Public Engagement Spark Awards 2026B (Grant)

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard and non-standard eligibility.

Check if your organisation is eligible.

Who is eligible to apply

Almost anyone can apply for a Spark award, but your host institution must be based in the UK.

Organisations that apply must produce an annual financial report and accounts that are available on request. These must have been either prepared or submitted by a qualified accountant who is a member of a recognised professional accountancy body, including:

• The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

• Association of International Accountants (AIA)

• Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)

• The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)

• Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI)

If this does not describe your organisation, you must work in partnership with an organisation that can receive the funding on your behalf.

The following are examples of who could be eligible to apply if meeting the previous criteria:

• STFC grant funded researchers

• scientists, technicians and engineers employed by STFC

• STFC facility users working in STFC funded remit areas

• museums

• science communicators

• universities and colleges

• community interest companies

• libraries

• community groups

• amateur astronomy groups

The project lead must be eligible to apply on behalf of the organisation that would hold the award.

It is mandatory for every application to include an SME in an STFC funded remit area. While these SMEs may play an active role in delivering the engagement activities, this is not compulsory. The SME will ensure that the scientific content is accurate and has strong connection to the STFC’s science remit. The SME can be any one of these core team roles holders:

• project lead (PL)

• project co-lead (UK) (PcL)

• specialist

If you have any questions about applicant eligibility, email the public engagement team at stfcpublicengagement@stfc.ac.uk and we will advise on how you may proceed.

Who is not eligible to apply

Organisations based outside of the UK are not eligible to apply for this funding opportunity.

Resubmissions

We will not accept uninvited resubmissions of projects that have been submitted to UKRI. Find out more about UKRI’s resubmission policy.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

• career breaks

• support for people with caring responsibilities

• flexible working

• alternative working patterns

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

Demand management

Demand management is not being applied to this funding opportunity.

Aim

We are looking to support projects that do four or more of the following:

• deliver high-quality public engagement activities with strong links to STFC remit funded science, technology and research

• introduce STFC remit science, technology and research to new audiences

• work specifically with the STFC’s target Wonder audience

• co-produce resources and activities with intended audiences

• highlight the achievements of STFC funded science, technology and research

• demonstrate the value of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in the UK, focusing on STFC’s funded remit

• work with the STFC public engagement and communication teams

• help to deliver the aims of the STFC Public Engagement Strategy

• highlight the STFC funded science activities undertaken at STFC national facilities through partnerships with STFC national facilities staff

Spark awards encourage ‘novel approaches’ to engagement and audience. However, applications that use established engagement methods are welcomed.

Scope

STFC Spark grant holders undertake high-quality programmes of public engagement that inspire and involve target audiences with stories of science, technology and facilities funded by STFC.

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section.

Duration

The duration of this award is a minimum of a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 36 months.

Projects must start between 1 June and 1 September 2027.

Funding available

The FEC of your project can be up to £20,000.

STFC will fund 100% of the FEC.

This funding opportunity is outside of the FEC framework. However, the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service does not currently capture non-FEC cost headings. Therefore, for this funding opportunity, please put all requested costs under the individual ‘Exceptions’ fund headings.

What we will fund

We will fund projects that:

• have strong and evidenced links to the STFC funded remit

• align to the STFC Public Engagement Strategy

What we will not fund

The following costs are ineligible for support through Spark awards:

• projects that do not have strong, evidenced links to the STFC funded remit

• projects where the target audiences are not primarily within the UK, clearly evidenced and defined by type, both in numbers and as a percentage of the total reached

• fees or honoraria to people already in paid employment to visit or give talks at schools, societies and so on where such activities would reasonably be undertaken as part of their normal duties

• costs for equipment

• infrastructure funding or costs for building construction and maintenance

• any costs or fees associated with attending international conferences

• projects where it is clear that they would go ahead irrespective of STFC support

• retrospective funding, including those projects with a start date after the closing date but before the funding decisions are announced

• contingency funds

• applications for the sole purpose of authorship and publication of books and novels

• applications with a start date earlier than 1 June 2027

For applicants from or for schools, note the following ineligible costs:

• programmes of formal education

• programmes that do not provide benefits beyond the applicant school

• school trips to CERN and trips to other laboratories, observatories and science venues unless they are intrinsic to a wider public engagement project

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has a long-standing and continuing commitment to supporting and enabling safe and effective collaboration in research and innovation. UKRI is equally committed to ensuring that this takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.

Our Principles and expectations set out the principles that UKRI applies to TR&I and our general expectations of the research organisations (including businesses, research institutes, and research technical organisations) that we support. Organisations supported by UKRI should be able to provide evidence that their internal controls and processes meet these expectations.

See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

STFC office sift of applications

The STFC Public Engagement team will review applications received in order to check that the necessary criteria have been met. Applications that clear the office sift will be provided to the full Spark Award Panel.

Panel

We will invite a panel of experts to use the evidence provided to assess the quality of your application and rank it alongside other applications, after which the panel will make a funding recommendation.

STFC staff will take the panel recommendation into account, along with the requirement to maintain a balanced programme and prioritise projects that reach STFC Wonder target audiences. Final decisions on funding will then be confirmed.

For more information on how we prioritise applications for funding visit How we make decisions.

STFC will make the final funding decision.

Timescale

We aim to complete the assessment process within five months of receiving your application.

Feedback

We will give feedback with the outcome of your application.

Principles of assessment

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in expert review

Generative AI may only be used for the purpose of language refinement during application assessment. When using generative AI to refine the language of a review, panellists must ensure that:

• no part of the application being assessed is entered into a generative AI tool

• no personal information from the application is disclosed

• generative AI is not tasked with understanding, summarising or evaluating the application’s content

Expert panellists must also:

• comply with relevant intellectual property and data protection legislation

• not take into account or speculate within their assessment whether generative AI has been used to develop the application

For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI.

Assessment areas

The assessment areas we will use are:

• vision

• approach

• applicant and team capability to deliver

• resources and cost justification

• evaluation plan

• dissemination plan

• target audience

• linkage to STFC funded science, technology and research

Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Click here to start your application on the UKRI Funding Service https://funding-service.ukri.org/OPP1440/apply/1477

Research and innovation impact

Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.

Related content

• UKRI policies and standards

• STFC Public engagement strategy

• STFC Public Engagement Evaluation Framework

• Remit, portfolio and priorities

• Quantum technologies

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page

The helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility, content or remit of a funding opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Contact details

For help and advice on costings and writing your application contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity email stfcpublicengagement@stfc.ac.uk

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.orgPhone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

• Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm

• Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries more efficiently, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service.