The Society offers Engagement Grant funding for initiatives that increase the scientific understanding of addiction and its treatment. Applications are currently closed. The next deadline will be announced shortly.
Criteria
We encourage applicants to be creative when applying for Engagement Grants. Past successful projects have included Delphi processes, citizen’s juries, multimedia projects producing healthcare materials, conferences, convening groups to review an area of work, and local pilot prevention schemes.
The lead applicant for each submission must be an SSA member or associate.
To receive funding, applications must come from settings that have appropriate governance structures in place (e.g. projects will usually need to be set in the UK and within a clinical, not-for-profit, or university setting).
We do not support primary research projects, projects where the funding would effectively constitute a researcher’s salary.
Information on eligibility and conflicts of interest
You are ineligible for this scheme if you are an employee of the alcohol, cannabis, gambling, nicotine, pharmaceutical, or tobacco industries. This exclusion also applies if you are an employee of an Industry Social Aspect Organisation*.
You are ineligible for this scheme if you have received funding of any kind, either directly from, or through representatives of, the alcohol, cannabis (except pharmaceutical), gambling, nicotine (except pharmaceutical), or tobacco industries. This exclusion also applies if you have received funding from an Industry Social Aspect Organisation*.
To be eligible, you must provide details about all potential conflicts of interest when requested. This information will be used to inform decision-making and applications may be rejected if the SSA deems there to be a risk of bias, ethical concerns, or a risk to the reputation of the SSA.
*Industry Social Aspect Organisations are those that are funded by addictive product industries – sometimes through secondary organisations – that often have a stated purpose to reduce the harms of those addictive products.
Dissemination
If your application is successful, we can offer advice about disseminating project information and findings. This could include producing videos, podcasts, and articles. Any publications arising from the project should acknowledge the SSA as the source of the funding.
Procedures
Applications for Engagement Grants must demonstrate how they will align with the SSA’s overall aims and objectives. Specifically, we would like to encourage proposals that involve collaboration between policy, practice, and people with lived experience, and proposals that address health inequalities.
We award Engagement Grant funding twice every year. There is a maximum allocation of £30,000 per project. The maximum funding for conferences will typically be £5,000.
The deadlines for 2024 were 31 May and 27 September. When the deadlines for 2025 are announced, the online application form will be made available. Applicants will be required to complete the form in full and attach the following:
- CV of lead: The proposer must be a single individual who will liaise with the Society on behalf of your team
- Full budget
- Timetable
Contractual arrangements
Financial support under the SSA Engagement Grants scheme is provided subject to a contract between the SSA and the member / associate or an institution they represent. Therefore, any offer or agreement by the SSA to provide funding is subject to contract. Once funding has been discussed and agreed upon, the SSA will provide the applicant with a contract for the funding in the SSA’s standard form. The terms of this contract will only be amended under exceptional circumstances, and the SSA may withdraw any offer or agreement of funding if the contract terms are not agreed upon by all parties within a reasonable period.
Please contact the SSA’s Executive Officer, Graham Hunt, if you have any questions.
