Open Call: Sea-Changers Innovation Fund (United Kingdom)

Sea-Changers first set-up their Innovation Fund in 2021 because the seas remain in crisis. Climate change, pollution, over-fishing and the decline of key marine species are all affecting the UK’s coast and seas. They need to encourage, support and accelerate possible solutions to these issues. New ideas and solutions need to be supported. This is the third time they have run the fund and in previous years they’ve funded innovative approaches including:

• new microplastic surveying techniques
• marine mammal surveys using thermal imaging, drones and AI image analysis
• testing new ways of reducing commercial fishery bycatch
• use of AI models to interpret data on estuary contaminants.

The aim of the Innovation Fund is simply “To support innovative marine conservation approaches and solutions.” This includes any innovation that may:

• Address the root causes of marine conservation threats and challenges in the UK.
• Prevent or reduce negative impacts on UK coastal and marine environments and/or species.
• Add to the body of knowledge about marine conservation threats and challenges in the UK and ways to overcome them.

Funding Information

• They will review all applications and they may award one or two large grants of around £10k or several smaller ones depending on the quality and range of applications. Higher awards in the region of £10k will need to be exceptionally compelling to be successful, since it is likely that their trustees will prefer to spread the risk among a number of projects.

What are they looking for? 

• Sea-Changers welcomes applications for innovative approaches to all kinds of marine conservation challenges:
  • Research
    • For example:
      • Innovative citizen science projects.
      • New ways to measure and monitor marine environmental issues.
  •  Direct Action
    • For example:
      • Innovative approaches to habitat restoration.
      • New solutions to cleaning up polluted habitats.
  • Species Protection
    • For example:
      • Projects that support, replenish, or protect threatened marine species in new ways.
  • Education /Community engagement
    • For example:
      • Projects that educate and involve people, businesses and / or communities in marine conservation in ways that are previously untested.
• Your project could be in the very early stages – e.g., developing a prototype or model. It could be that your idea is developed, but it needs piloting in to gather evidence of its efficacy. It could also be an idea that, whilst tested other parts of the world, is a new solution for the UK marine environment and needs to be tested here.
• They want to ensure that there is learning from both project successes and failures and will therefore ask all grant applicants to explain how the success or failure of the project being applied for will be judged and measured.

Eligibility Criteria

• Sea-Changers welcomes applications from a wide range of UK based organisations including:
  • companies, including CICs
  • charities and trusts
  • universities or students who are carrying out marine conservation related activities
  • schools
  • constituted community groups.

For more information, visit Sea-Changers.