Beacon Bursaries funding: applications open

Do you have an idea for a project, open day or piece of training, or a need for materials or resources that will help you to connect your research or teaching with people outside UCL better? Do you need funding to improve your skills, share public engagement ideas or arrange meetings and dialogue events?     The Beacon Bursary fund provides grants of up to £1,500 for UCL staff or research students with good ideas to improve the status of public engagement at UCL.

They are awarded three times a year, with deadlines in December, April and June.

This round of funding closes at 5pm, 22 April 2009.

Typical applications for the Bursary scheme might be:

• a departmental open day (other than to recruit students)
• costs associated with a specific piece of engagement training
• a public event
• development costs for an application for larger funding for a major public engagement activity
• conference fees to attend an engagement conference
• materials for a community arts project
• a fee for an external speaker for a public event
• hire fees for an public exhibition, event or meeting space.

You can see projects that we have funded in the past on this Public Engagement Unit webpage, to get an idea of what the scheme is for.

Beacon Bursary awards are competitive, which means you'll need to fill in a short application form to apply. The form is limited to two sides of A4, and gives you a chance to discuss what you would use the money for, and how you plan to make sure that you meet your objectives.

We have prepared some guidance to help you fill in the form, which will hopefully answer all your questions.

For any help or questions about applying for Beacon Bursary funding, please write to us at publicengagement@ucl.ac.uk.