How to find funding for a university research project

Maybe you have a research idea. Perhaps your current PhD or master’s funding doesn’t cover it, or maybe you have no funding at all. Maybe you’re an undergraduate student thinking about your next steps.

The problem you will often run into is how to pay for the experiments you’ve planned, and the solution is often to apply for grant funding.

As well as the immediate benefit of funding to perform experiments or embark on fieldwork, applying for funds is great experience for later in your research career. Grant-writing is a skill that becomes essential for those hoping to secure a permanent position in academia. Moreover, if you are successful, the ability to secure independent funding at such an early stage in your career will really set you apart.

But how do you go about applying for funding? There is relatively little information available online about how to seek funding as a student. I am a second-year PhD student, and I have obtained approximately £14,000 in research grants and more than £60,000 in total grants. Here, I provide a guide on how to find and apply for these funds for undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students.

Types of funding

1. Additional grants: these grants are specifically for students whose bench fees (or research support fees) are not covered. For example, the British Ecological Society offers small grants of up to £5,000, but only where the students’ own funds do not cover their research.
2. General research grants: these can come from external organisations, professional bodies or charities. In my own field, the Eva Crane Trust research grant is a good example, with a research grant scheme that is open to all researchers, from students to more senior researchers. 
3. Travel grants: these are typically for travel to present papers at research conferences. However, some also cover research travel for fieldwork or collaborations. For example, the Company of Biologists travel fellowship offers up to £3,000 for travel and accommodation at other laboratories.
4. Summer studentships: these are a great way for undergraduates to get research experience. Unlike the other examples, these typically provide a stipend to cover living costs. The Journal of Young investigators has an extensive list of these, although many are focused on the US. 

Funders and how to find them

Although larger research grants are often given out by government agencies, smaller grants that students are eligible for typically come from one of three sources:

1. Internal university grants: offered to PhD students and sometimes to those earlier in their careers at many universities. For example, Royal Holloway University of London offers grants of up to £2,000 for PhD students to cover fieldwork and other expenses. Anecdotally, these tend not to be as competitive as grants from the other two sources.
2. Charities: some charities have dedicated grant programmes and portals while other smaller organisations can sometimes be contacted directly. The largest research grant I obtained was from a charity called the CB Dennis Trust, which funds research into bee biology and ecology. 
3. Learned societies or professional bodies: these are an integral part of the academic ecosystem, providing grants, organising events and, in the case of larger organisations, sometimes acting a bit like a trade union for the discipline. Many of these run smaller grant schemes for research projects that students can apply for. Most summer studentship funding in the UK is available via these organisations, as well as larger grants for PhD students. For example, the Linnean Society offers the LinnéSys: Systematics Research Fund, with grants of up to £1,500 for projects using systematics and taxonomy. These are often restricted to members but membership is typically affordable or discounted for students. There are many additional benefits to membership, such as reduced prices for conference tickets, travel grants, training events and even post-nominal letters.

In all the above cases, your supervisor will probably know which organisations and grants you could apply to, since the majority of funders are field-specific. A few exceptions exist, such as Sigmaxi grants in aid of research, which cover all STEM fields. 

There are no databases of all funding opportunities, with the exception of the alternative guide to postgraduate funding database, which is not exhaustive, and its grants rarely cover research expenses. Most universities provide access to this guide for free. Beyond this resource, I recommend searching for grants on Google using Boolean search terms. For example, if I write: 

Grant AND research AND (bee* OR bumblebee*)

It will restrict results to those that include all three terms. Additionally, the asterisk on the “bee” will allow for results that include “bees” as well “bee”. I have also found chatbots such as Gemini useful tools to find funders that I may have missed, but only after conducting a thorough manual search. 

Funding application advice

Grants are often highly competitive. As well as writing a good application, you must tailor it to the funder. 

For example, if your project has multiple aspects, emphasise the one that most strongly appeals to the funder in question. Although I work on bumblebee parasites, when I apply to honeybee-focused charities, I emphasise the shared nature of these parasites and that I will specifically screen for honeybee parasites.

For charities in particular, keep in mind that the people reviewing your work might not be scientists or academics so highly technical applications might not land well. If possible, check the board of directors to see the background of the people who might read your application. 

These people will also read many applications so it is important to mirror the wording of the application form and guidance. Those assessing your work will scan your work to make sure you are answering the questions in the way they want. 

Finally, make sure to read, understand and follow the guidelines provided, since checking for guideline violations is an easy way for funders to reduce the number of grants they have to read.

Community work

Finally, for experience in writing grants, you may wish to get involved in local community groups. This allows you to support causes that you care about and, in my experience, they are less time-intensive with higher success rates. 

Through my time being involved in local cooperatives, I have secured more than £50,000 in grants. This has been great practice and will hopefully demonstrate a track record of successful grant applications later in my career.

It is worth keeping in mind that these grants are very competitive. For some, you will be competing with more established scientists so may be unsuccessful. Typically, grant applications have a 10 per cent success rate, and often luck will play a substantial role in whether or not you are successful. 

This is no different to academia at large. Do not be disheartened: the experience of applying itself is valuable, and persistence is sometimes needed.