Grassroots Funding

The ESAI, in partnership with the EPA, provides a funding award of €600 to assist postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers organise a workshop in the broad environmental research area. The ‘Grassroots’ award helps to enhance dissemination of research, facilitate knowledge exchange and the development and exposure of early career researchers. New collaborations can be formed through the ‘Grassroots’ award process. This type of event (it can also be a workshop) are a key networking tool, and an opportunity for early-stage researchers to increase their profile within and beyond their own field of study.

The Grassroots initiative aims towards knowledge transfer to bridge the gap between Science and Policy. It also aims to foster a culture of the realisation by researchers of the increasing significance mobilising their outputs to fill these knowledge gaps, in the area of environmental sciences in Ireland.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought us into more ‘Virtual’ platforms and we have all been very innovative and creative in finding new ways to communicate with each other to transfer and share knowledge. We therefore welcome applications to also deliver virtual events, as well as physical in-person meetings.

Members of the ESAI who are conducting research relevant to the ESAI and EPA remits are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be either a postgraduate student or a postdoctoral researcher (under 5 years research experience). The event should be a stand-alone event, and not part of a national or an international conference or a project.

The EPA and ESAI will need to be acknowledged in the Workshop/Event promotion materials.

Hear from some of our past awardees about their experiences....

How to Apply

Proposals will be assessed every two months by a panel drawn from the ESAI Council (rolling deadline of month-end for February, April, June, August, October and December) and there must be a period of three months between submission of the proposal and the date of the event.

The criteria for evaluation of all applications include:

How the application aligns with EPA and ESAI
The expected outputs; and,
The benefits of the proposed workshop

Moreover, please note the following points which were observed in past evaluations, to help you secure this funding easier:

Make sure that your proposal clearly shows that it describes an independent, stand-alone event, planned and organised by the applicant. This initiative is designed to give early career researchers an opportunity to learn about organising and running an event, to build their confidence and develop key transferrable skills for their career going forward. Applications submitted by experienced researchers are non-eligible.
Please make sure that the proposed event is not already part of a funded project, or a conference or another event, as this will be considered a doubly funded event and the application will be found non-eligible.
Ensure that the proposed budget, expectations and outcomes of the event are realistic, especially within the time frame being proposed. In other words, do not try to do too much in a single event/workshop, and clearly state in your proposal what can you meaningfully achieve in one day. In relation to the budget, we recommend that you consult with a more experienced researcher, such as for example your supervisor.
Demonstrate in detail in your application efficient organisation and planning to ensure attendance of stakeholders that you expect to participate in the event.

Workshops organised jointly between more than one institution and across disciplines are also welcomed, so working teams can also apply, although the application will be made by an individual member of the team. Successful applicants are expected to follow the health and safety procedures of their own institutions. Payments will be made by ESAI following submission of invoices. Successful applicants also have the opportunity to submit a short article describing their event for publication in the ESAI e-zine. This will also enhance the visibility of the Awardees research.

Please download and complete the short Application Form and provide a supporting one-page CV by Email at least 3 months before the date of proposed workshop.