Funding Opportunities for Learning and Teaching Innovation

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Briefing session recording

A Q&A and Briefing session took place 23 October 2023, 14:30-15:30. The session recording can be viewed here.

Read about projects that have previously been fundedBriefing Notes Expression of Interest Form

Excellence Fund for Learning and Teaching Innovation

We have recently conducted a call for project ideas that work towards our Race Equality Charter (REC) actions associated with curriculum, assessment and resources for students. Projects will be funded by the Excellence Fund for Learning and Teaching Innovation. The deadline for proposals was Friday 1 December 2023 and the proposals are currently being considered.

This funding call aims to support ideas that work towards Actions 3.3 and/or 3.2. of the College’s Race Equality Charter Action Plan:

Action 3.3: to work with students to ensure that curriculum and assessment are fully inclusive of ethnicity.

Action 3.2: to create anti-racism training materials for students.

Projects might therefore involve:

  • Assessing whether assessment procedures are inclusive and authentic
  • Raising awareness of the social and historical impacts of racism that have shaped STEMM subjects
  • Producing training materials to incorporate into student inductions
  • Workshops and resources on racism awareness

Project ideas that more broadly embed equality, diversity and inclusivity into education and the student experience will be prioritised, on condition that they also seek to facilitate actions 3.3 and/or 3.2 of the College’s Race Equality Charter Action Plan.

Funding Call Information

The Application and Development Process

  1. The deadline for submitting an Expression of Interest form is midday on Friday 1st December 2023. Applicants are encouraged to attend the funding call briefing session taking place 23 October 2023.
  2. Expression of Interest forms should be submitted to ltstrategy@imperial.ac.uk
  3. Applications will be reviewed by a panel of College education and EDI leaders. It is anticipated that the panel will select five ideas to move to the next stage.
  4. Applicants will hear back from the panel in January. Short-listed applicants will receive feedback from the panel which may include suggestions for additional departments/teams in College that may be interested in collaborating on the project.
  5. Short-listed applicants will be supported to work-up their idea into a full proposal. A workshop will be facilitated by relevant teams including the Education Office, EDIC, CHERS, StudentShapers, and the DML.
  6. Following the workshop, a deadline will be set for submitting the full proposal form for review.
  7. Completed proposal forms will be reviewed by a panel. This will result in a funding decision or a subsequent feedback and proposal update stage.

What Can Funding Support?

Awards of up to £75,000 for 1.5 year projects will be available. We expect to grant at least three awards.

The funds are intended to allow staff to build on the good work that takes place in departments, faculties and teams, and to enable the realisation of new projects.

Funding can be used for, e.g.:

  • ‘Buyout’ of existing College staff
  • Additional, fixed-term staff
  • StudentShapers
  • GTAs and UTAs
  • Specific support from centralised teams. For example, Educational Design and Technology (e.g. from the Digital Media Lab, EdTech Labs, ICT or other partner departments)

Assessment Criteria

The panel will review the project ideas against the following criteria: 

  • Impact towards aims of action(s) 3.3 and/or 3.2 of the REC Action Plan
  • Impact towards embedding equality, diversity and inclusivity into education and the student experience
  • Scalability and impact widely in College

How to Apply

Please submit completed Expression of Interest Forms by midday, Friday 1st December 2023 to ltstrategy@imperial.ac.uk