Grants

CUES Grants 2025

About the Scheme

The CUES Grants scheme provides additional support for CUES members to undertake extra-curricular projects during term time and over the holidays.

CUES Grants are awarded to individuals or groups to fund any activity which the panel has reasonable cause to believe will benefit the member’s professional development.

Some activities may include, but are not limited to:

  • Purchasing equipment for a project
  • Groups participating in competitions
  • Start-up costs for a society or venture
  • Societies organising a symposium or hackathon

Successful applicants are required to submit a short report to document their experience, by the end of the assigned project timeframe.

It is important to note that the CUES Grants scheme is not a substitute for Department or College Grant Schemes. Students are expected to exhaust all funding options available from the Department and their College before pursuing an application.

CUES Individual Grant

To be eligible for the CUES Individual Grant, the applicant must be:

  • A member of CUES
  • An undergraduate or postgraduate student of the University of Cambridge at the time of report submission

Note the CUES Individual Grant has historically averaged between £100-£200.

CUES Group Grant

To be eligible for the CUES Group Grant, the group must be:

  • Led by a member of CUES
  • A team or society consisting of students of the University of Cambridge

Only one grant may be given per team. Teams are not allowed to split up and apply for multiple grants as individuals.

The CUES Group Grant is awarded to specific projects, not to a society in general. Applicants must declare specifically what project led by a group or society the CUES Group Project Grant will be funding.

  • Large societies largely funded through other means (e.g. SPIP, industry sponsorship) are eligible to apply, but must clearly explain what specific project the additional CUES Grant will be used for
  • Small to Medium sized societies should principally apply for funding through CUEA. In their application, those societies must state clearly why CUEA funding was not available for their activity/project.
  • Individual applicants applying for funding to attend or participate in a group project (such as a conference or travel to aid charities in developing countries) must apply through the CUES Individual Grant

Note that the CUES Group Grant has historically ranged between £250-£1000.

Basis of selection

A decision is made by a panel composed of members from the CUES executive committee and CUED faculty, and will be based on the following considerations:

  • There must be significant evidence that the grant will enable the development of technical skills and knowledge.
  • The proposed use for the grant must be both realistic, achievable and appropriate to the skills of the student(s) under the given timeline.
  • There must be evidence that other avenues of funding have been or are being sought.

Timeline

This year, the CUES Grants scheme consists of 3 rounds:

  • Round I: Michaelmas Term + Christmas Holiday
  • Round II: Lent Term + Easter Holiday
  • Round III: Easter Term + Summer Holiday

In general, the timeline for each round are as follows:

DateTimeEvent
Week 1 Sunday1600CUES Grant Application Deadline
Week 2 Wednesday2000CUES Grant Application Results
*Week 0 Wednesday1600Short Report Submission Deadline
* Indicates the following term

Application

Click here to apply for the 2025 CUES Grants Scheme.

To help with inspiration, below are a (small) selection of projects previously supported by CUES Grants:

  • Expedition to Tanzania (through Engineers without Borders)
  • Participation in the Amazon Robotics Challenge (through CU Robotics)
  • Development of a shoe using 3D-printed materials
  • Design of a RISC-based microcontroller

Note that the deadlines for application submission for the 2025 CUES Grants scheme are as follows:

  • Round I: 13th October, 2024 4pm
  • Round II: 26th January, 2025 4pm
  • Round III: 4th May, 2025 4pm

We will endeavour to decide on the outcome of all applications using the application form alone. However, we may ask for further information, an interview or presentation.

All queries regarding CUES Grants should be directed to [email protected]

CUES reserves the right to amend any of the details of the CUES Grant scheme at any time.