Scottish Alliance for Food

The fifth SCAF residential writing retreat will take place from 1st - 4th June 2026 at the Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE) in Loch Lomond.

The retreat is open to all SCAF members who are actively working on professional pieces of writing. This includes SCAF-related writing projects, as well as manuscripts, grant proposals, fellowship applications or other writing you would like to move forward in a dedicated environment designed to support meaningful progress. While we welcome a wide range of writing, those working on SCAF-related writing projects will be prioritised.

What's included?

• 3 nights' accommodation (standard research station rooms with most rooms being shared, single-sex rooms with 3-4 beds)
• Full board (vegetarian and vegan catering)
• Mini-bus transport (pick up and drop off points in Glasgow and Balloch) depending on demand

You can look forward to:

• Focused time for writing, both in small groups (including SCAF projects) and on your own work
• talks/workshops [e.g. best practice, collaboration]
• Opportunities to network and connect

How can you contribute to a successful retreat?

• Goal setting: Come with a sense of what you’d like to work on and what progress would feel meaningful to you. We encourage you to treat the retreat as protected writing time, away from meetings, emails, and everyday interruptions
• Take part in networking and group activities: These sessions are a chance to connect, share ideas and collaborate with others. 
• We ask that participants commit to the full duration of the retreat to help build a supportive and focused group environment

Deadline to register interest: 30th March 2026, 5pm

Register interest here

AIM: To connect applicants with mentors who can help facilitate their career aims (regardless of the mentor’s career stage), and build future capacity in this area. This can be relevant to applying for promotion, developing networks, working on a fellowship or grant application, or connecting around an existing project. 

WHO: This scheme prioritises applicants at earlier stages in their careers.

WHAT & HOW: The travel bursary is between £100-£500 and contributes towards travel, accommodation, and subsistence (food and drink) to visit one or more mentor(s) within Scotland and, where justified, the wider UK. This could be one or more visits to one mentor or several visits to different mentors and must be conducted within a 12-month period or less.

Applications should be submitted by the 15th of January, April, July and October.

Mentorship travel bursary guidance

All SCAF members are invited to apply to the member-led event & activity fund to design and deliver activities and events aligned with the Alliance's vision and mission. 

Applications are invited on a rolling basis, with quarterly allocations of funds. The award will typically be in the range of £200-500 with costs up to £1000 maximum.

Please contact us at scaf@glasgow.ac.uk if you have any queries or wish to discuss funding opportunities.

Member-led event & activity fund guidance note