Science Museum Lates Application

"We were bowled over by the interest shown in our research and the generally ‘up-for-it’ attitude of the Lates audience”

- Lates Research Fellow, 2015

Application guidance

The Royal Society and the Science Museum are partnering to create a Royal Society themed Lates event on Wednesday 29 March 2017. We are inviting Royal Society funded scientists to submit applications to host activities that promote and explain their research.

The Science Museum Lates are a highly successful series of events that take place on the last Wednesday of each month at the Science Museum in South Kensington, London. The target audience for these events is 18-30 year-olds and, as such, are full of fast-paced, interactive, high-energy activities.
For more information visit sciencemuseum.org.uk/lates

We want to showcase the breadth of research undertaken by our Research Fellows and show the public how science is not only incredibly important, but interesting, interactive, inspiring and fun.

Chosen activities will be fully supported by the Royal Society and the Science Museum and will not require any additional funding.

This page provides you with all the information you need to ensure your proposed activity is suitable and deliverable. Please consider it carefully when making your application.

Eligibility

This opportunity is open to all those currently funded by a Royal Society grant scheme.

Advice for applicants

As holders of Royal Society Research grants we are confident that your research is of high quality. This means the most important thing about this application is not necessarily your content, but how you plan to make it exciting and accessible.

Your activity can take any form that you feel best communicates your research, but for inspiration please take a look at our previous Science Museum Lates event. These are all tried and tested formats that work in a Science Museum Lates setting.

In particular, we encourage all applicants to think about the sustainability and reproducibility of any activities so that resources and demonstrations could be re-used for future science communication events.

Formats

We are looking for a mix of talks, interactive workshops and make-and-takes, with a particular focus on the latter two. There will be a very limited number of places for talks and we will show a preference for ideas which demonstrate new and innovative ways of presenting your research.

We also recommend you look at the examples of successful activities previously used at our Lates event.

Criteria for selection

The selection of successful applications will be made jointly by the Royal Society and the Science Museum, taking into account the following:

Interest of the science for the public
Relevance of activity to event
Creativity in presenting content

Developing approved activities

Once your activity has been approved you will receive financial support from the Royal Society and the Science Museum to develop and enhance your activity, ensuring that the content is exciting, accessible and suited to the target audience.

You will also receive training as part of your selection, which will allow you to develop new ideas for your activity, improve your communication skills and meet the other Research Fellows involved.
The costs of your activity will be covered by the Royal Society and the Science Museum.

Timeline

Date	Milestone
21 October 2016	Deadline for call for applications
18 November 2016	Activities approved and successful applicants contacted
November-February 2016	Research Fellows to build their activities with help from the Royal Society
December 2016 to January 2017	Communication skills training by Science Museum
29 March 2017	Royal Society Lates at the Science Museum

Please direct all enquires to publicengagement@royalsociety.org