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School of Technology

 

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 £10,000 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.

Take a look at completed seed funded projects in: CEB, CISL, CST, 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.

Applications received by Assessed at Research Committee meeting Outcome communicated
Tuesday 24 October 2023 1 November 2023 15 November 2023
Tuesday 6 February 2024 15 February 2024 29 February 2024
12:00 on Monday 6 May 2024 [brought forward from 13 May 2024] 21 May 2024 4 June 2024

Funds must be spent within 12 months. The School requires a brief two-paragraph progress report at the 6-month point. A final report of activities and outcomes (maximum 1000 words), plus a 200-word summary suitable for publication on the School website, must be submitted within 14 months of the award being made.

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: