Please note that the application deadline for the Copus Grant Schemes 2003/4 has passed, and we are not accepting applications at this time. This document is provided for reference for applicants for the Copus Grant Schemes 2003/4.

This document, together with the Guidelines for completing the forms are available as pdf for viewing and printing (510k). (You need a recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to download and view this. Most computers have this installed already, but if necessary, you can download it from Adobe's website.)

These pages set out the conditions under which grants are offered through the Copus Grant Schemes 2003/2004, managed by the Royal Society. Copus Grants are made possible by a grant from the Office of Science and Technology’s public engagement with science and technology programme, and by funding from the Royal Society.

In this document the word science should be read to include science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine, as well as the processes, issues and ethical/ social concerns linked with these disciplines.

1. Introduction

2. Aims

3. Outline of the grant schemes

4. Eligibility

4.1 Applicant
4.2 Application

5. Exclusions

6. Award Criteria and Priorities

6.1 Funding Priorities

7. Timetable

7.1 Application Process
7.2 Projects

8. How to Apply

8.1 General information
8.2 Small Grants scheme
8.3 Large Grants scheme
8.4 Major Grants scheme
8.5 Contents of the Business Plan (for Large and Major Grants only)

9. The assessment process

9.1 Successful applications
9.2 Unsuccessful applications

10. What we do with the information you provide

• A named person, who is resident in the UK, and aged 18 or over, must make the application. This named person will be our primary contact for all matters relating to the application process, award, management and payment of the grant.
• Small and Large Grants may be awarded to any type of UK-based organisation, unincorporated body, or private individual.
• Major Grants will only be awarded to qualifying organisations, and the primary contact (i.e. the named person who makes the application) must be from that organisation. We anticipate that the organisation of the primary contact will have a leading role in the development and delivery of the project. Grant payments will normally only be made to the organisation of the primary contact, except in circumstances where we agree that payment elsewhere will benefit the project funded (e.g. to enable release of matching funding).
  
  We define a qualifying organisation to be an organisation that has at least one year of audited accounts in the name of that organisation, and that is one of: a charity (either registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales or recognised by the Inland Revenue in Scotland and Northern Ireland; a university, college or Research Council establishment; a limited company (registered with Companies House); or a limited liability partnership.
  
  Entities hosted by organisations may apply providing their finances and staffing arrangements are routed through that host organisation. In such circumstances, accounts for both the entity and the host organisation should be provided.
  
  Individuals and groups not qualifying for our definition of “organisation” who wish to apply for a Major Grant are encouraged to link up with a qualifying organisation. In this circumstance, a named person from the qualifying organisation should apply and be the primary contact.
• All projects funded by Copus Grants must take place in the UK, although projects may be part of broader European/international initiatives.
• Only one application per Copus grant scheme (i.e. Major Grants or Large grants or Small grants) will be considered from any one applicant.
• Previous Copus grant holders may reapply for all schemes, providing previous grants have been satisfactorily completed. Current Copus grant holders may reapply for all schemes, providing no matters are outstanding with the administration of their grant.
• Members of Royal Society Council and Royal Society employees are not eligible to apply.

• A project cannot be funded by more than one Copus grant scheme simultaneously.
• Copus Grants are not awarded to projects retrospectively. See Timescale for details.
• To be considered eligible, applications must be submitted by the closing date, and must consist of the following documents, supplied together:
  • Major Grants: Application Summary Form; Business Plan; Application Monitoring Form; Supporting Statement Form; Copy of the most recent audited accounts
  • Large Grants: Application Summary Form; Business Plan; Application Monitoring Form; Supporting Statement Form
  • Small Grants: Application Summary Form; Application Monitoring Form; Supporting Statement Form
• Proposed projects must meet with one or more of the funding priorities, and must include certain features, e.g. details of what the project’s target audience(s) is/are and how they will be reached; and how the project will be evaluated. See Funding priorities and How to Apply for details.
• Applications that are illegible, incomplete, late, or otherwise fail to meet with the requirements of the application process will not be eligible for funding;
• Large and Major Grants only: Grants may only be used to pay for up to 75% of the cash costs of a project i.e. at least 25% of the cash costs of the project must be being sought from a source other than the project’s host at the time of the application to the Copus grant schemes.

Grants will be awarded to science communication projects that meet the following funding priorities. If the project does not match at least one of these priorities, it will not be successful for funding:

Science in Society:

projects that encourage public engagement with and dialogue about science, or consultation on science issues. Particularly welcomed are projects that encourage dialogue directly between scientists, the public and/or professional and other representative groups and projects that feed in to public policy development. Projects where the public audiences have a discursive or participatory role will be favoured over those where the public audiences have a passive or recipient role.

Widening participation:

projects that seek to widen participation in science in society activity to include audiences traditionally under-represented in such activity. This includes, but is not limited to, Black and Minority Ethnic communities, people at risk of social exclusion, people with mental or physical disabilities or learning difficulties, people in remote communities, or other audiences that the applicant can justify as having limited participation in science communication activity. Such projects may be new bespoke projects or projects that increase the effectiveness of existing activity.

Collaboration and Networking:

projects that involve partnerships or networks between groups, organisations and individuals interested in science communication activity, where that partnership or network aims to increase the impact of activity that meets one or more of the other priority funding areas.

Good Practice in Science Communication:

projects to develop and disseminate good practice in science communication including evaluation methodology. To meet with this priority, projects should be specifically targeted at the science communication community (broadly defined, to include science communicators; science communication policy makers and administrators; and scientists communicating with non-specialists).

Science in the media:

projects that support informed media coverage of science issues.

Please note: Applications received after the Closing Date will not be considered for funding. We recommend you submit your application early to allow us to check your application for eligibility, and to allow for any unforeseen delays, for example illness, local industrial action by Post Office staff, or local weather difficulties.

If successful, you will need to respond to us by the date shown with any further details required by the Panel (conditional offers only), a formal acceptance of the offer, bank details for the first payment, and the contact details and signature of a third party (such as a colleague from your organisation) to confirm that the grant will be returned or the project and reporting requirements will be carried out should you be unable to complete these yourself. Failure to respond to the offer by the date specified will result in your offer being withdrawn, and offered to another project. Please be sure that you or a colleague will be available to respond to any offer within the timescale shown.

You will be notified of the outcome of your application by the dates specified. As we cannot provide funding retrospectively, the implementation of your project should not start until after the respective notification date. Please check that you will have sufficient time between the notification date and your planned delivery dates to implement your project or to make alternative arrangements. In particular, we advise against applying for a Large or Small Grant for funding for participation in National Science Week 2004.

Copus Grants may fund projects lasting up to two years in length, so we expect projects funded under these Schemes to have completed by April 2006. There is no minimum timeframe, however potential applicants who have short-term projects are encouraged to collaborate with other organisations to increase the impact of their projects. We encourage applicants to link their events to UK-wide initiatives, for example National Science Week 2005 or 2006 (see http://www.the-ba.net for details).

We prefer you to download and use the Forms from the Copus Grants website at http://www.copus.org.uk. Paper copies of the forms are available from the Copus Grants office. See Guidelines for completing the forms for details of how to complete each question on the forms.

Please note that cover letters are not passed to the Copus Grants Panel. Please ensure that all the information you would like to present to the Panel is in the Application Summary Form and (for Large and Major Grants only), the Business Plan and any optional supporting material.

All applications must be made by post, using the forms specified, and should be received by us by the closing date. Faxed or emailed applications will not be accepted.

Applications should be submitted when complete only and all relevant papers should be submitted together.

Your application will be copied many times, and so (for Large and Major Grants only), the Business Plan and any supporting material should be A4 in size and legible when photocopied. Please do not staple or bind your application, as this delays processing – please leave loose, or use a clip or loose folder.

Receipt of applications will only be acknowledged if you supply a stamped self-addressed postcard.

Please complete an Application Summary Form and an Application Monitoring Form, and send both to us together with one completed Supporting Statement Form. If completed electronically, the Application Summary Form may be extended to be a maximum of five pages in length; otherwise one continuation sheet for a maximum of two of the questions is acceptable, but optional.

Strictly no other materials should be sent with these forms, including appendices or supporting information.

Please complete an Application Summary Form and a Application Monitoring Form, and send both to us together with one completed Supporting Statement Form and a Business Plan (see below) of not more than 2,500 words in total. If completed electronically, the Application Summary Form may be extended to be a maximum of five pages in length; otherwise one continuation sheet for a maximum of two of the questions is acceptable, but optional.

You may also strictly optionally submit up to two individual items of photocopyable, A4-sized backup material of up to a total of 4 sides of A4 (e.g. illustrations, leaflets, press cuttings but not cds, videos etc.).

Please complete an Application Summary Form and a Application Monitoring Form, and send both to us together with one completed Supporting Statement Form, a Business Plan (see below) of not more than 2,500 words in total, and a copy of the most recent audited accounts.

You may also strictly optionally submit up to two individual items of photocopyable, A4-sized backup material of up to a total of 4 sides of A4 (e.g. illustrations, leaflets, press cuttings but not cds, videos etc.).

For Large and Major Grants, you are required to submit a Business Plan. The Business Plan should:

• Outline the objectives of the project and the proposed strategy;
• Clearly indicate how the proposal will improve public engagement with science, and meet with the funding priorities;
• Define targets and outline intended/existing evaluation methods for measuring achievement and effectiveness;
• Provide a timetable for delivery of the project;
• Describe how the target audience will access and make use of the project;
• List the partners involved, and outline their contributions to the project;
• Provide details of any background evidence in support of the project, including the experience of the applicant/organisation(s) in engaging public audiences with science;
• Give evidence of the project’s effectiveness and proven value if the application is for continuing an established initiative;
• Provide a financial breakdown, which should include details of all costs, incomes and onward financial targets, state whether these incomes are cash or in-kind, and an indication of whether the grant will be spent over 1 or 2 project years. Mark clearly the items that the Copus grant will pay for. Please indicate details of matching financial support from other sources that is already secured for the project, or which is being sought from co-funders (in which case please indicate expected level of success) and whether the project intended to generate revenue;
• Outline potential or intended future developments/follow-up activities/dissemination.

Grant offer procedure

We will send you an offer letter and contract, setting out the terms of your grant award including any special conditions of award, and the payment arrangements; standard terms include branding and acknowledgement details, and evaluation requirements (an example contract is available from http://www.copus.org.uk/). See the section 7, Timescale for the relevant dates.

Payment of the grant

The grant will normally be paid in two instalments: the first instalment of 80% of the grant awarded will be available upon return of the signed contract; the second (the balance of what the grantholder has spent up to the limit of the total grant offered) will be paid at the end of the project on satisfactory completion of the reporting procedures below. For higher-value awards, particularly for Major Grants, we reserve the right to make staged payments.

We will require repayment of the grant if the implementation of your project departs from the outline in your application and any agreed amendments, or if in our opinion, progress on your project is not satisfactory, reporting requirements are not fulfilled, or the future of the project is in jeopardy.

Please note that income may stretch over more than one financial year.

Reporting procedures

Small and Large grants: A brief progress report will be required every six months from the date of the offer of the Grant. We will require a completed Final Report Form (including a financial statement and audience monitoring information) and evaluation at the end of the project (date to be agreed in the contract), in order to claim the spent balance of the grant.

Major grants: Projects will be assigned a mentor appointed by us who will be able to offer guidance on the project’s development and assist in evaluating its outcome. We will require you to work with the mentor to provide a progress report at least every six months from the date of the offer of the grant for the duration of the project. We will require grantholders to submit a written final report (including a financial statement and audience monitoring information) at the end of the project (date to be agreed in the contract), in order to claim the spent balance of the grant.

Publicity and sharing of information

Summary information of successful applications will be published on the Copus Grants website shortly after the grants are offered, and will be updated as necessary in the event of any offered grants being declined by the applicant.

The decision of the Copus Grants Panel is final. We aim to provide short feedback to unsuccessful applicants seeking this information.