Volunteering for a Grant Review Panel
The Palaeontological Association is seeking volunteers from our Membership to assist in reviewing grant applications. We welcome individuals with a broad range of expertise to help ensure a fair and thorough evaluation process. If you are interested in contributing, please complete the online webform: Volunteering for a Grant Review Panel
Grants
Carer’s Bursary
Bursaries are made to support attendance at Association meetings by researchers with caring responsibilities.
Deadline: 13th May (Progressive Palaeontology) and 14th November (Annual Meeting) at 23:59 BST.
Note these are currently provisional dates and may change nearer the events.
Career Development Grant
The Career Development Grant is to assist talented early-career researchers who have recently completed their PhD, or are close to the end of their fixed-term contracts (within 3 months of the grant deadline below), to strengthen their CVs to help them achieve a career in palaeontology (research or curation).
Deadline: 7th October 23.59 GMT each year.
Engagement Grants
Awards are made to encourage educational outreach, public engagement, and related initiatives in palaeontological themes. Normally, the budget for an individual grant would be less than £5,000 GBP (or equivalent currency in the applicant’s country at the time the funds are disbursed). However, under exceptional circumstances, a budget of up to £8,000 GBP for an individual application will be considered.
Deadline: 1st September 23:59 GMT.
In rare cases where rapid access to funds is critical, applications submitted outside the normal deadlines may be considered.
Grant-in-aid
The Association is happy to receive applications for grants from the organisers of scientific meetings, workshops and short courses that lie conformably with its charitable purpose, which is to promote research in palaeontology and its allied sciences.
Deadline: 1st March and 1st September each year at 23:59 GMT
Jones-Fenleigh Fund - SVPCA
The Jones-Fenleigh Fund was founded in 1989, with money donated by the Jones-Fenleigh family in memory of Edward Jones-Fenleigh, the man who introduced the first museum-quality dinosaur models, made by his company Invicta Plastics of Leicester, UK.
Its purpose is to provide bursaries to individuals with no access to funding for conferences so that they can attend the Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy (SVPCA).
Deadline: 17th August at 23:59 GMT.
Postgraduate Travel Fund
Financial assistance is offered to postgraduate students who are members of the Association to attend international meetings that are not directly supported by the Association through the Grants-in-Aid scheme. A list of directly-sponsored meetings is given below. The funding is only intended for conferences that are explicitly scientific in nature. Enquiries can be made to the Meetings Coordinator (meetings@palass.org).
No deadline. Application accepted throughout the year.
Research Grants
Awards are made to assist palaeontological research up to a maximum value of £10,000 GBP per award. Normally, grants must support a single research project, or a ‘proof of concept’ proposal with an aim of supporting future applications to national research funding bodies. Field-based projects are also eligible, but the scientific objectives and outcomes of the research must be made clear.
Deadline: 1st March at 23:59 GMT
Small Grants Scheme
The Association offers multiple awards each year, in honour of three donors, to fund palaeontological research, travel and fieldwork; these are integrated together under the Small Grants Scheme. These grants are open to any member of the Association, although preference is given to students, early career researchers, and members of the Association who are retired.
Sylvester-Bradley Awards: Multiple awards up to £1500 GBP each, for palaeontological research.
Whittington Award: An award up to £1500 GBP for a project which is normally based on museum collections.
Stan Wood Award: A maximum of two awards of up to £1500 GBP for projects in vertebrate palaeontology, and ideally involving fieldwork and fossil collecting.
Deadline: 1 November 23:59 GMT
Undergraduate Research Bursaries
The Palaeontological Association Undergraduate Research Bursaries are aimed at giving undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire research skills and experience that will significantly transform their academic career.
Deadline: 1st February at 23:59 GMT
Grant ethics and conditions
Ethics
For full details, please see the document Palaeontological Association Publication Policies and Ethics guidance.
Regarding the use of animal experiments in research funded by the Palaeontological Association, we note that the use of live or euthanized animals is an essential part of research in many scientific disciplines, including palaeontology. Research Grant awardees must commit to the highest possible ethical standards related to the use of animals. We require awardees to confirm they will:
- design robust experiments (see https://arriveguidelines.org/arrive-guidelines) that reflect the principles of the 3Rs (replace reduce refine): see https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/the-3rsal
- comply with national legislation in the country where the research is to be undertaken and all institutional regulations and guidelines.
You may find the following sources useful:
- Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour / Animal Behavior Society; see Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research (Animal Behaviour, 2020, 159, I-XI).
- Declaration of Helsinki.
- EU legislation (Directive 2010/63/EU; Regulation (EU) 2019/1010).
Categories of expenditure for which the Palaeontological Association does not provide support
Applicants are advised that the Association does not offer funding for the following costs, and hence none of these items may be included in any budget proposal submitted to the Association:
- Core funding or overheads for institutions. The Association will fund the directly incurred costs of research on awards but, as a charity, we expect the general running costs (e.g. indirect costs, estate costs, support services, directly allocated staff costs) to be provided by the host research institute. We will therefore not fund on a proportion of full economic costs (fEC) basis. Attention is drawn to paragraphs 3.31 to 3.37 of the Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014, HM Treasury (July 2004), which explains arrangements for the provision of overheads linked to charity funding to academic institutions.
- Individual items of equipment over £1000 GBP, sites, buildings or other capital expenditure.
- A shortfall resulting from a withdrawal of or deficiency in public finance.
- Student tuition fees and summer research bursaries, other than Undergraduate Research Bursaries.
Other conditions for Palaeontological Association grants
We will only consider one grant application per year from any given applicant.