Funding

Algae-UK members have several funding streams they can benefit from – either directly as academics, or indirectly as industry partners. These are summarised below. Please use the navigation links above to access call details and application forms. Remember: you will need to be a member of Algae-UK in order to be eligible for any Algae-UK funds.

Business Interaction Vouchers (BIV)

Value: up to £10k (80% FEC)

Project Timescale: up to 6 months

Must-haves:

• Applicant must be a member of Algae-UK and a UK-based academic who meets the eligibility criteria set out in section 3 of the BBSRC Research Grants guide (https://bbsrc.ukri.org/documents/grants-guide/)
• A relevant industry partner contributing either in kind or cash. The value of this contribution must match or exceed the 80% FEC value of the award.
• Project costs must be inclusive of any VAT
• The project must be within the scope of Algae-UK
• Project must be relevant to industrial biotechnology (IB) as defined by the BBSRC: “IB is a set of cross-disciplinary technologies that use biological resources for producing and processing materials and chemicals for non-food applications. The resources include plants, algae, marine life, fungi and micro-organisms. The feedstocks include renewable materials such as crop residue, animal wastes, food and municipal wastes and perennial biomass”.

Proof of Concept (PoC)

Value: up to £50k (80% FEC)

Project timescale: up to 12 months

Must-haves:

• Applicant must be a member of Algae-UK and a must be a UK-based academic who meets the eligibility criteria set out in section 3 of the BBSRC Research Grants guide (https://bbsrc.ukri.org/documents/grants-guide/)
• Project costs must be inclusive of any VAT
• The project must be within the scope of Algae-UK
• Project must be relevant to industrial biotechnology (IB) as defined by the BBSRC: “IB is a set of cross-disciplinary technologies that use biological resources for producing and processing materials and chemicals for non-food applications. The resources include plants, algae, marine life, fungi and micro-organisms. The feedstocks include renewable materials such as crop residue, animal wastes, food and municipal wastes and perennial biomass”.

Funding to support Early Career Researchers and Students

We have a number of funds to support undergraduate students and Early Career Researchers (ECR) as they develop their skills and career in science or engineering –

• Conference and Training support
• Summer Studentship Bursary
• Secondment Bursary for ECR

Please follow the ECR navigation link above for more information about these schemes.

Adhoc support

The Algae-UK Management Board can consider fully justified ad hoc requests for small amounts of funding to facilitate activities that are relevant to Algae-UK members and the scope of the network – for example an event or “outreach” support. Please get in touch with us for further information.