• The Practitioner Research Fund is open to all RTPI members - except for those employed by, enrolled at, or affiliated to an academic institution at the time of submission.  
  
  
• Individual members who work in a non-academic research role (e.g. at a think tank, charity or research-focused planning consultancy) may apply – however proposals will be selected on the basis that the funding will enable you to conduct research that you could not otherwise do. 
  
  
• Collaborative bids, in which multiple eligible individuals come together to bid for one of the two pots of funding, are welcome.  
  
  
• Submitted proposals must be for additional work done in the course of normal practice. The grant could be used for study leave or sabbatical (e.g. allowing employer to cover an employee’s absence), travel expenses, materials, etc. 
  
  
• NB: By submitting a proposal for this grant, you confirm that your employers are fully aware and supportive of your application.  

If you are unsure about eligibility, or suitable uses of the grant money, please email research@rtpi.org.uk  

The maximum grant sum is £5,000 and the research period is up to 12 months.  

You will need to provide a project timeline indicating how you will be able to complete your research project within the 12 months period.  

Your proposal should demonstrate that you will use the funds for a well-defined, discrete piece of research with a clear outcome. 

The research and its potential implications for planning policy and practice can relate to anywhere in the world (a focus on the UK or Ireland is not required).  

We define ‘planning research’ broadly. For example, research could primarily focus on aspects of planning education or professional development, rather than on practice or policy. Though the focus is on spatial planning research, we encourage interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. We welcome non-traditional pieces of research such as applied research, action research or research by design.  

Dissemination 

To support the research process and maximise benefits to the researcher and the planning profession, a range of dissemination activities and outputs are expected.  

These include: 

• presenting at a mid-project progress webinar in July/August 2026 

• presenting at the UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference in Sept 2026 

• presenting at a webinar / seminar led by an RTPI funding region in Nov 2026 

• writing a project report on your research aims, methods and findings 
  
  
• writing a blog project summary for your RTPI webpage 

Support and mentoring 

Ongoing project support will be provided to ECR grant recipients by the RTPI Practice and Research Team.  

This support will be provided through: 

• keeping in regular contact with recipients via email; 

• initial project inception meeting and further project check-in meetings; 

• mid-project progress webinar with grant cohort and representatives of the RTPI funding regions in July/August 2026 (see ‘Dissemination’, above); 

• informal check-in at the 2026 UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference; 

• mentoring from an academic peer with relevant expertise (where possible); 

• providing feedback on your draft and final project report; 

• promoting your work via RTPI channels (website, bulletins, social media) 

Terms and conditions 

• Full submissions must be received by 26 October 2025 at 23:59.   

• We reserve the right to claw back funds if researchers fail to deliver their agreed outputs within the agreed timeline. 

• The RTPI reserves the right to share submissions and entry forms with our assessment panel of RTPI members.   

• Submitted material will be retained electronically by the RTPI.   

• The RTPI is not liable for any costs you incur submitting this entry.    

Proposals submitted to the Practitioner Research Fund will be assessed on the following criteria: 

Relevance of topic: The research proposal puts forward an original approach to issues and themes of current concern and relevance to spatial planning  

Understanding of topic: The research proposal demonstrates a strong understanding of the research topic and related fields of enquiry 

Ability to conduct the research to a high standard: The methodology, proposed methods and plan for spending the funding are clearly articulated and rigorous, and the entrant’s CV demonstrates the ability to conduct the research to a high standard 

Likelihood of impact: There is a clear strategy for ensuring that the findings will be impactful, and that they are disseminated effectively to relevant audiences. 

Advancing Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI): The proposed research project ensure that EDI is integrated at every stage of the research process. 

The spirit of the Practitioner Research Fund: This fund exists to enable creative, novel, practitioner research which would not happen otherwise. Proposals should make clear how the grant funding will enable the applicant to carry out research which they would not otherwise be able to do.  

Please download and complete the application form and return it via email to research@rtpi.org.uk