The Biochemical Society provides outreach grants of up to £1000 per applicant in each round of funding on a competitive basis. Those applications are judged based on the fulfilment of the criteria below.

 

 

 

Criteria for Biochemical Society Education Outreach Grants:

• The effectiveness of the proposal for disseminating information about (bio)sciences to young people and the general public.  The effectiveness will be considered in terms of the attractiveness of the event(s) to the target audience and the soundeness of the underpinning science.
• The level of relevance to the biosciences, with particular emphasis on molecular bioscience for upper secondary school age audiences and above. For primary school age audiences, the focus can be on biology or on all sciences (for further information, please see the extract from our Education strategy below). 
• The number of students/teachers/members of the public reached (N.B. This may include young people involved in developing an event or people to whom material is passed on, in addition to the number actually attending). 
• The clarity of the intended output and any performance indicators (including evidence of impact) or methods of evaluation, such as feedback forms or questionnaires. 
• The likelihood of delivery within the proposed timetable and within the funding requested. 
• The inclusion of hands-on/practical work. 

Additional criteria that will be taken into account include:

• Long term benefits/sustainability (resource production, train the trainers, opportunities for roll out, potential for cascading the benefits). 
• Events or activities that can be re-run or organized by others 
• Collaborations between, several schools, several universities, mix of organizations. 
• The establishment of links/relationships between schools and universities or industry. 
• The promotion of molecular bioscience career opportunities. 
• Consideration for widening participation: e.g. with regard to ‘difficult to reach’ groups.
• Previous experience of the applicant in outreach activities (although this should NOT deter ‘first time’ applicants.

The grants can NOT be used to:

• Purchase standard school equipment which should properly be funded from other sources. 
• Support commercial activities. 
• Events/activities that are clearly contributing to recruitment to a particular institution or organization are likely to be given lower priority unless the advantages to participants are particularly strong. Where recruitment may be a factor, the institution will be expected to provide some of their own funding. 

You can further improve your application by referring to our Judges Tips.

Once funding is awarded

 

Once funding is received, the event should demonstrate some form of Biochemical Society branding, and promote the Society in some way. Promotional materials, such as a logo and hand outs, can be provided.

Applicants are required to provide a post-activity report to be posted on the Society’s website, and are strongly encouraged to write an article for the Society’s bi-monthly member’s magazine The Biochemist.

 

Any resources produced should be made publicly available through the Biochemical Society website. The Society reserves the right to publish details of the outreach event on their website, to allow for other individuals to apply to run a similar activity in the future.

Strategic aims for the Biochemical Society ‘s Education activities

• Age 4-11 - ages 4-11 need to have a "science focus", without the emphasis on biology
• Age 11-14 - support for biology within a balanced science curriculum
• Age 14-18 - support for biology, with increasing emphasis on molecular biology
• Post-18 - support for biomolecular sciences in their own right.