The Frederick Soddy Schools Award scheme was created in 2018 when the Frederick Soddy Trust became a linked charity of the Royal Geographic Society – Institute of British Geographers, creating a new set of grants, the Frederick Soddy Awards, to support school and student fieldwork and expeditions. Prior to 2018 the Frederick Soddy Schools Award was promoted for the Frederick Soddy Trust by the Geographical Association. 

The Trust recognises that schools often find it difficult to compete successfully for funds from the main grant-giving bodies or to allocate their own resources to field studies. The aim of the Frederick Soddy Schools Awards is to encourage field studies by providing financial support specifically for this work.

The awards are given to teachers leading groups of school pupils. Applications are welcomed from UK and Republic of Ireland schools planning fieldwork involving a strong element of human geography (human geography normally refers to the branch of geography dealing with how human activity affects or is influenced by the earth's surface).

Awards are made of £200 to £600, but cannot support the costs of physical resources. 

Preference will be given to schools which have not been supported in the previous year’s awards (these are listed on the Trust’s website under the heading '2022 Recipients'.

Further information, guidance and details about how to apply is available on the Trust’s website.

Completed application forms should be submitted to grants(at)rgs.org, along with a short CV of the project leader.

All applications will be reviewed by an expert panel and awards made depending on the merit of the project.

The deadline for applications is Wednesday 18th January 2023. Results of the awards will be announced in writing to all applicants by the end of March 2023.

Contact details for the awards are:

The Frederick Soddy Trust
Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers),
1 Kensington Gore,
London
SW7 2AR
Tel: 020 7571 3000
Email: grants(at)rgs.org