Example funding application
Below is an example of a successfully-funded application to the External Relations committee. Find out more information on the funding application page.
Your name
Alfredo Ojanguren
Your email address
Title of your engagement project
St Andrews Bioblitz
When will the event/project take place?
13/06/2014 – 14/06/2014
Fitting our remit
St Andrews Bioblitz 2014 fits perfectly the School of Biology External Relations remit as it will enhance the School of Biology´s visibility within the local community and also at a much broader scale. The event will have the participation of organisations such as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the Marine Biological Association of the UK (MBA), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Scottish Wildlife Trust, Coast and Countryside Trust and Butterfly Conservation Scotland, as well as local groups including St Andrews Botanic Gardens, Fife Nature Records Centre and Transition University of St Andrews. We will also involve local schools by dedicating a complete morning to specific activities for school groups. This way we will reach the students, the teachers and their families. The event aims to record as many species of plants and animals as possible around the Gatty Marine Laboratory in St Andrews, this information will be publicly available and used by scientists from the Centre for Biological Diversity and elsewhere to further understand patterns of distribution and abundances of UK biodiversity.
Preparation
The event is completely organised and we only request funds from the External Relations committee to help us cover some expenses, in particular (1) the continuous presence of first aid certified personnel during the event and (2) accommodation for a group of experts from the Marine Biological Association that will be assisting us during the event. The timetable of activities has been confirmed by all the experts that will lead the surveys. We have a team of volunteers that have helped us with the design of our graphic materials, promotion and advertisement of the event, collecting all the resources required for the event. We have also obtained permission from competent authorities (Fife Council and The University of St Andrews) and prepared risk assessments for all the activities.
Funding
St Andrews Bioblitz is mainly funded by an Outreach grant from the British Ecological Society.
Target groups
Primary School Groups, Secondary School Groups, Public – adults, Public – children of primary school age, Public – children of secondary school age, Subject specialists
Audience
We expect to reach four separate groups of people: (1) School groups that will take part on the specific activities programmed for them at the start of the event on Friday (2) Experts, people with knowledge and experience on certain taxonomic groups or habitats that will help us identify species but also that will have the opportunity to participate in a large biodiversity recording event. (3) Participants, members of the public (including personnel of the School of Biology and other departments of the University) that found out about us through our advertising campaign (from leaflets in local business to BBC’s what to do) or just passers-by during the event. (4) Remote participants through the social media, people that cannot participate by being present during the event but that follow the progress online. As an indication of this impact, our Facebook posts during the weeks before the event reached an average of over 300 people.