On this page you can find out about training, plant study and research grants from BSBI and other organisations. Our Grants Poster 2022 is also available as a pdf to circulate and/ or print out. Applications for BSBI Training Grants have now closed for 2023 but grant applications for Plant Study or for Research remain open until the end of February.
BSBI Training grants
Grants of up to £250 (or € equivalent for applicants from the Republic of Ireland) open on 1st January each year - they are available for aspiring botanists who want to go on short training courses. You do not need to be a BSBI member to apply for one of our Training Grants, although members are favoured in the award process. Typical applicants would include recent graduates looking to start a career in botany or amateur botanists looking to take part in interest-led botanical recording.
Applications for 2023 have now closed and all applicants will be notified by the end of March, whether or not they have been successful.
This blogpost by a recent Training Grant recipient gives you an idea of how helpful these grants can be.
BSBI Plant Study Grants
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Plant Study Grants of up to £1,000 (or € equivalent for applicants from the Republic of Ireland) are available to botany students.
Applications for Plant Study Grants open on 1st January each year and close on 28th February. The PSG application form is here - please download it, fill it in and email it to training@bsbi.org. All applicants will be notified by the end of March, whether or not they have been successful.
You do not need to be a BSBI member to apply for one of our Plant Study Grants, although members are favoured in the award process.
This blogpost by a recent Plant Study Grant recipient gives you an idea of how helpful these grants can be.
BSBI Research grants
Our Science and Research Committee runs a small grants scheme to support research to enhance our knowledge of the flora of Britain and Ireland.
These grants are aimed at PhD students, academic researchers and amateurs working on research. The work should be capable of resulting in a scientific publication. You do not need to be a BSBI member to apply for one of our Science & Research Grants.
Applications for Science & Research Grants open on 1st January each year and close on 28th February. The SRC application form is here; please download it, fill it in and email it to louise.marsh@bsbi.org. All applicants will be notified by the end of April, whether or not they have been successful.
This blogpost by a recent SRC Grant recipient gives you an idea of how helpful these grants can be.
BSBI training, study and research grants are generously supported by The Finnis Scott Foundation.
Publications Grants
BSBI makes small grants available towards the publication of County Floras, check-lists etc., typically £2000 (or € equivalent for applicants from the Republic of Ireland). Application forms are available from Jo Parmenter, Secretary of BSBI Science & Data committee.
Grants from other organisations
**Bentham-Moxon Trust: providing financial support for botanical collections and research that further the work of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
**British Ecological Society: training and travel grants are available to students and postgrad research assistants; research grants are available to support scientific ecological research where there are limited alternative sources of funding.
**The Botanical Research Fund is a small trust fund, set up in 1913, which makes modest grants of up to £500 to individuals to support botanical investigations of all types. Grants are available to amateurs, professionals and students of British and Irish nationality who are resident in the United Kingdom or Ireland. Where appropriate, grants may be awarded to applicants in successive years to a maximum of three. Deadline to apply: 31st January.
Further details may be obtained from Mark Carine, Hon. Secretary, The Botanical Research Fund, c/o Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD. Email: m.carine@nhm.ac.uk.
** Emily Holmes Memorial Scholarships are offered by RBG Kew to students currently enrolled on a postgraduate course in a research organisation/university. More info here. Application deadline 28th February 2023.
** The Hardy Orchid Society is awarding grants for initiatives which help protect and enhance wild orchids and their habitats. More details here. Application deadline 28th February 2023.
** National Parks and Wildlife Service runs a grants scheme aimed at supporting Ireland's recording community by helping naturalists to maintain and enhance their expertise in species identification. Grants of up to €5000 are available for volunteer, unpaid recorders, or groups, societies and associations of recorders who have limited/no access to financial supports for their work. Deadline to apply: 13th April 2022.
**Oleg Polunin Memorial Fund. Applicants should apply in writing to the Headmaster of Charterhouse at the address below, giving a clear statement about their proposed field studies, where they will be undertaken and when. Priority will be given to applicants with Charterhouse connections but other persons with strong botanical or biological interests will also be considered. The closing date for applications is 1st February each year. Contact : The Headmaster, Charterhouse, Godalming, Surrey, GU7 2DJ
**Praeger Grants in Natural History. This scheme, which is open to applicants intending to carry out research on Ireland’s field natural history, funds field-based research on the island of Ireland, up to a maximum of €2,000. Applicants may be professional researchers but the project they propose must be separate from their professional or employment commitments. Applications from those who are not professionally engaged in field natural history are welcome. The closing date for applications to the scheme in 2022 is 14th April. Contact: grants@ria.ie.
**Systematics Research Fund: The Linnean Society of London and the Systematics Association have pooled resources in order to provide a small-grants (<£1500) fund for systematics research, available to all researchers regardless of nationality or society membership. Applications must be submitted electronically by midnight of 15th December each year for consideration for awards announced the following March.
Further details and electronic forms are downloadable from:www.systass.org.
**The Wild Flower Society offers four different grants: there are grants to Wildlife Trusts and similar organisations for running botanical training courses for their volunteers; grants to support the publication costs of botanical books, for example, county Floras; grants up to a maximum amount of £1000 for students aged 18-30 to attend Field Studies Council courses; and grants, typically up to £250, to support botanical research projects that contribute to plant conservation or that further botanical education or the promotion of field botany.
Find out more about Wild Flower Society grants and how to apply for them here.
**WildTeam provides online training courses that lead to professional certification in key wildlife conservation subjects, to help conservationists increase their impact. To help make their training as accessible and inclusive as possible, they are now offering full bursaries for UK-based wildlife conservationists who identify as BAME. Here's the application form.