Lord Rootes Fund Regulations 2022-23

1. Subject to the conditions in paragraphs (a) – (e) below, any formally registered full-time or part-time postgraduate or undergraduate student of the University of Warwick, any group of such students and any student society of the Warwick Students’ Union shall be eligible to apply for an award from the Lord Rootes Fund (‘the Fund’).

a) Awards are available to students on programmes of one or more years' duration, including students about to leave the University, provided the project is limited to the period of the subsequent long vacation.

b) Awards from the Fund are not intended to cover the cost of personal equipment.

c) Tours by sports teams are normally not eligible for support from the Fund.

d) Awards are not available to support activities which form part of an applicant's programme of study or planned future research.

e) Awards are not available to members of staff also undertaking full or part-time study.

2. An individual, group or society shall apply for an award in writing and shall give a full statement of the project and its aims. Estimates of expenditure to be incurred and of finance already obtained, promised or applied for from other sources must accompany the application.

3. If successful in an application, an individual applicant or the representative of a group or society shall normally be paid 80% of the total award. The individual or representative must undertake to supply to the Lord Rootes Memorial fund Committee two copies of a report, one of which may be a photocopy of the original, on the use made of the grants received, by a date to be specified by the Committee (which will normally be in the ninth or tenth week of the autumn term following the grant of the award).

The report shall incorporate an accounting statement. In the case of film production projects, a video copy of the film must be submitted in addition to and at the same time as the written report. In the case of web-based project reports, a printed version of the website must be submitted. Reports (including web-based project reports) must meet the standards of presentation set out in the report writing guidelines.

4. The Committee reserves the right to require repayment of the entire 80% up-front award should it reasonably determine that the award has not been used solely for the purposes set out by the individual, group or society in their application or has been used wastefully, ineffectively or in a manner inconsistent with the spirit and principles of the Lord Rootes Fund or if the project has been poorly attempted or largely unattempted. The individual, group or society shall make available to the Committee all information the Committee may reasonably require to establish such correct use of the award funding.

5. The retained 20% of the award shall only be paid if, at its meeting in the spring term following the grant of the award, the Committee resolves that the report is satisfactory and meets the requirements set out in paragraph 3. If the report is submitted more than one week after the date specified in paragraph 3 without the prior agreement of the Secretary to the Committee, the award holder will normally be entitled to a maximum of half of the retained amount (ie 10% of the total award).

6. No portion of the award may be used for purposes other than those contained in the application and approved by the Committee. Any unspent portion of an award shall be repaid to the Fund by the date specified in paragraph 3.

7. Where grants have been made for the purchase of equipment, the equipment shall be held in trust by the applicant or applying group or society and shall revert to the Fund when the project is completed or when the group or society is disbanded, unless the Committee grants permission for it to be retained.

8. Applications and confidential written references shall normally be submitted to the Secretary to the Committee not later than the end of the first week of the spring term of the year in which the grant is desired, but late applications may be considered if suitable reasons are given. Letters of support may be included. Applicants will normally be interviewed early in the spring term and will normally be notified of the Committee’s decision before the Easter vacation.

9. An award holder seeking to publish his or her report shall:

a) Consult with the Secretary to the Committee;

b) Acknowledge in the publication that the project which was the subject of the report was supported by funding from the Lord Rootes Fund; and

c) Undertake to repay to the Fund any income generated from publication (net of any other costs associated with publication), to a maximum of the value of the Lord Rootes Fund award received in respect of the project.

10. The Committee’s decisions on applications, grants and matters associated with them shall be final.

[Last revised January 2013]