The Royal Scottish Geographical Society

CHECKLIST OF ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

For your application to merit consideration you should be able to answer "Yes" to each of the above points.   The person nominated as your contact person should also be readily accessible, and should respond promptly to any correspondence from the Society.

Applications to be forwarded to: -

APPLICATION GUIDELINES   for Expedition Approval or Grants

The Society wishes to encourage expeditions having a geographical research and exploration component.   It does this by signifying its approval of an expedition, and, on the recommendation of its Expedition Grants Committee, by giving financial support.   The latter does not normally exceed £900 per expedition.   Approval or award of a grant to an expedition does not imply any responsibility for, or liability for, or obligation to any expedition.

Before completing the Application Form please read the following notes carefully.

1.   RESEARCH PROGRAMME

Nature
The research objectives of the expedition must be clearly stated and be within the capacity of those comprising the expedition team.   Grants are not available for purely sporting or adventure expeditions.

Geographical Content
Applicants should describe the geographical relevance of their project.   The Expedition Grants committee will give preference to projects with a substantial geographical content.   If the Expedition is not in the fields of Human or Physical Geography, there should be a geographical aspect of a related discipline with the emphasis on spatial distributions, ecology, environmental science, ethnology, surveying or exploration.   Smaller grants may be offered to projects that have a sound scientific basis, but do not have strong geographical objectives.   The Society favours Expeditions which have as a member of the Team a person with relevant geographical training.

Co-operative Research
RSGS seeks to support Expeditions where the research projects are integrated in an over-all objective.   Expeditions composed of Teams whose members are each pursuing research on individual unrelated topics are not favoured, and no support is available for post-graduate field-work for a higher degree, nor for the support of post-doctoral research.

2.   EXPEDITION MEMBERS

Eligibility
RSGS supported expeditions must originate in Scotland or have Scots as members.   RSGS views favourably Teams which are corporate members of RSGS, or which are from organisations which are corporate members.

University Expeditions
These should, by appropriate documentation, show approval by their University authorities.   The role of expedition work in any courses being studied by expedition members must be indicated in the application.   Expeditions should spend a minimum of three weeks in the field.

Youth Expeditions
School or Youth Expeditions led by experienced leaders are eligible for support.   These should demonstrate that the younger members have undertaken a significant part of the planning and organisation.   Expeditions should spend a minimum of two weeks in the field.

Feasibility
Expeditions must demonstrate in their applications that sufficient planning has already been done to enable relevant questions to be answered, and that the Team has sufficient experience, or plans to gain sufficient experience, to enable the Team to achieve its objectives safely and efficiently.   Applicants should specify the individual responsibility of team members, and should enclose a copy of their risk assessment.

Contacts
The application should demonstrate that necessary contacts have been made both in the UK and in the country of destination.   Joint ventures with individuals or institutions in the country of destination are strongly favoured by the RSGS.

Grants to Individuals
The Society does not normally give grants to individuals for travel or research.   However, in recent years, with assistance from the Springboard Trust, RSGS has supported Raleigh Venturers.

3.   FINANCE

Budget
The Expedition's budget will be judged as to: -
    a) Realism;
    b) Cost effectiveness;
    c) Level of contribution of individual members;
    d) Steps taken to secure necessary funding.

Bank Account
RSGS Grants will be paid into a Bank Account in the name of the Expedition.

Expedition Accounts
A condition of a Grant is that a copy of the Expedition's accounts will be forwarded to RSGS as part of the Expedition Report.

Cancellation
In the event of cancellation of the Expedition the Grant should be immediately returned in full to RSGS.

4.   PROCEDURE AND RECOGNITION

Approval
The Expedition Awards Committee of RSGS will "approve" Expeditions which it considers have met the Society's requirements as detailed above.   Approval does not necessarily mean that a Grant will be given;  however, past Expeditions have found that approval by RSGS can be valuable in obtaining funds from other sources.

Financial Support
Financial support in the form of a monetary Grant is made possible by Members of the Society having created funds for the purpose.   It will be appreciated that these funds are limited.   Such grants are consequently normally restricted to sums seldom in excess of £900.   It is expected that expeditions should make application to other appropriate grant-giving bodies.

Limitations
"Approval" and "support" are given by RSGS to encourage Expeditions, which may mention these terms as appropriate, but should not describe themselves as RSGS Expeditions, or as being "sponsored" by the Society.

Applications for Approval and/or Grant
These must be made on the RSGS Grant Application Form.   All questions should be fully answered within the available space on the form, and should be typewritten.   Word-processed forms are acceptable, but MUST follow the prescribed page layout.   The closing date is 31st January for Expeditions planned to take place in the following 15 months.   Applications will not be approved without the two required REFERENCES, which should also arrive with RSGS by the closing date.   (Referees must not be participants in the Expedition).

Supplementary Information
Expeditions MAY submit additional material in support of the application, but the required information MUST also be given on the Application Form.

5.   AFTER THE EXPEDITION

Reports
A preliminary report (200-300 words) should be sent to the Society within one month of the Expedition's return to the UK.   A full report is a condition of Grant and MUST be received by the Society within one year of the Expedition returning from the field.   A failure to make either of the reports may prejudice the consideration of future applications from the same body or institution.   Reports are indexed, filed and made available to those planning future expeditions (see Reports Index).

Expedition Review and Welcome Home
A half-day or evening event at which RSGS-supported Expeditions present their findings.   In association a reception is held at which Expeditions can share their experiences more informally.   RSGS will assist with travel costs of up to four Expedition members to attend the symposium.