Public Engagement Spark Awards 2026A

Public Engagement Spark Awards 2026A is sponsored by Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Public Engagement Spark Awards 2026A. Funding opportunity from Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

Apply via the UKRI portal.

Public Engagement Spark Awards 2026A – UKRI Funding opportunity: Public Engagement Spark Awards 2026A Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Award range: £5,000 - £20,000 4 June 2026 9:00am UK time 25 August 2026 4:00pm UK time Apply for funding to engage the public with Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) supported science.

You must work for an organisation that: produces annual accounts that are certified by an accountant It is essential that proposals evidence clear links to the STFC-funded remit and include a subject-matter expert (SME) in an STFC-funded remit area. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £20,000. STFC will fund 100% of the FEC.

Projects must be between 12 months and 36 months in duration. This opportunity is open to organisations with standard or non-standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible 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 above criteria: STFC grant funded researchers scientists, technicians and engineers employed by STFC STFC facility users working in STFC-funded remit areas: universities and colleges community interest companies 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 a 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 co-lead (UK) (PcL) If you have any questions about applicant eligibility, please contact 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 the UK are not eligible to apply for this funding opportunity. 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: support for people with caring responsibilities alternative working patterns UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process. Demand management is not being applied to this funding opportunity.

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-funded remit 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. 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.

The duration of this award is a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 36 months. The FEC of your project can be up to £20,000. STFC will fund 100% of the FEC.

This funding opportunity is outside 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.

projects that have strong and evidenced links to the STFC-funded remit projects that align to the STFC Public Engagement Strategy 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: clearly defined by type, 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 infrastructure funding or costs for building construction and maintenance any costs or fees associated with attending international conferences projects where it is clear that the project 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 applications for the sole purpose of authorship and publication of books and novels applications with a start date earlier than 1 February 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) UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks. See further guidance and information about TR&I , including where you can find additional support.

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service, so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI. Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page: Confirm you are the project lead. Answer questions directly in the text boxes.

You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.

Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.

Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI. Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

When including images, you must: provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit) insert each new image on a new line use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words.

The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include: sentences or paragraphs of text excessive quantities of images A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see: how applicants use the Funding Service how research offices use the Funding Service how reviewers use the Funding Service General use of hyperlinks Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.

Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied. For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment .

STFC must receive your application by 25 August 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. You will not be able to apply after this time. Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Following the submission of your application to this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected. STFC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice . If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email: stfcpublicengagement@stfc.

ac. uk Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].

Typical examples of confidential information include: individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave) additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection the application is an invited resubmission For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice .

Institutional matched funding There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% FEC. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations.

Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged. This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.

STFC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at Board and panel outcomes . If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research . In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information.

Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example: the wider research community Guidance for writing a summary Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of: the challenge the project addresses potential applications and benefits List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following: project co-lead (UK) (PcL) professional enabling staff Only list one individual as project lead.

It is mandatory for every application to include a SME in an STFC-funded remit area. The SME can be any one of the PL, PcL or specialist role holders. UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type.

Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application. Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications . What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how your proposed work: is of high quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s) is timely given current trends, context and needs promotes wider advocacy, leadership, promotion and championing of public engagement How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how you have designed your approach so that it: clearly describes the different engagement, networking, or capacity building activities planned as part of the project clearly identifies target audiences provides clear evidence of audience demand for the project demonstrates the appropriateness of the methodology proposed to reach and appeal to the intended audiences demonstrates and builds upon learning from previous activities and wider sector good practice is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed embeds equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) You are expected to upload a single PDF document to provide evidence of audience demand.

If you are not doing so, you will need to provide a reason. The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Applicant and team capability to deliver Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have: the relevant experience to deliver the proposed work the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others You should complete this section as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.

The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles. Resources and cost justification What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular: You can request costs associated with reasonable adjustments where they increase as a direct result of working on the project. For further information see Disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders .

Where a funding limit is imposed on the opportunity, requested costs for reasonable adjustments may exceed the maximum funding amount. Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources.

Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work: are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes maximise potential outcomes and impacts This funding opportunity is outside the FEC framework. However, the 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. How will the outputs, outcomes and impacts of the project be captured, evaluated and shared?

What the assessors are looking for in your response You will need to supply clear evidence of the following: a detailed evaluation plan including methodology how the evaluation is linked to the STFC Public Engagement Evaluation Framework , as funded applicants will be required to report to this framework how learning from the proposed activity will be captured and shared What the assessors are looking for in your response You will need to supply clear evidence of the following: planning for dissemination of the resources, outcomes, outputs, and so on, to relevant audiences how wider audiences could benefit through activities, such as the sharing of good practice or sharing learning We expect that projects will focus on audiences based in the UK.

Please show the total number estimated number of people who will be reached within each audience group shown below and express this as a percentage (which must total 100%): secondary school children (up to 16 years old) You are asked to show a breakdown of Wonder and non-Wonder audiences, where applicable.

If you are targeting a specific subset of the general public not mentioned above, please use the entry for ‘general public’ and specify here (for example gender specific or SEN audiences). If appropriate, how will your project engage with the Wonder Initiative audience, and what is the anticipated impact?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Please provide details of the following: clear evidence of how the audience would be reached and how proposed activities would appeal the appropriateness of the activities to the audience the potential impact on the audience The Wonder initiative aims to connect people from all backgrounds with our science, technology and research.

Wonder is about giving under-served communities an equal voice by listening, understanding and responding to what people want to know about science and technology. The Wonder Initiative focuses on working with participants from the 40% most socio-economically deprived areas of the UK, in particular eight to 14-year-olds and their families and carers.

Applications that are regarded as fundable and have a strong Wonder focus will be prioritised. Safeguarding and use of data What are the ethical, RRI and safeguarding considerations, implications and issues relating to the proposed work? What the assessors are looking for in your response Specifically, any potential issues with respect to vulnerable adults, children and young people should be considered and mitigated.

If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical, RRI or safeguarding issues, explain why.

Demonstrate that you have identified, evaluated and mitigated: the relevant ethical and RRI considerations, including both the topic area itself and the design and delivery of the project how you will manage these considerations throughout the lifecycle of the project how you manage any, and all, safeguarding issues If you are collecting or using data, you should identify: any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing and storing the data (including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further reuse of data) formal information standards that your proposed work will comply with how you will ensure that all data and content from activities that involves vulnerable adults, children and young people are securely and appropriately managed See further information around our expectations on ethical and responsible research and innovation.

List which of the STFC-funded remit areas are relevant to your project. You will need to have provided clear evidence of links to the STFC’s funded remit elsewhere in the application.

What the assessors are looking for in your response Please show the percentage of relevant programme areas and approximate percentages (which must total 100%): The STFC-funded remit areas are: astronomy, solar and planetary science Linkage to specific STFC-funded science, technology and research Clearly describe how the activities that are proposed in your project link directly to STFC-funded science, technology or research that is funded by STFC as part of its remit.

What the assessors are looking for in your response The information should correlate to the percentages that have been supplied in the response to the STFC programme area question above. It is essential for any application for projects that include quantum technologies to demonstrate clear links to the STFC-delivered and funded centres, programmes and facilities .

Provide a clear, evidenced, description of how the proposed project activities map onto the STFC-funded remit areas. Your organisation’s support Provide details of support from your research organisation. What the assessors are looking for in your response Provide a statement of support from your research organisation detailing how they will support you, as the applicant, and your proposed activities.

This should include details of any additional support that might add value to the work. Assessors will be looking for a strong statement of support from your organisation. This information should have been approved for submission by an appropriate authority.

You must also include the following details: a significant person’s name, their position and office or department, or all office address or web link Upload details are provided within the Funding Service on the actual application. Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.

A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct contributions for example cash, donated equipment and resources, or staff seconded to the project, or indirect and in-kind contributions for example use of project partner’s equipment, datasets, or facilities.

Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.

Add the following project partner details: the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable) the project partner contact name and email address the type of contribution (direct or indirect) and its monetary value If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made. Project partners: letters (or emails) of support Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the project partners section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter ‘N/A’.

Each letter or email you provide should: confirm the partner’s commitment to the project clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them describe any additional value that they bring to the project have a page limit of two sides A4 per partner The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service. Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the Project partners section. For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Trusted Research and Innovation is the protection of the UK’s intellectual property, sensitive research, people, and infrastructure from potential theft, misuse, and exploitation. Organisations receiving UKRI funding are obliged to act in line with UK government legislation.

They are also expected to undertake appropriate due diligence assessments of organisations involved in research partnerships, collaboration agreements, and commercial contracts. which areas of the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act your project relates to who you intend to collaborate with and how if your project requires an export control licence Your answers may affect the T&Cs of your funding agreement if you are successful.

We may use your answers to determine that our current T&Cs are sufficient or if additional T&Cs are required. How we will assess your application 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. 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 please visit How we make decisions .

We aim to complete the assessment process within five months of receiving your application. 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 Reviewers and panellists are not permitted to use generative AI tools to develop their assessment, including to correct language, spelling, grammar and formatting. Using these tools can potentially compromise the confidentiality of the ideas that applicants have entrusted to UKRI to safeguard. For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI .

The assessment areas we will use are: applicant and team capability to deliver resources and cost justification 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.

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.

For help and advice on costings and writing your application please 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 please contact 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.

org Our phone lines are open: Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm 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 .

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. Research disruption due to COVID-19 We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities.

We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as: disruptive working patterns and conditions role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application.

They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing. Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption. This is the website for UKRI: our seven research councils, Research England and Innovate UK.

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