Funding

Are you looking for financial support for your public engagement activity? Below are some possibilities.

Public Engagement Seed Fund

The Public Engagement Seed Fund is meant for projects that bring researchers and a general audience together, and which bring about interaction around questions, methods, results and outcomes of (your) academic research. 

Deadlines for 2025 are:

  • Monday 24 March
  • Monday 20 October  

Criteria

Researchers working at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ or UMC Utrecht can apply for the Public Engagement Seed Fund to help fund a public engagement activity to engage a general audience with academic research, to a maximum of € 10.000. The fund is meant for projects aimed at a general audience, which we take to mean: individuals who are not engaged with the subject in a professional capacity, be it as an academic or as a different kind of professional.

Bringing public and science together 

Engaging stakeholders who stand to benefit from research calls for a different approach than engaging a public for whom those benefits are not immediately clear. Projects that qualify for the Public Engagement Seed Fund aim at this second category of people. This is often called a general audience or general public. 

However, this term can be confusing, as a good public engagement activity can be distinguished by its clear focus on a specific public that is relevant in the light of the research (question) concerned. Some examples of a specific public are: parents of secondary school pupils, citizens living in a certain area in Utrecht, young adults with a migrant background, 70+ year olds living at home, cat owners, social assistance claimants, etc.

Contact

Questions about the Public Engagement Seed Fund? Do contact us: publicengagement@uu.nl

Other funding opportunities

  • Contact your faculty Research Support Office for advice.
  • Contact the for advice on fundraising and available subsidies or funds for your project.
  • Contact the Open Science Fund for advice on projects involving longer-term stakeholder engagement.
  • On the intranet is information on [in Dutch]

Inspiration

Some examples of projects financed by one of the above funds:

  • Capturing musical heritage for future generations

    In the Moluccan Protestant community in the Netherlands, it has been customary for five generations to sing religious songs together. Yet little is known about this custom brought from the Moluccas. Religion scholar Jip Lensink, with support from the Public Engagement Seed Fund, organized a singing event to capture this musical heritage for future generations.

  • Students and children as climate-conscious pioneers

    Although the inhabitants of Narsaq (Greenland) directly witness the consequences of climate change, they do not always know how they can contribute to solutions. With the support of the Public Engagement Seed Fund, Glaciologist Faezeh Nick and her colleagues decided to plant a ‘tiny forest’ together with a local primary school to raise climate awareness and residents’ active involvement in their environment. What can we learn from this project?