Small Grants

It’s really good to get lots of practice applying for funding. Applying for and being awarded research degree funding is a fantastic first step on the funding journey. Even if you are self-funded there are lots of opportunities to apply for small pots of money to give you practice in writing funding applications, and demonstrate that you and your work can attract funding.

Internal and external schemes also fund smaller scale research projects (perhaps travel costs only) and can usually be used for preliminary/feasibility work too.

Internal funding schemes at the University of Exeter include:

• University of Exeter Doctoral College Researcher-led initiative awards
• University of Exeter Engaged Research Exploratory Awards
• University of Exeter Innovation, Impact and Business Funding
• GW4 Travel bursaries are available to GW4 PGRs who want to take advantage of GW4 Treasures or Shared Equipment!

External funding schemes include (use Research Professional to search your area):

• Royal Society
• British Academy
• British Ecological Society
• Travel grants for early career researchers
• Prizes and Awards on Research Professional

If you are funded by UKRI or a Doctoral Training Entity, there may additional funding available for conferences, travel and small projects.

We have put together some guidance on applying for small funding grants on Sway.