The Exploration Board meets twice a year to consider proposals for extra-curricular student expeditions and administers funds to assist with expedition costs. All expeditions supported by the Board are extra-curricular, are not for degree credit (part of a programme of study) or additional credit. Expedition teams must be able to articulate how their proposal is different from a holiday.
Expeditions must be adventurous in nature, commensurate with the ability level of the group undertaking them. They provide opportunities to live and work with other people, including those from different cultural backgrounds. They must involve self-organisation and preparation but could include participating in an activity with other groups such as a remote race/rally, trip or extra-curricular field-based scientific study, especially where this facilitates access to a restricted area.
Participants should aim to develop self-reliance, outdoor skills, and experience such that they can impart this to or inspire other students. Expeditions that involve scientific study will be supported only where the above criteria are met in addition to the research and should expect to additionally attract academic funding.
Applications are welcomed across the full spectrum of adventurous activities, involving any methods of travel.
When considering expedition proposals the Board will consider a range of criteria where not all need to be fulfilled, in no particular order:
- Adventurous activities undertaken
- Achievability of the expedition objectives
- Interaction with local communities
- Ethical considerations including the avoidance of negative environmental, social and cultural impacts
- Travel and logistics
- Level of self-organisation required
- Whether the risks of expedition activities (including those relating to travel) are manageable, without placing participants or others in undue danger
- Remoteness and exploration, including availability and practicability of rescue in the case of an emergency
- Experience of the group
- Skills to be developed or enhanced by the group
- Scientific Study
- Environmental impact of the proposal and justification of its carbon footprint in the context of the objectives
The Exploration Board will not normally support proposals to travel to locations (or which would require travel through locations) which are identified by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as those to where either ‘no travel’ or ‘no essential travel’ is advised. Furthermore, the Exploration Board will not normally support proposals where suitable travel insurance cannot be secured at a reasonable cost (for example due to the expedition location, travel route or activities being undertaken).
The Exploration Board only provides funding to current students of Imperial College London, and to former students where an expedition is taking place within a year of the successful completion of their programme of study. The Exploration Board will also only provide funding to an individual for a second expedition where the expedition departs at least nine months after the conclusion of the first expedition. The Exploration Board does not consider retrospective applications for ventures which have already taken place.