Places of science provides grants of up to £3,500 to small museums, funding projects that tell the stories of science and scientists relevant to communities across the UK.
Applications are now open until 12pm Friday 17 November 2023.
For information, you can read the full scheme guidance (PDF).
For full guidance, please refer to the scheme notes (PDF).
Applications are judged by the Places of science allocation panel, which is made up of museum and heritage professionals, historians and scientists.
We want to fund projects that
We are particularly interested in projects that
We also strongly encourage projects which align with the themes of the Natural History Museum’s Our Broken Planet: How we got here and ways to fix it programme. The Natural History Museum is supporting museums across the UK to engage with topics that debate why and how our relationship with the natural world needs to change.
Projects covering these themes may be linked with the NHM and its UK-wide Community of Practice to support skills and knowledge sharing. Themes include: Climate Emergency (e.g. surviving warming waters and storing carbon), Health (e.g. the spread of disease or eco-anxiety), Eating the Earth (e.g. the future of food and sustainable farming) and Nature for Sale (e.g. fast fashion and illegal wildlife trade). The programme also aims to support the engagement of these topics with young people.
Applications will be judged on their relevance and suitability, impact and significance, and planning and evaluation.
Relevance and suitability (40%)
The extent to which the project meets the scheme’s criteria.
Impact and significance (40%)
The effect of the project on the community, the museum and any partners and volunteers.
Planning and evaluation (20%)
The coherence and feasibility of the proposed timeline, budget and evaluation plan.
The panel will aim, where possible, to select a demographically, geographically and scientifically diverse range of projects.
Please contact the Public Engagement team on public.engagement@royalsociety.org.