Within our funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), we have just over £750k (across 3 funding calls) to support innovative, short-term projects to further explore how we might define, enact or explore Ecological Citizenship for a sustainable digital society.

Our second funding call: The Natural World, has now closed.
We will be informing applicants of the outcome of this call by the end of March. Thank you to everyone who applied - we really appreciate the time and effort involved.

The ECN+ fund will be split across 3 rounds of funding. We will be announcing the 3rd and final funding call in April 2025.

What are we looking for?

We are looking to fund and support projects that will contribute to the concept and exploration of Ecological Citizenship and catalyse positive climate action towards a sustainable digital society.

We welcome applications that go beyond the usual and celebrate unexplored areas within our call themes. We encourage experimentation and projects, ideas, interventions or initiatives that work 'with' rather than 'to' or 'for'.
We hope to target overlooked communities that can benefit from Ecological Citizenship and are open to varieties of impact, looking at both scale / breadth and intensity of impact, and impact well beyond human species.

Where appropriate, we hope you will commit to completing projects through the most sustainable practices, with the least environmental impact as possible.

Our overarching review will be based on quality and originality. We encourage applications from a wide range of regions across the UK and encourage applications from Early Career Researchers (ECRs).

Eligibility Requirements

In order to apply to the Ecological Citizen(s) funding, your project MUST be led by a principal investigator (PI) who is a member of research or teaching staff at an EPSRC eligible, UK-based institution*.

This includes most UK universities and various other research centres or establishments. You can check your / your institutions eligibility via the UKRI website here or get in touch with the Ecological Citizens Team via our email, ecological.citizens@rca.ac.uk

*If you are not currently affiliated with an eligible institution, we will aim to facilitate match making between researchers and non-academic partners where possible.

Funding Call #2: The Natural World (now closed)

For 2024 - 25 we are looking to fund projects that focus on The Natural World

The Ecological Citizens Network+ invites proposals for collaborations between academic, industry, and third-sector partners that will contribute to the concept of Ecological Citizenship and catalyse positive climate action towards a sustainable digital society.

Applications are invited that align with one or more of the themes in the following list:

  • Nature based Solutions (NbS).
  • Connectivity to / between natural worlds, systems and more-than-human life.
  • Natural world focused systems and futures.
  • Interaction(s) between animal, human, more-than-human and environmental health.
  • Regenerative economies through societies and communities.
  • Environmental monitoring and alternative citizen science for sustainable practices.
  • Appropriate and / or considered biodiversity and rewilding.

The Natural World includes the essential qualities that make up life as well as the physical spaces, places, conditions and interactions between everything on our interconnected planet.

Plants and animals; soil, water and air; weather and shelter; movement, growth, reproduction. Nature is physical, contextual and conscious and not just tied to the countryside, but in our waterways, rooftops and school playgrounds; embedded in our cultures and history.

(updated 07.10.24)

Critical Dates

  • This funding call is now closed.Submission Deadline: Midnight (23:59) on 31st January 2025
  • Review process: February/March 2025 
  • Notification of outcome: early April 2025
  • Successful projects to commence by the 1st September 2025

How to Apply

  • Step 1: Download the application form.
  • Step 2: Complete all sections of the application form.
    If you have any queries please join one of our fortnightly application support sessions on Fridays from 12.30 - 1.30pm via zoom (email the EC team for the zoom link)
  • Step 3: Ensure it has been signed by the applicant and has institutional sign-off.
  • Step 4: Email your completed application form, as a PDF document, to ecological.citizens@rca.ac.uk with the subject ‘Application for Funding Call #2’ by midnight (23:59) on 31st January 2025