Researcher Development and Travel Grant

Our Researcher Development and Travel Grants are open to PhD students and early career scientists in both industry and academia wishing to undertake an activity that supports their research career. The activities applied can be virtual or in-person. Examples include, but are not limited to, presenting work at conferences, developing new skills by attending training courses or developing networks by organising a scientific meeting.

Please see the “Who can apply?” section below for full details of new deadlines this year. Please contact us if you have any questions or doubts.

Our Grants for Carers and Accessibility Grants are also available to support those with caring responsibilities or who need additional assistance to participate in a professional development activity. Researcher Development and Travel Grant applicants may also apply for one of these grants if needed for their activity.

Important update to membership requirements: Please note that you must hold an eligible category of membership before you submit an application to the grant. Your application will not be considered if you do not hold an eligible Membership category when your submitted application is processed by staff.

Please see our FAQ's for more details. If you are unsure about your membership status, please contact membership@rsc.org.

Who can apply?

In order to be eligible, you must meet the following criteria:

You are an RSC member of either Affiliate, Associate Member (AMRSC), Member (MRSC) or Fellow (FRSC) categories at the time of the application deadline and for the duration of the grant. Undergraduate Student Members (AFU) are ineligible.
You are either: (1) a PhD student actively undertaking a PhD course in the chemical sciences, or (2) a researcher in the chemical sciences (including post docs, technical professionals and research assistants), working in academia, industry or any sector, within 10 years of leaving full time education (at the time of the application deadline).

Career breaks will be taken into consideration e.g. a period of parental/adoption leave, family commitments, illness, or other exceptional circumstances; In addition, applicants can only receive one Researcher Development and Travel Grant every three calendar years. For example if you are awarded a grant in 2024 you are eligible to apply again for funding in any application round that awards funding in 2027 or later. This restriction does not apply to Researcher Development and Travel Grants awarded in 2023 or earlier.

Please ensure you read our Terms and Conditions fully before you begin your application. Our Frequently Asked Questions document also provides further details about eligibility and the application process.

What can I apply for?

You can apply for a grant of up to £500 towards an activity that develops your skills and experience as a researcher. Examples include but are not limited to:

Knowledge e.g. conference participation
Skills e.g. researcher development tools or projects, such as training courses
Networking e.g. funding towards organising a scientific meeting or visiting a collaborator.

All costs should be essential to undertake the activity, as well as reasonable and appropriate for the activity.

Please read our Terms and Conditions for full details.

We also wish to caution applicants about the dangers of predatory conferences. For further information, please see Appendix B on our Terms and Conditions document.

Important note about travel and in-person activities

We advise grant holders who are travelling or participating in in-person activities to continue to follow relevant institutional, government or other guidelines and policies. We also recommend you ensure you have insurance or access to additional financial support in case your costs unexpectedly increase, for example, if you are unexpectedly required to self-isolate at your travel destination, if an event you’re hosting needs to be postponed or if you are affected by flight cancellations.

Application timelines

Please note for fairness and transparency to all applicants, we must apply our rules consistently. This means that we do not allow late applications. You are welcome to apply in the next application round providing you meet all
eligibility criteria of that round.

Round 2 2025

Eligible for activities on or after	1 July 2025
Applications Open	24 March 2025
Applications Close	28 April 2025 1400 UK time (BST)
Funding decisions	By late May 2025

Round 3 2025

Eligible for activities on or after	1 October 2025
Applications Open	23 June 2025
Applications Close	28 July 2025 1400 UK time (BST)
Funding decisions	By early september 2025

Round 4 2025

Eligible for activities on or after	1 January 2026
Applications Open	15 September 2025
Applications Close	20 October 2025 1400 UK time (BST)
Funding decisions	By mid-November 2025

Application process

Applicants will be asked to provide information on:

Information on the activity for which they seek funding;
How they will benefit from participating in the activity;
Details on how any awarded grant funding will be used;
A declaration from either their Supervisor, Line manager or Head of Department in support of the application. The declaration cannot be provided by the applicant.

All applications will be checked by RSC staff. Applications will not be considered for funding if:

You do not meet our eligibility criteria (see section 3 of Terms and Conditions);
The date of your activity is eligible for the round in which you are applying;
Your application is incomplete (see section 5 of Terms and Conditions);
Your funding request exceeds £500;
Your application includes ineligible costs (see section 6 of Terms and Conditions);
The application does not make clear how the activity will develop research skills and/or a research career;
The application does not make clear what the funds requested will be used for.

All remaining applications will be considered for funding. In the event that there are more applications than available budget, funding will be allocated at random.