Lloyd’s Register Foundation has been running a small grants programme for the past three years, granting up to £10,000 for organisations to initiate or build partnerships and test out ideas through pilot studies projects and activities in the Foundation’s strategic priority areas.
The ethos of the Lloyd's Register Foundation small grants scheme is "a little can go a long way". Since its inception in 2020, the scheme has invested over £600,000 and helped hundreds of projects make a significant and long-lasting impact on the safety of people and property around the world.
The three latest successful applicants to the scheme range from supporting the welfare of seafarers through data science, creating new modelling techniques to predict fires in informal settlements to the production of e-learning platforms on ocean literacy.
Project one: ‘Strengthening the evidence base for seafarer welfare’, ISWAN
Seafaring is regarded as one of the most physically and mentally demanding occupations on the planet. ISWAN operates a range of 24/7/365 helplines for seafarers around the world, receiving around 6000-7000 new calls per year covering issues such as maritime accidents and incidents, experiences of abuse and contractual issues.
These calls give ISWAN rich insights into the evolving challenges that seafarers face, however the classification system currently in place is limited and does not have the capacity to deal with the influx of calls.
Our small grant to ISWAN will allow data science consultants to increase the accuracy of the current system so demographic data and trends in seafarer welfare can be more comprehensively identified.
Access to this data set will allow ISWAN stakeholder and other maritime organisations to create more robust interventions around the wellbeing of seafarers and help improve safety standards for those working at sea.
‘Semi-probabilistic model development to address informal settlement fire spread’, University of Central Lancashire
Fires in densely populated informal settlements can spread quickly displace and endanger thousands of vulnerable people. This research project with the University of Lancashire aims to enhance prevention and preparedness during informal settlement fires through analysis of model fire experiments.
Funding from the small grants programme will be used to procure materials such as plastics, woods and corrugated sheets, as well as test equipment to measure and report fire spread.
The findings of this project could be vital in the field fire safety engineering and for over 1 billion people globally who live in informal settlements.
Project three: ‘Ocean education’, Ocean Generation
The ocean is essential to life on earth – however human action is putting it at risk. The next generation of ocean citizens needs to have the skills and understanding to conserve our oceans and maintain a just and sustainable ocean economy.
Wavemaker's is an ocean environmental programme run by Ocean Generation that educates and empowers young people, aged 16-25 to safeguard our ocean.
Our small grant will help create a purpose built ocean literacy e-learning hub, translating complex marine science into practical tools, digital workshops and masterclasses that drive social action amongst young people.
We’re looking forward to following the progress of the three projects above and the impact they have on the safety of people and property around the world.
The next round of the small grants scheme is due to open on 21 August 2023. To apply, please visit our calls for funding page. For more information on what we fund and why, please visit our website.
