UK Space Agency: Space for All Fund 2023

Overview

The UK Space Agency is making £500,000* available under its Space for All Fund for 2023–2025. This will be an extremely competitive process in which they seek to offer grants likely to be between £50,000 and £100,000 for each award.

Their aim is to:

develop new ways to reach young people from all backgrounds, that are modern and relevant to the technologies they are accustomed to, their values and social environments;
encourage young people to pursue STEM education by using the exciting and inspiring context of space;
increase the prevalence of regular, long-standing interventions and projects in the UK that will make a lasting impact on the choices of young people;
inspire, support, engage and encourage students throughout their academic and social journeys into the world of work;
sustain students through periods where they may otherwise be unsupported and lose focus and interest in STEM.

*Additional funding may be available subject to business case approvals.

OBJECTIVES OF THE SPACE FOR ALL FUND 2023

Your project must fulfil the following objectives.

Develop an intervention that is high quality, accessible and easily updateable or modernised.
Develop an intervention that is self-sustaining, can continue to deliver long after the grant funding ceases and is not reliant on government funding to continue.
Encourage the uptake of STEM and/or raise science capital**.

Your project may focus on the following objectives.

Develop an intervention that makes use of new or modern technologies or platforms, for example, gaming, social media, VR/AR, machine learning, AI, etc.
Seek to introduce and develop STEM skills in students which are in demand (for example, coding, robotics) and/or skills useful in business such as communication, teamworking, etc.
Use space and demonstrate topics wider than just human spaceflight.
Focus on groups that are underserved or disadvantaged.
Focus on diversity in STEM and the space sector.
Support teachers in innovative ways, for example, develop classroom resources and bring to life aspects of the STEM curriculum and relate them to real life and diverse role models.
Focus on raising awareness of the relevance of space to UK citizens, how space benefits the planet and its people, UK achievements in space, and how STEM subjects increase life opportunities.
Develop activities or resources that contextualise space in a way which is relevant to young people of today, for example, how Earth observation satellites support our climate monitoring.

Where possible, they encourage the development of projects that can be free for the public to use and access, to improve access for underserved or disadvantaged groups. However, we recognise that this is not always possible and will consider all projects on their merits.

Projects may involve elements of research and development and may not necessarily reach young people and audiences during the grant-funding period. In such instances, they would require an evaluation of the future impact following the delivery of the intervention. Any pilot delivery as part of the project will need to be evaluated and the impact and reach provided as a detailed report.

** “Science capital refers to science-related qualifications, understanding, knowledge (about science and 'how it works'), interest and social contacts (for example, knowing someone who works in a science-related job).” (ASPIRES, 2013)

The UK Space Agency would expect some photos and videos of successful projects for use in its promotion of funded projects across its social media platforms. (All the related permissions and consents should be sought and secured from the data subjects as necessary.)

Your project can target specific or multiple audiences, examples include:

all age groups of young people,
disadvantaged or underserved,
diverse communities,
parents,
teachers,
club leaders, and/or
home schoolers.

ELIGIBILITY

There are a series of requirements for eligibility to receive grant funding.

Grant Recipients must demonstrate the ability to effectively manage a project.
Grant Recipients must have a UK bank account and all grant payments will be made in UK sterling (as per grant funding agreement).
All project members must have in place and provide evidence of appropriate anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies.
All project members must provide evidence of a process for declaring and managing conflicts of interest.
All project members must be able to provide evidence that they are General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant.
Projects cannot work in areas that are in active conflict and any travel to overseas must comply with Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) recommendations.
Projects must pass due diligence checks on company viability (financial standing assessment, governance, conflicts of interest, technical expertise).
Formal teaming, or equivalent agreements between project partners must be in place within 60 days of grant signature.
Projects must comply with the rules stated in this guidance document.

Organisation and funding

Eligible organisations include academic or research institutions (including schools, universities, research councils and UK Space Agency partners), charities, trusts and companies (including not-for-profit).

Subject to further guidelines below, grants may cover all types of expenses, including:

contributions to salaries,
costs of materials, and
travel and subsistence.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Each application will be assessed with respect to four criteria:

1. Alignment to objectives

2. Quality

3. Feasibility

4. Value for Money

Each criterion will be scored on a scale between 0 to 10 taking into consideration the following.

Alignment to objectives

How far does the proposed work align to the objectives of the UK Space Agency’s Inspiration priority?
How far does the proposed work align to the objectives of the Space for All Fund 2023?

Quality

Have the applicants put together a clear, easily comprehensible application?
How far does the applicants’ experience support their delivery of the project?
How will the applicants promote the project to their audience and support access for difficult to reach groups?
How well thought through is the evaluation plan and how well does it support the UK Space Agency in understanding the impact of the project?
How well-described is the impact – including numbers reached and quality of experience for those involved; and the projected future impact, including second order benefits (wider benefits that are not a direct output of the project)?

Feasibility

How likely is the project to meet its objectives?
Are there realistic timescales?
Is there a competent team behind the project?
Is there a clear list of project deliverables?
Do the applicants have a robust plan for managing project risks, issues and putting in place timely mitigations?

Value for Money

Are the sums requested appropriate and has a full and itemised breakdown of costs been included in the application?
Can the resources/project output be used again and deliver long term?
Have the applicants explored reasonable alternative routes of funding their project, and explained why these were discounted?
Is there a need for funding, for example, would this project happen without UK Space Agency?

Track grant Notes