Grants & Prizes Ecological Opportunities Fund Honours, Awards and Prizes Building Capacity for Ecology Fund Honorary Member List Research grants Fellowship studentship Early Career Project Grants Overseas Bursaries and Fellowships SEPG and UEP Support Grants Education Innovation & Research Grants Coalbourn Educational Awards Expedition Grants General notes Grants to attend meetings & courses Grants to run meetings & events Grant reports List of Tansley Lectures

Early Career Project Grants

The aim of this programme is to assist promising ecologists early in their careers who are intending to carry out innovative or important research of a pure or applied nature. Initiating or developing research programmes is becoming increasing difficult for ecologists during the early stages of their career, and this programme principally aims to provide an opportunity for ecologists recently appointed to academic posts to establish themselves. Exceptionally, the awards may be used to employ the investigator him/herself under circumstances where the applicant is not currently employed.

Applicants must be in their early career stage. In the absence of extenuating circumstances, 'early career' is defined as less than 8 years post-Ph.D. or -D.Phil. experience. Investigators must have a Ph.D. or D.Phil., or have submitted a thesis that will have been examined by the time the application is submitted.

The investigator must demonstrate that the project is distinct from other current research activities or if there is any overlap, that it would substantially extend their existing research in to new and distinct areas. Significant outputs should be achievable within a 12 month period, although completion of the project might take longer. The investigator should undertake at least part of the research him/herself. A brief report must be submitted within 15 months of receipt of the award.

Awards will not exceed £25,000. Money may be used to employ technical or graduate support or, exceptionally, to employ the applicant him/herself under circumstances where the applicant is not currently employed. Money may also be requested for consumable or recurrent costs, travel and subsistence or to purchase small items of equipment, which are essential for successful completion of the project. Equipment costs should not exceed 20% of the total amount requested. Money may not be requested for large items of equipment, overheads, to supplement the salary of the applicant or other personnel involved in the project, or to cover replacement costs of the applicant.

Applications will be assessed by a panel of experts drawn from within and outside BES Council, on the scientific excellence of the project and the performance and potential of the applicant. The criteria used to assess the grants is available.  Normally five grants are awarded annually.

Applicants will be advised of the outcome of their application by April.

Value of the award:

up to £25,000

Closing date:

Referee statements and applications due by the 31st of January

Application:

This grant is only available by applying using the BES online application form. 

To view or download the online questions before filling in the online form  click here (this form is only for guidance and applications will need to be submitted using the online form)

To apply for this grant  click here

Two accompanying referee statements are required to complete the online application. For this reason applicants are advised to fill in their application form well in advance of the application deadline to give their referees enough time to return their referee statements. Applicants are also advised to make sure that their referees are contactable by email before the deadline as a unique link will be autonmatically sent to each of the referees after the application has been submitted by the applicant.

Forms submitted after the deadline will go into the next application round dependant on the stated start dates of the project. Applications can not be awarded in retrospect for research that has finished or already started. 

Conditions:

• A signed letter of support from the host institute needs to be received by the BES before the grant deadline. Emails directly sent to the Grants department of the BES from the email addresses of  an authorised member of staff at the host institute will also be accepted as long as it was received before the grant deadline.
• This grant is only open to current BES members.
• Applicants must have a Ph.D. or D.Phil., or have submitted a thesis that will have been examined by the time the application is submitted.
• Successful applicants will be expected to submit a brief report within 15 months of receipt of the award.

To view previous grant reports and to download a report template please visit the report section of our website. Reports should be no more than 8 pages long.

Copyright 2007 British Ecological Society. All Rights Reserved