STFC PATT Travel Grants 2026: Two Years of Travel and Subsistence at 100 Percent Full Economic Cost, From a £15,000 Minimum, for UK Astronomy Groups Spending More Than £7,500 a Year on Observing Runs — Applications Close 15 October 2026

STFC PATT Travel Grants 2026: Two Years of Travel and Subsistence at 100 Percent Full Economic Cost, From a £15,000 Minimum, for UK Astronomy Groups Spending More Than £7,500 a Year on Observing Runs — Applications Close 15 October 2026

Winning telescope time and being able to afford to use it are two different problems. The Science and Technology Facilities Council’s PATT travel grants exist to solve the second one. If your group has been allocated competitively awarded science observation time at an astronomy facility, this scheme pays for the flights, the ground transport, the hotel, and the meals that get a UK-based observer to the mountain and back.

The 2026 round was published on 20 July 2026, opens on 20 August 2026 at 9:00am UK time, and closes on 15 October 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. Grants run for two years and must start on 1 April 2027. STFC funds 100 percent of the full economic cost, and the listed minimum award is £15,000.

That minimum is the single most important number on the page, because it is really an eligibility filter dressed up as a funding parameter. PATT operates two routes. The travel grant — the subject of this guide — is for groups whose travel costs exceed £7,500 a year, which over a two-year award is where the £15,000 floor comes from. Everyone else uses the travel claim route, which has no deadline at all and reimburses individual trips. Applying for a grant when your group’s real annual spend is £3,000 is not a stretch application; it is the wrong form.

Key Details at a Glance

A note on the numbers: an update logged on 21 July 2026 records that STFC “corrected minimum and maximum grant amounts” for this call. The published page shows a minimum award of £15,000 and does not display a maximum figure. If your request is unusually large, confirm the current ceiling with the STFC office before you build the application around it rather than assuming there is none.

What the Money Actually Buys

The scope is deliberately narrow. STFC will fund the full cost of expenses for travel and subsistence in support of competitively awarded science observation time. That is the whole scheme.

Everything else associated with the science is explicitly assumed to be covered elsewhere. Postdoctoral salaries, equipment, and applicant time are all taken to sit on the relevant research grant. If your case for support drifts into “and this will also let us hire a research assistant,” you have misread the call.

Two categories are ruled out outright: commissioning work, and observation at private facilities. Neither is negotiable.

Funding normally covers one observer per visit. If the observing programme genuinely needs a second person at the telescope, you must get STFC approval at least four weeks in advance. Build that lead time into your planning now, because it is the kind of administrative step that gets remembered a fortnight before a run.

Which Telescopes Count

You may use awarded funds without seeking further approval for observing runs at two categories of facility:

• Facilities in direct receipt of STFC funds — for example the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometry Network (e-MERLIN), the Isaac Newton Group (ING), and the Liverpool Telescope (LT).
• Facilities approved by PATT, as set out in the published list of PATT approved telescopes.

That approved-telescopes list is not optional background reading. It also carries the guideline travel and subsistence rates STFC expects you to cost against, which makes it the reference document for the resources section of your application.

You can apply for travel funds for non-approved telescopes, but you must get approval from STFC first. Usefully, the application itself gives you a route to do this: in the resources and cost justification section you may request that a facility be added to the approved list. If your group is building a programme around a facility that has not previously been on the list, raise it in the application rather than discovering the problem when a claim is refused.

Two further constraints on use. First, you should only draw on travel funds where the presence of a UK observer is essential to the observing programme or required by the facility — an important test in an era where a great deal of time is queue-scheduled or serviced remotely. Second, if you need to change or cancel an agreed observing programme, you must get approval from the STFC office for any alternative plans.

One warning from the guidance deserves repeating in bold terms: funding for visits to both approved and non-approved telescopes is not guaranteed, and you should not book flights or make other travel arrangements until STFC has confirmed funding.

Who Can Apply, and Who Can Spend the Money

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard STFC eligibility, so the first check is whether your research organisation qualifies at all. The project lead completes the application, but only the lead research organisation can submit it to UKRI.

Separately from who applies, there is the question of who may use the money. The funding supports UK-based observers only, and eligible observers are:

• the project lead or a project co-lead, or a nominated representative;
• a member of academic or research staff at the institution of the project lead;
• a student attached to the institution of the project lead whose credentials have firmly established them as a bona fide observer.

Where a nominated representative is used, the project lead must be satisfied that the person is experienced and qualified to operate the facility on which the time has been awarded. That is a judgement STFC pushes onto you rather than adjudicating itself.

The student rule is the one that catches groups out. A project lead must not authorise the use of travel funds to support students undertaking observations that form part of their PhD preparation. A student who is a genuine, established observer contributing to an approved programme is fine; a student being sent to a telescope primarily as training toward their own thesis is not. STFC invites you to contact them if you are unsure about a particular student, and that is worth doing before the run, not after.

UKRI also states its commitment to equality of opportunity for applicants, including support for career breaks, caring responsibilities, flexible working, and alternative working patterns, and offers disability and accessibility support during the application and assessment process.

The Application: Three Sections and a Spreadsheet

The application is short by research-council standards. It runs on the UKRI Funding Service — you cannot apply through Je-S — so your organisation must be registered before you start.

The mechanics are the standard Funding Service flow: select “Start application” on the Funding finder page, confirm you are the project lead, sign in or create an account, answer the questions in the text boxes, review in read-only view, then send to your research office, which submits on your behalf. Research office and finance teams run checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility, so leave real time for that step and check your institution’s internal deadline, which will be earlier than STFC’s.

Summary — 550 words. A plain-English summary used to identify suitable assessors, usually published on external-facing websites, so keep it free of confidential material. STFC asks you to include a specific sentence in this box: “The funds awarded will be used to pay for travel and subsistence costs associated with observing runs on telescopes around the world.”

Purpose — 3,000 words. The question is simply: why is the travel needed? Assessors want to know who will use the award and how it will be used. Within this section you are expected to provide a list of the academic and research staff you expect to use the funding, how the request compares to any previous award, and how you used your last award — including what other observing trips you made in the past two years.

Applicants who hold an existing travel grant must also download and complete STFC’s expenditure breakdown template and upload it with the application. Where a trip is not yet finalised but is expected before the current grant ends, give estimated costs, and list total PATT-funded expenditure at the bottom of the table.

Resources and cost justification — 1,500 words. Justify the more costly resources: travel and subsistence, the expected number of future trips and destinations with requested costs, the use and costing of any telescope not on the PATT approved list (with a request for addition if appropriate), and any data collation or reduction visits where an observer is not required.

The guidance is explicit that assessors are not looking for a line-by-line breakdown of every observing run. If you hold an existing grant, what they do want is a justification for any change to the requested amount — group expansion, increased observing time allocation, a shift in facility mix — with the rationale spelled out.

There is also a Trusted Research and Innovation section, asking which areas of the National Security and Investment Act your project relates to, who you intend to collaborate with and how, and whether an export control licence is required. Your answers may affect the terms and conditions attached to a successful award.

Only the core team role of project lead is used, and you should list one individual only.

Data Collection and Reduction Visits: Read This Twice

The default position is that PATT is not the appropriate source of funding for the collection of data. Funding for the collection or collation of data, and for data reduction visits, is available only in exceptional cases.

If you want to pursue one, seek guidance from the STFC office before applying, and include in the application a justification for why a physical journey is necessary — for example, because of the complexity of the data or difficulties in transporting it. A generic assertion that in-person work is more productive will not carry this. If the case cannot be made in concrete terms specific to the dataset, drop it and keep the application focused on observing travel, where the scheme’s remit is unambiguous.

Assessment and Timeline

Applications are reviewed by the Panel for the Allocation of Telescope Time. PATT is an advisory body constituted to consider the allocation of telescope travel and subsistence costs for a range of astronomy facilities serving the UK community. As listed on the opportunity page, its members are Professor Chris Watson of Queen’s University Belfast (Chair), Dr James Mullaney of the University of Sheffield, and Dr Sandra De Jesus Raimundo of the University of Southampton.

Two structural points about PATT are worth knowing. It no longer includes the time allocation groups that consider applications for use of the ING, Liverpool Telescope, and e-MERLIN facilities — for time on those, apply directly to the observatories. And applications for European Southern Observatory facilities are handled directly by ESO, not through PATT.

STFC aims to complete assessment within two months of receiving your application, and will give feedback with the outcome. Demand management is not being applied to this call, so there is no cap on how many applications an institution may submit. Outcomes are published on UKRI’s board and panel outcomes pages, and some personal information from successful applications appears on the Gateway to Research.

Working backwards from the dates: close on 15 October 2026, assessment through roughly mid-December 2026, grants starting 1 April 2027 and running to spring 2029. Since the start date is fixed rather than negotiable, plan your observing calendar around it.

Preparation Strategy

Establish which route you need first. Grant or claim. If your group’s combined travel spend runs under £7,500 a year, the travel claim route is designed for you: it has no closing date, covers 100 percent of full economic cost, and is administered as non-employee expenses. It requires that you neither hold nor have access to a PATT travel grant, that you are a permanent staff member or academic at an eligible UK institution, that you submit a request at least four weeks before the observing run, and that you claim within two months afterwards. Historic trips that were not approved in advance cannot be claimed. Claims are typically processed on the day they are received.

Reconstruct your last two years honestly. The purpose section asks how you used previous funding and what other observing trips you made. If you hold an existing grant, the expenditure breakdown template makes this concrete and auditable. A group that underspent a previous award and is now asking for more needs an explanation ready — not because underspend is disqualifying, but because an unexplained gap between request and history is exactly what a small expert panel notices.

Cost against the published rates. Use the guideline travel and subsistence rates on the PATT approved telescopes list rather than your own institutional assumptions. It removes an easy source of friction.

Name the people. The panel is being asked to fund a group’s observing programme, not an abstraction. A clear list of the academic and research staff expected to use the funds, tied to the telescope time actually allocated, is the backbone of a credible purpose section.

Sort non-approved facilities early. If part of your programme depends on a telescope that is not on the approved list, contact STFC and flag it in the application. Do not assume it will be waved through.

Common Mistakes

• Treating it as a research grant. Salaries, equipment, and applicant time are out of scope. Every sentence about them is a wasted sentence.
• Applying for a grant when a claim is appropriate. The £7,500-a-year threshold is the dividing line.
• Booking travel before confirmation. The guidance says plainly that funding is not guaranteed for approved or non-approved telescopes, and that you should not make arrangements until STFC confirms.
• Using funds for PhD-preparation observing. Explicitly prohibited. Contact STFC if a particular student’s status is genuinely ambiguous.
• Omitting the expenditure breakdown. Mandatory for anyone holding an existing travel grant.
• Missing the required summary sentence. STFC asks for a specific line of text in the summary box. It costs nothing to include and looks careless to omit.
• Sending it to the research office on the deadline. The office has to check and submit it. After 4:00pm on 15 October 2026 the Funding Service will not accept applications, and submitted applications cannot subsequently be amended.
• Forgetting the second-observer rule. Four weeks’ advance approval, every time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I apply if I do not yet have telescope time awarded? The scheme funds travel in support of competitively awarded science observation time. The award of time is the premise of the request, and the purpose section is built around explaining who will use the funds and for what allocated programme.

Is remote observing covered? The guidance states you should only use travel funds where the presence of a UK observer is essential to the observing programme or required by the facility. Where a facility services or queue-schedules observations, that test is unlikely to be met.

What if my group’s needs change mid-award? If you need to change or cancel an agreed observing programme, you must get STFC approval for the alternative plans. For the travel claim route, a change of plan means submitting a fresh request.

Does institutional matched funding help my case? No. Beyond the standard 20 percent FEC there is no matched-funding requirement, and UKRI is explicit that expert reviewers and panels must not consider levels of institutional matched funding when making recommendations.

Can I use generative AI to prepare the application? UKRI permits it for preparing funding applications while advising caution, and directs applicants to its published policy on generative AI in application and assessment.

How many observers per visit will be funded? Normally one. A second requires STFC approval at least four weeks in advance.

When will I hear? STFC aims to complete assessment within two months of receiving the application, with feedback provided alongside the outcome.

Contacts and Official Links

For questions about this specific opportunity, contact the STFC office and include “PATT Travel Grant” in the subject line:

• Karen Hall, Programme Manager — [email protected]
• Chloe Woodcock, Senior Programme Manager — [email protected]

For sensitive or confidential information — an unavailability period, a declaration or conflict of interest, or eligibility detail you do not want in the main application — email Karen Hall with the opportunity title, the words “sensitive information,” and your Funding Service application number in the subject line.

For Funding Service system or submission problems, contact the UKRI helpdesk at [email protected] or 01793 547490, open Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm and Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm. Include the council and opportunity name in the subject line and the application reference number, and avoid contacting more than one mailbox at once. The helpdesk triages toward queries with imminent deadlines and technical faults; eligibility and remit questions answered on the opportunity page are handled as lower priority.

For costings and application writing, STFC’s first instruction is to go to your own research office — and to allow enough time for your organisation’s submission process.

• Official opportunity page: PATT travel grants for competitively awarded observation time 2026
• Related opportunity, no deadline: PATT travel claim for competitively awarded observation time

Next Steps

Between now and the 20 August 2026 opening date, three things are worth doing. Confirm your organisation’s STFC eligibility and Funding Service registration. Pull together the two-year observing history and, if you hold an existing grant, start filling the expenditure breakdown template — it is the part of the application that depends on records rather than prose, and it is the part most likely to stall. And check every facility in your planned programme against the PATT approved telescopes list, raising anything unlisted with the STFC office early enough that the answer arrives before the 15 October deadline rather than after it.