School Seed Fund

The School of Technology Seed Fund aims to support academics in the School to add value to existing research; to increase activity in cross-School strategic research themes and priorities, particularly in addressing major challenges; to bring in further research income; or to explore research ideas of potential significance.

Applications for typically up to £15,000 to cover Direct Costs are invited from academics in the School of Technology Departments. An award could fund post-doctoral researcher time, support a workshop, or support activities in the development of a major collaborative proposal.

Completed projects: what we have funded so far

Take a look at completed seed funded projects by Department:

• Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
• Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership
• Department of Computer Science and Technology
• Department of Engineering

How to apply

Download application form

Email applications to researchstrat@tech.cam.ac.uk. Applications can be submitted at any time; applicants will be informed of the outcome following the next School Research Committee meeting – dates below.

Funds must be spent within 12 months. Recipients should arrange a mid-term Teams call with the School Research Relations Team, to discuss progress and follow-on funding applications. A final 1000-word report of activities and outcomes, plus a 200-word summary suitable for publication on the School website, must be submitted within 14 months of the award date.

Applications will be assessed according to:

1. The merit and potential impact of the activities
2. The potential to provide a basis for further external funding or further major research initiatives

Preference will be given to the following:

1. Applications involving more than one Department (any School), or with potential to improve cross-School and cross-University activity; or new research initiatives in cross-School strategic research themes and priorities
2. Research that fits clearly into the School’s Themes and strategic priorities.
3. Grand Challenges with potential for (i) further collaborations; (ii) influencing policy and decision-makers
4. New Strategic Research Initiatives (SRIs), should the University be running a call for these
5. Applications that leverage other internal funding sources, e.g. Isaac Newton Trust Grants

Eligibility criteria

1. The lead academic must:
   
   1. Be based in one of the Departments of the School of Technology
   2. Be a PI who is eligible to hold their own grants within their Department
   3. Have a contract running beyond the proposed end date of the funding
2. The proposal must:
   
   1. Indicate how the work will directly enable further research income or seed significant further research
   2. Include direct costs only
3. The following are not supported by the seed fund:
   
   1. Buy-out of academic investigator time
   2. Stand-alone research
   3. Non-research activities (e.g. teaching, outreach, commercialisation)
   4. Proposals for the sole purpose of bridging a postdoc
   5. Proposals whose primary purpose is administrative support for bid preparation (apply instead to the RSO Bid Preparation fund: rolling deadline; a response is normally given within 2 weeks of submission)

Further support for large grants

The Research Strategy Office has support available for applications:

• Large Grant Contributions Fund: aims to provide financial contributions to large collaborative grant proposals
• Bid Preparation Fund: provides small grants to enable preparation of large collaborative bids