Chemistry Teaching Empowerment Fund

Find out about the support available and apply for up to £600 (€690)

Would you like to strengthen chemistry teaching in your area?

With support from our Chemistry Teaching Empowerment Fund you can organise your own collaborative project or event to improve chemistry teaching and/or foster supportive and effective chemistry teaching communities.

Tackle your teaching challenges in chemistry, get to know your fellow chemistry teachers and technicians, and develop your leadership skills at the same time.

If you work in a school in the UK or Ireland, then you could get support to organise a collaborative project or event to benefit yourself and your fellow teachers and technicians. By applying to the Chemistry Teaching Empowerment Fund, you could get up to £600 (€690) towards the cost of your collaborative project or event, including your planning time. You can also tap into the Royal Society of Chemistry’s (RSC’s) expertise and get advice on setting up your event or collaborative project from your local education coordinator.

The fund is currently closed to applications and will open again in October 2023.

Applications will be open to members of Teach Chemistry. Sign in or register to apply.

Picture of two teachers working together

Source: © Shutterstock

Key details

The Fund is designed to help you to improve chemistry teaching and/or foster supportive and effective chemistry teaching communities. This will also allow you to develop key leadership skills and to share ideas and best practice with local teachers and technicians.

We welcome applications from teachers and technicians at all levels of experience and we particularly encourage applications for projects or events that:

  • support teachers or technicians at schools that are in hard-to-reach areas, either due to geography or social disadvantage.
  • support teachers or technicians planning for a curriculum change.
  • support teachers or technicians facing challenges in chemistry teaching, such as a lack of experience with practicals, teaching outside their specialism, or maintaining their wellbeing.

Read on to find out about the funding criteria and how to apply. If you have any questions about the fund, please email us, or contact your local education coordinator.

Inspiration for your project or event

Successful past applications include:

  • Networking events with STEM ambassadors.
  • Practical skills training days.
  • Working groups to make teaching resources for new curriculums.
  • Evening teach meets focussing on a particular topic.

Explore the case studies to find out how teachers organised two previous events, and what they got out of it.

Case studies

Picture of people talking in groups

Matthew and Claire’s teacher and industry networking event

Find out how Matthew and Claire organised their networking event and get tips for applying to the RSC Chemistry Teaching Event Empowerment Fund

Teachers assembling chemistry equipment

Daniel’s A-level practical skills training event

Read Daniel’s thoughts on organising his A-level practical skills training event

Do you work in a secondary school in Wales?

We can offer additional funding for events or collaborative projects in Wales that focus on planning for the new curriculum. Do you need help developing cross-curricular links or working across the science and technology area in your school or local authority? Do you want to set up a supportive network of teachers working towards implementing the new curriculum? We encourage you to apply to the Chemistry Teaching Empowerment Fund.

Schools in Wales can apply for up to £300 for a project or event that doesn’t involve teachers or technicians from other schools, and for the full £600 if your project or event involves teachers or technicians from beyond your own school.

Eligibility criteria

Collaborative projects or events could be online, in person or blend online and in-person meetings.

Eligible collaborative projects or events will fulfil the following criteria:

  • The applicant must work in a school in the UK or Ireland and the event or project must take place in the UK or Ireland.
  • The project or event must focus on improving chemistry teaching and/or fostering supportive and effective chemistry teaching communities.
  • We expect the project or event to be new, or if applied to an existing project or event, for funding to enable the applicant to improve or introduce something new to the project or event.
  • It must involve teachers and/or technicians from more than one school. (For example, a collaborative project with teachers from multiple schools, or an online event that is open to teachers from hard-to-reach areas.)
  • The applicant must agree to complete an evaluation of the project or event using the format provided by the RSC.
  • Your local education coordinator will have an open invitation to attend the project or event.
  • The project or event must not already have received funding from the RSC via another route.

Examples of eligible and ineligible events

Projects or events that would be eligible for support might include:

  • A session for early career teachers to try out experiments that are required in exam specifications
  • Setting up a local support network with termly webinars on a range of topics
  • Workshops at which teachers share and develop plans for new or ‘recovery’ curriculums
  • A networking session for teachers and technicians to speak to chemists working in different industries

The fund will not support:

  • Class visits outside of school
  • Projects or events unrelated to chemistry
  • Activities which are pupil-facing
  • Participation in existing programmes that aren’t organised by the applicant

You don’t have to be a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry to apply, but you should be a member of Teach Chemistry, our free support service for secondary schools and colleges in the UK and Ireland.

If you are a secondary teacher wanting to run a project or event aimed at primary teachers, please instead apply through the Primary Science Teaching Empowerment Fund.

A group of colleagues sitting around a wooden table chatting and eating salads and baguettes

Source: © Shutterstock

Restrictions on funding

  • Funding is restricted to £600 (€690) per school per academic year.
  • A maximum of £300 (€345) can be used for teaching cover so that you can plan the project or event.

Applying to the fund

We use a survey to help guide you through the application and allow you to give concise answers. The survey will ask you to provide:

  1. Your details
  2. Project/Event eligibility questions, including:
    • Event name
    • Project/event timeline including approximate start date and time span
    • Detail around whether your project/event is new and who it will involve.
  3. An outline of your project/event and detail about impact, including:
    • A description of your project with aims and how you intended to achieve them, ie:
      • Who the project is aimed at
      • How you intend to run your event (for example, in person or online)
      • What you will do to achieve your aims
    • Detail about how the lasting impact of the project/event and any support you will have
    • Detail on how your project supports these Empowerment fund focusses:
      • Supporting teachers or technicians at schools that are in hard-to-reach areas, either due to geography or social disadvantage.
      • Supporting teachers or technicians planning for a curriculum change.
      • Supporting teachers or technicians facing challenges in chemistry teaching such as a lack of experience with practicals, teaching outside their specialism, or maintaining their wellbeing.
    • How the project will contribute to your professional development
    • A breakdown of how you intend to use the funds