Open Call for Engineering a Safer World (United Kingdom)

Deadline: 10-Jan-2025

The ‘Engineering a safer world’ call supports the delivery of Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s new five-year strategy, enhancing safety across three priority areas.

Priority Areas

• Priority area objectives:
  • Safer Maritime Systems: Harm is reduced and prevented for those working in growing maritime economies. Everyone across the maritime system is motivated to work together towards an ocean economy that keeps people safer on land and at sea.
  • Safer, Sustainable Infrastructure: New technologies and methodologies are developed and used safely within broader engineering practices, without causing harm elsewhere. Critical infrastructure is resilient and fit for purpose to meet the changing needs of society.
  • Skilled People for Safer Engineering: Development of skills for safety, knowledge, leadership, and processes where they are most needed. Numbers and diversity of engineers, and those in engineering-related professions, are increased, especially in sectors and geographies where they can have the most impact.

Categories

• Decarbonisation: As they decarbonise their energy systems, making sure the infrastructures that enable energy transition are safe for people and the environment.
• New technologies: They will support safety processes, practices, standards and skills so they can be confident in the benefits of new technologies.
• Adapting to climate change: They will work to find safer and more sustainable solutions to industrial infrastructure both on land and at sea to help them adapt to climate change
• Changing global workforce: They will support a skilled and safe workforce including knowledge of what works, preventable measures, and understanding data gaps, in supporting training and education.

Impact

• Throughout the next five years, they will scale their impact in five ways:
  • Internationalise – Led by local voices, they will make sure that the people most affected have the strongest say in identifying safety problems and finding solutions to make themselves safer.
  • Influencing others to act – Recognising that change comes through others, they will target their resources where they can catalyse change at scale, building strong partnerships and creating compelling communications.
  • Leverage additional resource – They will use their own funding to attract resources from others to keep people safer.
  • A trusted voice in safety – They will find, share and, where needed, commission the best evidence about safety, so that others can act with confidence.
  • Strengthening their voice in the maritime system for the future – The maritime economy is growing rapidly around the world bringing huge risks and opportunities for safety. Because they have a long heritage in maritime, they have the opportunity to strengthen their collective voice to ensure that this growth is safe, sustainable and equitable.

Funding Information

• With a funding pool of £15 million, they aim to support impactful groups or networks who demonstrate relevant expertise and understanding of local, in-country need, particularly within developing economies in the Global South. It is expected that individual proposals will request up to £1 million.
• Should potential applicants have an idea that aligns with any of their priority areas and is worth more than £1m, they are invited to contact them for an informal, exploratory discussion.
• Duration of grants is up to 5 years.

Eligible Projects

• They will consider proposals that:
  • Conduct research
  • Advance skills and education at scale
  • Generate new evidence or interpret existing data sets
  • Mobilise maritime heritage as a driver for change
  • Support new innovation
  • Support the creation of new regulations, standards, codes methods or ways of working.

Ineligible Expenses

• They want to fund activity that is original. They will not support activity that they are already funding in their major programmes or work that could be more easily funded by others. Lloyd’s Register Foundation will specifically not fund:
  • Profit-making Activities: Grants must not be used to generate profit for the recipient organisation.
  • Political or Religious Campaigning: Activities that promote a specific political or religious agenda are ineligible.
  • Retrospective Costs: Expenses incurred prior to the grant award date.
  • Debt Repayments: Grants cannot be used to pay off organisational debts or liabilities.
  • Capital Expenditures: Funding is not provided for capital expenditures, such as costs incurred to acquire, upgrade, or maintain physical assets, including property, buildings, technology, or equipment, unless explicitly justified as essential to achieving project outcomes.
  • VAT: Grants are not subject to VAT, and Lloyd’s Register Foundation does not cover VAT costs for organisations that can recover VAT on its expenditure. However, if the organisation is unable to reclaim VAT, VAT on eligible expenditure may be included in the grant budget with clear justification.

Eligibility Criteria

• Lloyd’s Register Foundation does not restrict the types of organisations eligible for funding. However, funding is primarily directed towards, but not limited to, the following types of organisations:
  • Registered Charities: Non-profit organisations with a clear public benefit focus, registered with appropriate charity regulators.
  • Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs): Independent organisations that operate internationally or locally to promote social or environmental causes.
  • Academic Institutions: Universities and research centres engaging in education, research, or public engagement activities aligned with Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s goals.
  • Non-Profit Organisations: Organisations that reinvest profits into their operations to advance their mission, without distributing earnings to stakeholders.
  • Social Enterprises: For-profit businesses with a clear social or environmental purpose, where profit is reinvested into achieving that purpose.
• In line with government guidelines, Lloyd’s Register Foundation adheres to the following principles when granting funds to non-charitable organisations:
  • Lloyd’s Register Foundation grants must only fund activities, services, or outcomes aligned with its charitable mission.
  • Funding for support costs is restricted to specified activities, services, or outcomes.
  • Grant terms require recipients to adhere to purpose-related restrictions.
  • Grants must not provide personal benefit to individuals involved.
  • Lloyd’s Register Foundation and its Trustees must justify each funding decision as serving the Foundation’s best interests.
  • Recipients must use funds for the stated purpose, ensuring public or organisational benefit, not profit.
  • These principles ensure that all grants to non-charitable organisations remain aligned with Lloyd’s Register Foundation s mission and are compliant with relevant regulatory standards.

For more information, visit Lloyd’s Register Foundation.