This year we are continuing with our seed-fund money for Access and Participation Plan (APP) related projects. This guide contains information about the funding available, the timelines and requirements for 22/23 projects, and the deadline for applications.

What is the APP Seed Fund?

The APP Seed Fund is a small pot of money intended for small projects (£1,000 - £5,000 guide) which cannot currently be funded from existing Annual Planning budgets. Last year's projects included:

• A research project looking into any barriers WP students experience when engaging with VIPs (Vertically Integrated Projects),
• A one-off event to celebrate the achievements of vulnerable student cohorts,
• Internships within the Health department to provide experience of lab-based research
• Virtual Internships to provide accessible paid work experience and research opportunities for Gold Scholars

What sort of projects do we fund?

The idea behind the fund is to encourage creative thinking about how we can best support progress towards our APP targets by funding one-off or pilot projects. As a reminder, there are five targets in the APP and the APP target student groups include:

• Low-income students
• Students from areas with low participation in HE
• Students from minority ethnic groups
• Students with disabilities
• Vulnerable cohort students, including care leavers, refugees, young adult carers or estranged students
• Mature students
• Student parents.

This year, we will be prioritising funding for projects which set out how they intend to develop their pilot project and embed it into future Annual Planning. In order to further develop your pilot project, you will have to apply for increased budget from Finance during Annual Planning, or we would have to take money away from an existing APP funded project to fund it.

Examples of pilot projects which we are looking to fund could be:

• Running a one-off event or workshop for staff or students
• Developing training or resources for staff or students
• Recruiting an external speaker(s) for an event, or series of events
• Piloting a network for APP target student groups
• Piloting an activity, programme or project to demonstrate a need for further funding.

All projects must be complete by 31 July 2023.

Are there are any projects you don’t fund?

This year, we will not be funding any projects which will be setting up one-off work experience opportunities for individual or small groups of students. We may consider applications which are looking to pilot a work experience programme, and which clearly justify the need for such a programme to exist for APP target groups.

We will only consider applications for research-based projects on a case-by-case basis, as these projects may require significantly more input from our staff team to ensure the project will be on track for completion by 31 July 2023.

Any projects extending beyond 31 July will likely not be funded, although in some rare cases (where activity runs into August for example) this could be considered.

What else do I need to know?

Please be aware that the deadline for all project budget to be spent is 31 July 2023. Please bear this deadline in mind when putting together your application.

When your project has finished, you will be required to write a final report which details key successes and challenges and lays out how you intend to further develop your pilot moving forward. The deadline for this report will be 4 – 6 weeks after project completion. We may also ask you to present your findings at an APP Oversight Group meeting.

Further Funding Opportunities For further funding opportunities please visit the funding opportunities page

Who do I contact if I have any questions?

If you have any questions about the APP Seed Fund, or you want to have a chat about your idea before completing an application, please feel free to get in touch with Jenny Boyle and she will put in some time to have a chat.

How do I apply?

If you are interested in applying for the seed-fund, please complete this APP Seed Fund 22/23 Application Form by Friday 20 January 2023 at the latest.

Decisions to award funding will be made on a rolling basis that so work can start just before or just after Christmas. If there is any money left over from this round of bidding, we will run another round with bids in by mid-February.