Applicant Guidelines

Detailed guidelines for Travel Award applicants

1) Eligibility

a. Applicants must be paying members of the Challenger Society.

b. Masters Degree students in their 4th year of study may apply for only 1 student Travel Award during your period of study.

c. MSc students may apply for only 1 student Travel Award during your period of study.

d. PhD students can apply for a maximum of 2 Travel Awards during your period of study.

2) Completing the application form

a. Applications for Travel Awards should be completed using the form (MS Word Document) provided.

b. These take the form of a statement of the reasons for travel, including its scientific value, and if applying for funds to attend a conference, that a paper or poster has been accepted (incl. the abstract), and the total budget for the travel explaining how the majority of the costs will be found.

c. A statement of support from one of the student's supervisors must be included. This statement should include a motivation why the student should receive the travel award and how they would benefit from partaking in the activity with regards to their Masters/PhD and beyond. It should also outline the student’s funding situation.

3) Reports

a. Successful recipients of Travel Awards are required to provide a brief report to be published in Challenger Wave and on the website following attendance at the meeting or completion of fieldwork.

b. This report should consist of: (1) blog-type summary report (preferably in MS Word); (2) picture attachment; (3) profile of award holder; (4) 140-character Twitter feed.

c. The report must be submitted within 3 months of attendance at the meeting or completion of fieldwork. If you are unable to attend the meeting or complete the fieldwork, please notify Dr Sophie-Berenice Wilmes (s.wilmes@bangor.ac.uk) depending on the circumstances, the award can be delayed or re-assigned.

4) Payments

a. Please apply in a timely manner before funding is required.

b. Payments will only be made once the report has been received.

c. Payments will be made by cheque (either direct to the student or to the department).

5) Submission Process

a. Applications can be submitted by email using the link to the application form at the bottom of this page.

b. Applications deadlines are January 15th, April 15th, July 15th, and October 15th of each year.

c. Applications can be submitted at any time but will be reviewed shortly after the above mentioned deadlines.

d. Electronic submissions should be made to Dr Sophie-Berenice Wilmes (s.wilmes@bangor.ac.uk).

6) Decision Process

a. The travel award applications are reviewed by the Council against a number of criteria (including the scientific merit, personal statement, and budget).

b. Each deadline will have a total budget of around £2,500. Monies can be rolled over if not fully used in anyone period.

c. A decision will be made within 6 weeks of the deadline and applicants will be notified of the outcome at that time

Latest News

Potential Availability of NERC Ship Time During the 25/26 Programme Year

The NERC Marine Facilities Programme for 2025/2026 for the RRS Discovery and the RRS James Cook has been published on the Marine Facilities Planning website.

The RRS Discovery programme currently contains a 79 day alongside slot between the 2nd of November 2025 and the 19th of January 2026, which is available for science delivery if funded science projects can make use of this time. Due to the location of the vessel, the ship is most likely to be able to deliver fieldwork in the North and East Atlantic regions. Some support for science capability within the National Marine Equipment Pool is potentially available, although there is no capacity for use of autonomous vehicles or remotely operated vehicles. Any fieldwork within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) will need the appropriate diplomatic clearance submitted to coastal states at least 6 months in advance, and to NMF with sufficient lead time for processing via the FCDO.

If interested in making use of this ship time, please contact NERC Marine Planning (marineplanning@nerc.ukri.org) ASAP to start discussions.

THE MARINE FACILITIES ADVISORY BOARD – CAN YOU HELP?

The Marine Facilities Advisory Board advises the National Oceanography Centre on marine facilities and services, including the Natural Environment Research Council’s National Marine Equipment Pool (NMEP), the British Oceanographic Data Centre and the British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility.

NOC Association AGM 2025

NOC Association (NOCA) AGM 2025

The 14th AGM of the NOC Association will be held on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th May 2025. This free, on-line event will take place on Zoom, across two consecutive mornings, each starting at 10:00 and ending at 12:30. Although discussion topics are being finalised, we will focus on national capability (NC) science, ships, and autonomous vehicles, and how the community can engage. There will be an update on AtlantiS and on the new marine science scoping group. All are warmly welcome to join. To participate, please complete your registration here. For enquiries: Jackie Pearson, Secretary to NOCA: jfpea@noc.ac.uk