applicants and the answers provide useful hints and tips for your application. Please also review the guidance regarding the partnership, eligibility and guidance to support SEND as you write your application. Don’t forget that draft applications can be sent to the Schools Engagement team for review before you submit.

Downloads

Application FAQ's

Stage 1 of the application process requires simple, initial details about your project. Please download the Stage 1 checklist for more details. Submitted Stage 1 applications undergo short eligibility checks. If a project is not eligible it can be sent back to the applicant with guidance to edit and resubmit.

What is required at Stage 1?

  • School or college details, including the address, school or college type and level
  • Lead STEM partner details, including their organisation, job title, their highest level of education and simple details about why they are a suitable partner for the project
  • Simple project details, including the title (which must be a question) and a short descriptive summary of the project explaining what the students will be investigating

What is not required at Stage 1?

  • A full itemised budget, and project timeline are not required at Stage 1

Which partner is required to complete Stage 1?

  • The school partner must start the application and is required to submit Stage 1
  • The STEM partner can be invited to contribute to the form but it is not compulsory

Once you have successfully completed Stage 1 and passed the eligibility checks you will be sent a link to the Stage 2 application form. Please download the Stage 2 checklist for more details. Feedback can be provided on draft applications before they are submitted; however once Stage 2 applications have been submitted, they cannot be sent back to the applicant for editing.

What is required at Stage 2?

  • Which submission deadline you are aiming for, the term you plan to start the project and how many terms your project will run for.
  • Details about your project plan, showing what the students will be doing at each stage, what equipment is needed and how the STEM partner will be involved. This project planning guidance document can help you prepare this section of the application.
  • Information about how students will be selected for the project and how many will be involved.
  • Details about any additional STEM partners who will be supporting your project.
  • An itemised budget, with quotes provided for items over £200.
  • The name and job title of a second school staff member who could take over as school partner if required.
  • Information about the legacy of the project.

Which partner is required to complete Stage 2?

  • The school partner must start Stage 2 and will be sent a link to the form once the eligibility checks are complete.
  • The STEM partner must be invited to complete a section of the form, confirming they support the application
  • The head teacher of the school must complete a section of the form confirming they support the application. If the lead school partner is the head teacher of the school, then this section must be completed by their deputy or another member of the senior leadership team

The school partner starts the application in FlexiGrant® and invites the lead STEM partner to contribute to the application and either Stage 1 (optional) or Stage 2 (mandatory). If multiple STEM partners are involved in the project, those additional to the lead STEM partner can be mentioned in your application, together with their contact details, but do not need to be invited to contribute to the form. 

The school partner should mention any other staff members who may be involved in the project, for example, other teachers, support staff or technicians.

The school partner will also invite the Head teacher or principal to contribute their details to the form, and to give their approval to the project. 

 

No, you must apply with a specific project rather than a series of experiments, such as those often undertaken in a STEM club. 

Within your project you can list more than one investigation or experiment but it is crucial that the investigations listed all link to each other and will help your students answer the project title. Please see the project plans for example project ideas and the sorts of investigations that can be undertaken under a specific project topic as well as other guidance.

The lead STEM partner eligibility can be found on the eligibility page.

Although the lead STEM partner must fulfill the criteria on this page, you may find it beneficial to form a group of STEM partners to support your project. This may include Masters and PhD students, retired STEM Ambassadors etc. who do not need to fulfill all the criteria.

While your lead STEM partner must be involved throughout the lifetime of the project, you can work with multiple STEM partners, as many as makes sense for your project.

You may choose to work with different STEM partners at different times during your project, depending on the expertise and experience required.

Besides giving students a wider experience of STEM careers, involving multiple STEM partners means there is less time pressure on any one individual

While education outreach or public engagement personnel cannot be the lead STEM partner for a project, they could support the facilitation of a group of STEM partners.

You can involve as many students as is feasible for the project, but we look for the involvement of as many as possible. The students involved in the project should be representative of your student population.

If capacity is limited due to space, equipment or supervision, think about if you could run multiple sessions concurrently or repeat the project with specific groups across the course of the grant. If you normally involve a STEM club or set, think about how you could broaden the engagement, maybe include additional classes, year groups or even the whole school. If working on a whole school project, make sure it is clear in your application which aspects the different year groups will be involved in and how the different year groups’ work will feed into each other

You do not need to know which individual students will take part in the project but you will be asked to state the number of students and which year groups will be involved in Stage 2 of the application.

Ideally your project should involve as many students as possible but it is appreciated that some projects can only involve a small number of students. In this case, make sure it is clear in your application why this is the case. It is also crucial that you carefully consider how you will select the students to take part and that this selection process is clearly explained. Ensure your selection process takes into consideration diversity, including the gender and ethnicity of students.

As well as the selection of your students, make sure you include some detail about how the project and work will be shared with your wider school community. Can you share your project in assemblies or through the school newsletter etc? 

You must apply with a specific research project rather than a series of independent activities or experiments for a STEM club. The title of the project must be a scientific question that the students are attempting to answer by completing their research. The project can be in any topic (or across topics) of STEM, and we encourage projects that have cross-curricular elements. Your project must be new to the school/college and cannot be part of a third-party scheme or competition.

You can find more information on the eligibility page.

You can view and download a range of project examples via our website. Please see the Example project titles (PDF) document for project topic inspiration drawn from those previously funded. Please see the project plans for example project ideas and guidance on the sorts of STEM partner engagement and investigations that can be undertaken and equipment that the grant could be used to purchase.

More information about previously funded projects can also be found on the case studies page.