Funding

Grant

Program dates

TBA

Course / Training•Remote

Researcher Development and Travel Grant

Royal Society of Chemistry

Application Deadline

August 3, 2026

Official Page

The Researcher Development and Travel Grant is a small grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry, the UK professional body for the chemical sciences. It pays up to £500 towards one activity that builds the applicant’s skills and experience as a researcher: attending a conference or workshop, taking a training course, visiting collaborators, or organising a scientific meeting, virtually or in person. Applicants must hold RSC membership in one of four categories and be either a PhD student in the chemical sciences or a researcher within ten years of leaving full-time education. Membership is open worldwide and the published rules set no nationality or residency condition, so the grant reaches chemists wherever they work. Four application rounds run each year, each with its own deadline and its own earliest date for the funded activity. The money is a contribution towards the total cost rather than full funding, and one person can receive only one of these grants every three calendar years.

Benefits & funding

  • Up to £500 for a single activity, paid in one payment to the recipient or their employer.
  • The funded activity may be virtual or in person.
  • Travel and conference or course registration fees.
  • Accommodation.
  • Food and drink up to £30 a day; other incidental costs up to £50 in total.
  • For those organising a scientific meeting: venue hire, speaker expenses, and technology or software.
  • Not covered: research costs and equipment, article processing charges, salary or consultancy fees, social activities outside the official programme, marketing, predatory conferences, and language courses or qualifications.
  • Budgets are given in pounds sterling; costs in another currency need the conversion rate stated in the application.
  • The grant is a contribution towards the total cost, so applicants should expect to cover the rest from another source.

Eligibility

  • RSC membership at Partner Scientist, Associate (AMRSC), Member (MRSC) or Fellow (FRSC) level, held when the application is submitted and for the whole grant period.
  • Undergraduate Student members and Affiliate members are not eligible and must upgrade first. New memberships and upgrades take up to two months to process.
  • Partner Scientist members must have held membership of any category for at least 180 days before the first day of the application round.
  • Either a PhD student actively undertaking a PhD in the chemical sciences, or a researcher within ten years of completing their highest research degree or equivalent professional experience.
  • Members whose roles are limited to routine testing, quality control or operational tasks, without involvement in developing or furthering scientific understanding, are not eligible.
  • Career breaks — parental or adoption leave, family commitments, illness, other exceptional circumstances — are taken into consideration when the application explains them.
  • A declaration of support from the current supervisor, line manager or head of department. A declaration from a previous one is not accepted.
  • One grant per applicant every three calendar years. Someone awarded in 2024 may apply again in a round that pays out in 2027 or later.
  • No nationality or residency requirement is published, and membership itself is open worldwide.
  • Membership carries a fee. Associate membership costs £104 a year at the standard rate, £52 for those earning under £31,000, £25 for full-time postgraduate students, and £12 for students living in less developed countries.

Can you apply?

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  • Education required

    Bachelor · Master · PhD Enrolled · PhD

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  • Experience required

    ≤ 10 yrs

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Application process

  1. 1
    Check the membership category first. Anyone holding Affiliate or Undergraduate Student membership needs to upgrade, and that takes up to two months, so it has to start well before the deadline.
  2. 2
    Choose the activity and check its date falls on or after the earliest eligible date for that round.
  3. 3
    Open an application on the RSC grants portal while the round is open.
  4. 4
    Set out the budget by category — travel and registration, accommodation, food and drink, and other costs — within the stated caps, in pounds sterling, giving the conversion rate for any cost incurred in another currency.
  5. 5
    Nominate a current supervisor, line manager or head of department for the declaration of support. The application cannot be submitted until that declaration shows as complete, so the nomination should go out early.
  6. 6
    Submit before the deadline, which falls at 2pm UK time.
  7. 7
    RSC staff check every application against the eligibility criteria. Where more eligible applications arrive than the budget covers, the RSC allocates funding at random.
  8. 8
    After the activity, submit a report on its impact, approved by the line manager or supervisor, together with receipts, within two weeks of the activity ending.

Program timeline

  1. round 3 opens

    29 June 2026

  2. round 3 deadline

    3 August 2026, 2pm UK time

  3. round 3 decisions

    Early September 2026

  4. round 4 opens

    14 September 2026

  5. 1 October 2026

    earliest date a round 3 activity may take place

  6. round 4 deadline

    19 October 2026, 2pm UK time

  7. 1 January 2027

    earliest date a round 4 activity may take place