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BEFORE completing this application
1. Read the Engage Grant guidelines on the web page.
2Check you are eligible to apply. 
3. Create a plan to run CREST Awards in a way that responds to our priorities.

(Optional) Download an outline of this application to plan or draft your answers offline. Please note - You will not be able to save your application and return to complete it at a later date and you will not receive a copy of your application when you submit the online form. 
Application process

Applications must be submitted before 5 pm on 20 October 2026.


We will only accept one Engage Grant application per school. To avoid duplication, we recommend you check with other staff and senior leaders at your school before applying.

This application has 9 pages.

Please ensure you press 'submit' at the end of your application. 

You will receive an email by late November 2026 to advise you of the outcome of your application. 

Unfortunately, we will be unable to provide detailed feedback if the funding application is unsuccessful.
About the Engage Grants
The British Science Association's (BSA) vision is a future where science is more relevant, representative and connected to society.

The CREST Awards programme aims to inspire 3-19 year-olds to think and behave like scientists and engineers. 

The Engage Teacher Network is a community of teachers working in schools in challenging circumstances who want to transform access to relevant and meaningful science work for all young people, especially those from groups most often underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).  

Funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), an Engage Grant is £350 - which will be paid directly into the school’s bank account - as well as a voucher with a value of up to £350 to cover the cost of CREST Award fees.
 
If you have any questions, please get in touch at crest@britishscienceassociation.org.

Data submitted via this form will only be used for the administration of this grant programme, except where you explicitly sign up for additional communications from us. Please review our privacy policy for further information.

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Contact information

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Eligibility

*Registered Independent Special schools and registered Alternative Provision settings that receive local authority funding for pupil places are also eligible.
We cannot accept applications from unregistered education settings, non-school organisations, or from private schools. Read more about the eligibility criteria
In order to be eligible for the Engage Grant for CREST Awards, your school must also meet at least one of the following criteria:
In England, eligible for free school meals (FSM)* or pupil premium;
In Wales and Northern Ireland, eligible for free school meals (FSM)*;
In Scotland, living in the top 20% most deprived areas according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD quintile 1).
*Eligibility outside of a universal free school meals policy.
Minority ethnic backgrounds include all students who don’t self-describe as White British. It includes Irish, except in Northern Ireland.
This criteria applies to your school or organisation if it is located in a remote and rural location. You can look up whether your school's postcode classifies as rural via this link (look for 'Settlement Type' in the Administrative Areas panel on the website): www.ukpostcodecheck.com
Please note: Only schools that meet at least one of the three criteria above are eligible to apply for an Engage Grant.

Engage Teacher Network

If you change your mind, you can unsubscribe at any time. Your details will not be used for any purposes other than this. Please see our privacy policy for more information on how we use and store your data.

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School details
Address






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Your planned CREST activities
Participants
Use the following sections to describe how you will reach students typically underrepresented in STEM subjects. We prioritise funding CREST Award activities that are designed to
  • Involve and support children and young people eligible for free school meals (or equivalent), from ethnic minority backgrounds, with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND/ALN) or from any other groups of young people more likely to be underrepresented in STEM.
  • Support girls to develop their STEM skills, understanding and passions.
  • Engage children and young people with lower prior attainment or in mixed attainment science groupings, and those who wouldn’t normally choose to participate in STEM activities. 
  • Engage whole classes or whole year groups.
  • Engage children and young people outside of traditional science contexts like STEM clubs and lessons.
  • Involve collaboration between science and other subject areas, particularly if it is outside STEM (e.g. history, art, music); are cross-curricular.

If you are working with multiple age groups, please describe how in the question below.


Detailed plan



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Budget

The grant will consist of £350 to pay for materials, kit, equipment, etc. plus a voucher code worth up to £350 to use towards CREST Award fees.

For example: you may choose to spend this on CPD for school staff, supply teacher cover, consumables or equipment, or a delivery partner to assist with running the activities. NB. Funding may not be used to cover the cost of textbooks or equipment required to deliver the core curriculum in schools, large equipment such as microscopes or computers, on-going salary costs, costs that are already covered by other funding, general running costs or overheads that are paid for by other income. See the Engage funding FAQs for more details.
CREST Award levels
If you do not know the exact numbers, please provide an estimate.
Find out more about the CREST Award levels.







This box will automatically be filled with the total.

This box will automatically calculate the value of the voucher code you are applying for.
Please note: The voucher code you receive will only cover £350 worth of CREST Award fees, although you are welcome to run more Awards than this.

£350 worth of CREST Award fees is equal to:
  • 350 Star Awards 
  • 350 SuperStar Awards
  • 116 Discovery Awards
  • 58 Bronze Awards
  • 23 Silver Awards
  • 11 Gold Awards 
Project timelines
Please note that all CREST Awards need to be submitted by 31 July 2027. You can do this by using the link here: https://apply.crestawards.org/

Please use the format MM/DD/YYYY

Please use the format MM/DD/YYYY

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Finance information
We ask for your financial details to pay the grant into your school's or organisation's bank account if you are successful. If you are unsuccessful we will delete financial data after a year. Please read our privacy policy for more details.

Please verify your bank details with your Finance team before submitting this application. Incorrect bank information will delay the payment of your grant.
Bank account details
The Account Name used must match those of the account holder, in line with the records held by your Bank. NOTE: this is not the institution name (e.g. not 'Barclays' or  'Lloyds')
Are you sure this is your account name? This should be the name the account is in, typically the name of your school or trust (not the name of your bank).
We strongly encourage you to include information that will help your Finance team/Council/Academy to identify and correctly allocate a payment from the BSA, in the Remittance advice details box. This could be an internal reference, the name of a teacher or your school.
Building society account details
The Account Name used must match those of the account holder, in line with the records held by your Building Society. NOTE: this is not the institution name (e.g. not 'Nationwide')
Are you sure this is your account name? This should be the name the account is in, typically the name of your school or trust (not the name of your building society).
This field must be completed with the correct Roll/Reference Number in order for payment to be allocated to your account. Failure to give correct details will result in a delay in our payment reaching you.
We strongly encourage you to include information you would like shown on your Remittance Advice, in order to help your Finance team/Council/Academy to identify and correctly allocate our payment. This may be an internal reference, the name of a teacher or your school or organisation.
Contacts for remittance advice
Finance contact
Bursar/Local Authority contact
Building society contact

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Additional information

We will not reject an application if AI was used. However, generic AI-generated applications are unlikely represent the unique circumstances of your school. If using AI, please ensure that your responses highlight your unique experience and school context and clearly answer how your event/activity meets British Science Association funding priorities.
Share your great work

This will not affect your application and is only an indication of interest. You would be contacted again by email if/when an opportunity arises for a visit or to develop a case study with us.
Education Newsletter

CREST Star and Superstar Kit Box offer

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Terms & Conditions
By submitting an application to the British Science Association, the organisation named in the application (referred to as ‘you’ in these Terms and Conditions) agrees, if awarded a grant, to:

1.1 hold the grant on trust for the British Science Association (referred to as ‘we’ or ‘us’) and use it only for your CREST event/activity as described in your application or otherwise agreed with us, and only for expenditure incurred after the date of the grant award;

1.2 hold your event/activity during the 2026/2027 academic year and submit student’s project(s) for CREST Awards before the end of the academic year; by 31 July 2027. If for whatever reason you are not able to run your CREST events/activities during this time, the grant money will have to be returned to the British Science Association. For these reasons, you will have contingency plans in case of illness or unforeseen circumstances;

1.3 complete an organiser feedback questionnaire (provided by the British Science Association) after completing the CREST Awards, and contribute to any programme evaluation conducted by or on behalf of the British Science Association, including but not limited to participating in an interview or focus group;

1.4 distribute a short feedback form (provided by the British Science Association) to your event/activity participants after completing the CREST Awards, and return the completed forms to the British Science Association head office after the event/activity;

1.5 act lawfully in carrying out your event/activity, in accordance with best practice and guidance from your regulators, and follow any guidelines issued by us about the event/activity or use of the grant;

1.6 ensure that the event/activity is carried out in accordance with the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 and National Security Act 2023 and all applicable ethical, legal and regulatory requirements including but not limited to relevant provisions of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Bribery Act 2010, the Fraud Act 2006, the Equality Act 2010 and the Modern Slavery Act 2015;

1.7 ensure the event/activity is undertaken in accordance with an appropriate health and safety policies and good health and safety at work practices;

1.8 notify the British Science Association immediately, and in writing as soon as practicable, of any health and safety incident arising out of the event/activity which is reportable to the Health and Safety Executive and/or is likely to cause damage to the reputations of the organisation, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) or the British Science Association;

1.9 correctly acknowledge UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the British Science Association in any press releases or marketing material. Please contact the British Science Association for additional information;

1.10 hold the grant in a UK based bank or building society account which satisfies our requirements as set out in our guidelines;

1.11 immediately return any part of the grant that is not used for your CREST event/activity or constitutes unlawful state aid;

1.12 where your event/activity involves working with children, young people or adults at risk, adopt and implement an appropriate written safeguarding policy, obtain written consent from legal carers or guardians and carry out background checks for all employees, volunteers, trustees or contractors as required by law;

1.13 comply with data protection laws and obtain the consent of your beneficiaries for us and you to receive and process their personal information and contact them;

1.14 keep accurate and comprehensive records about your event/activity both during the event/activity and for seven years afterwards and provide us on request with copies of those records and evidence of expenditure of the grant, such as original receipts and bank statements;

1.15 allow us reasonable access to your premises and systems to inspect event/activity and grant records with reasonable notice;

1.16 the British Science Association publicising and sharing information about you and your event/activity including your name and images of event/activities. You hereby grant us a royalty free licence to reproduce and publish any event/activity information you give us. You will let us know when you provide the information if you don’t have permission for us to use it in this way;

1.17 you, or someone from your organisation, will inform us immediately of any safeguarding incident or allegation involving a member of your organisation project staff, volunteers or agents which occurs within the project. You will inform us immediately in the event of an investigation against your organisation or a staff member or volunteer by the police or a regulatory body which relates to the grant funded activities. 

2. You acknowledge that we are entitled to suspend or terminate the grant and/or require you to repay all or any of the grant in any of the following situations. You must let us know if any of these situations have occurred or are likely to occur:

2.1 You use the grant in any way other than as approved by us or fail to comply with any of these Terms and Conditions;

2.2 You fail to complete the feedback forms or your CREST Award activity/event differs greatly to that outlined in your application;

2.3 You receive duplicate funding for the same project costs as funded by the grant;

2.4 You provide us with false or misleading information either on application or after award of the grant. In relation to the grant funded project, you or your organisation act dishonestly or are under investigation by us, a regulatory body or the police, fail to inform us about a safeguarding incident or external investigation, or if we consider for any other reason that public funds are at risk or you do anything to bring the British Science Association or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) into disrepute;

2.5 You enter into, or in our view are likely to enter into, administration, liquidation, receivership or dissolution.

3. You acknowledge that:

3.1 the grant is for your use only and we may require you to pay us a share of any proceeds from disposal of assets purchased or enhanced with the grant;

3.2 we will not increase the grant if you spend more than the agreed budget;

3.3 if the provided bank account details including account name, account number and sort code, are incorrect, your grant payment may be significantly delayed or your grant offer may be withdrawn;

3.4 the grant is not consideration for any taxable supply for VAT purposes;

3.5 we have no liability for any costs or consequences incurred by you or third parties that arise directly or indirectly from the project, nor from non payment or withdrawal of the grant, save to the extent required by law;

3.6 the British Science Association will not be held responsible or liable for any consequences, whether direct or indirect to any loss or damage, personal or otherwise, injury or death however arising in grant-funded events and activities. Grant recipients are responsible for taking out any public liability or other insurance necessary to cover the activities;

3.7 these Terms and Conditions will continue to apply for one year after the grant is paid or until the project has been completed, whichever is later. Clauses 1.5, 1.8, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16, 1.17, 2.1-2.5, 3.1, 3.5 and 3.6 shall survive expiry of these Terms and Conditions; and

3.8 if the application and grant award are made electronically, the agreement between us shall be deemed to be in writing and your online acceptance of these Terms and Conditions shall be deemed to be a signature of that agreement. 

3.9 these Terms and Conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with English Law.