The Society’s support of Research and Scientific Expeditions
 
Research and scientific expeditions matter to the Society. The nature of support given by the Society for the creation of new knowledge through research and scientific expeditions has varied over time. The Society has loaned equipment, awarded grants, given its name to support fund raising, and taken on the organisation of projects for which it has actively fund-raised and led. The approach at any particular time has been decided by Council, the Trustees of the Society, with consideration of the prevailing research environment, balance of the Society’s activities and its resources.

  Examples of Grants

• 1853 – Burton – Median and Mecca; £100 support
• 1898 – J. Bramley’s Expedition to the Libyan Desert: £100 support in aid.
• 1914-16 – Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition (The Endurance). The expedition cost £60,000 and was supported by Government and private funding, with a contribution from the Society of £1,000.
• 1924 – Fawcett – Brazil; £100 support
• 1949 – W Thesiger – Arabia; £100

  View a list of all our current grants

  Examples of Endorsement and Partnership

• 1836-1838 – Alexander’s South African Expedition – funded in partnership between the Society (£500) and the Government (£500)
• 1865 – Livingstone’s Search for the Source of the Nile, for which he received £500 from the Society as a contribution to expenses, whilst the Society also played a leading part in securing the equipment for the expedition. Livingstone also received £500 from public funds and the honorary rank of Consul; the remaining funds required, amounting to £1,000, came from James Young, inventor of paraffin.
• 1877-80 – Johnston and Thomson’s expedition to survey the drainage system of Lake Nyasa and Lake Tanganyika – jointly funded by the Society and the African Exploration Fund: £4,000.
• 1953 – The successful ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. The expedition, under the leadership of Sir John Hunt was organized and financed under the auspices of the Joint Himalayan Committee formed by the Alpine Club and the Society.
• 2005-2010 – Pump Priming Research Programmes under the theme of Geographical Perspectives on Global Change (£29,000 across six projects). Includes: Metcalfe (Nottingham) – Drying out Drying out? Water, society and climate in central Mexico; Crawley (Swansea) - Children and global change: Experiencing migration, negotiating identities.

  Examples of Society-led Expeditions

• 1883 – Thomson’s East African Expedition – entirely funded and organized by the Society, and described as ‘one of the most economical journeys of its length ever made in Africa, the total cost having been less than £3,000’.
• 1899-1902 – British National Antarctic Expedition (Discovery) led by Captain Scott. The total cost of the expedition was estimated at £90,000 of which £45,000 was offered by the British Government provided that the two Societies (Royal Society and Royal Geographical Society) could raise a matching sum. They achieved this, thanks largely to a donation of £25,000 from wealthy RGS member Sir Llewellyn Longstaff. The Society’s contribution of £8,000, was its largest single contribution to any expedition to that date.
• 1957-58 – Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition – first crossing of Antarctica by  Fuchs and Hillary. This expedition was initiated, financed, organized and administered almost exclusively by the Society.
• Maraca Rainforest Project, Brazil 1987-88: An ecological survey of the riverine island of Maracá, an important tropical forest reserve in Brazilian Amazonia, and four related programmes: forest regeneration; soils and hydrology; medical entomology; land development. Led by Dr John Hemming.

  View more details on this and the other 10 programmes

  Grant giving by the Society for the last 40 years