This grant supports the development of bushfire-specific courses for the NSW Education curriculum which improve student learning outcomes, increase understanding of Indigenous ecological knowledge and build resilience in communities.
Key information
- Status: Closed
- Grant amount: Up to $400,000
- Application opened: 21 November 2022
- Application closed: 11 January 2023, 5:00 pm
Program objective
The aim of the Bushfire STEM in Schools Program is to support education and skills training for NSW school children (K-12) with a focus on technologies relevant to bushfire response, to inspire and enable a new generation of technologists.
This program is administered by Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer.
Eligibility
Who can apply
All NSW-based individuals, research organisations, public sector organisation and commercial enterprises are eligible to apply to the Bushfire STEM in Schools Program.
Joint (consortia) proposals will be highly regarded. If a proposal is consortium-based, the proposal lead must be headquartered in NSW.
An individual will need to establish a legal entity and have an Australian Business Number before entering into a legally binding funding agreement with the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer (OCSE).
A NSW public research organisation can apply to the Bushfire STEM in Schools Program through its appropriate Technology Transfer Office, CEO or equivalent. However, the research group must become a separate commercial entity before entering into a legally binding funding agreement with the OCSE.
Who can’t apply
Ineligible applicants include consortia or partnerships with businesses that are insolvent.
NSW Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade (NSW DEIT), at its sole discretion, can take publicly available information about an applicant into account that may cause a business to be ineligible for support, such as any personnel or business activities that could cause reputational damage or other risk to the NSW Government.
NSW DEIT may seek clarification from applicants in relation to its application, including seeking further information on the eligibility or assessment criteria.
Types of projects funded under this grant
Eligible projects for the Bushfire STEM in Schools Program must align to content descriptions and student learning outcomes in relevant fields, including for secondary students the STEM, Geography and/or iSTEM curricula, or for primary the Science and Technology curriculum, or suitable alternative curriculum alignment. Only proposals that align to NSW curriculum will be eligible.
The project must ensure all grant monies are used on activities undertaken to deliver the program in NSW schools. Proposals that propose spending grant funding on partners, research activity, capital, or asset purchase over $10,000, or activities outside of NSW will not be eligible (other than the use of specific bushfire-related expertise not available in NSW).
Projects must demonstrate that the impact project will be broader than an individual school.
What your application needs to include
Download a sample application form to see all the sections that need to be addressed in the applications portal. You can also download the complete
File
NSW Bushfire Response R&D Mission Bushfire STEM in Schools Program: Round 1 Guidelines for Applicants (PDF 304.24KB).
Prepare your application with this checklist
The completed application form must be:
- completed in full and within the word limit
- authorised by the project lead or representative of the lead organisation, and
- submitted electronically through SmartyGrants. OCSE reserves the right to not accept applications that are submitted by another means.
Address the eligibility criteria
To be eligible, the organisation/s applying must:
- Have an Australian Business Number (ABN).
- Be financially viable and able to demonstrate they are likely to remain so over the duration of the project.
- Be one of the following entities:
- A company
- An individual or partnership, provided you agree to form a company incorporated in Australia to enter into a legally binding grant agreement
- University, publicly funded research organisation (PFRO), or their collaborative entities
- School, public-sector organisation or other organisation, such as not-for-profit organisations.
- All single-entity applicants must be headquartered in NSW. Joint (consortia) proposals will be highly regarded. If a proposal is consortium-based, the proposal lead must be headquartered in NSW.
Address the assessment criteria
The application form seeks responses to the following criteria (Table 1). Applications must outline answers to the questions related to these criteria to enable your application to be assessed (unless indicated not applicable) and include information listed in Section 3.2. As this is a competitive grants process, the assessment will be a comparative assessment of your application against all other eligible applications.
The application will be submitted via SmartyGrants and assessed against the criteria below.
Assessment criteria
| Criteria | Description |
|---|---|
| Applications will be assessed according to the criteria outlined below: | |
| Project impact and scope in inspiring and enabling student participation and understanding of STEM in relation to bushfire detection, response, and management. (25%) |
|
| Understanding of best practice student learning outcomes. (25%) |
|
| Track record of relevant delivery, experience, or expertise in delivering STEM programs in schools (25%) |
|
| Project delivery plan (25%) |
|
Start the application
Applications for this grant are available via the SmartyGrants portal.
After the application is submitted
Successful applications will be decided by: an independent Expert Panel that will provide its recommendations to the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer.
The applications will be assessed and both successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified.
Support and contact
Any enquiry about the assessment process or the outcome of an application should be sent to Investment NSW.