Cornell - Imperial Education Seed Fund

 Projects are expected to benefit students and faculty/academic staff at both institutions. Applicants must clearly state the impact that the award will bring to both institutions in terms of student experience, and, where possible, involve faculty/academic staff-student partnerships in the design and delivery. 

Projects which support development in the following areas are encouraged:  

• Research-led education: projects that are informed by the most recent research in the relevant topic. This could entail encouraging students to participate in research projects. 
• New applications for digital technologies: Projects that pursue innovative, inclusive and impactful online experiential learning opportunities. 
• Multidisciplinary, global challenge topics that may be linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 
• Student entrepreneurship: Projects that provide students with the knowledge, skills, and resources to develop an entrepreneurial mindset through joint projects or creating experiential learning opportunities (e.g. joint hackathons). 
• Digital lifelong learning: Projects that involve designing flexible, digital curricular that can be accessed by learners, students and/or alumni at different stages of life (including courses/modules that would utilize e-Cornell platforms and non-degree courses that use platforms such as Blackboard or insendi). 

• Learning analytics: projects that foster knowledge exchange on approaches to building learning analytics platforms, structures , and designing metrics to support and enhance the student experience. 
• Exchange of academic and professional knowledge: Study visits or workshops by faculty to clearly and demonstrably aid the exchange of academic and professional knowledge, including sharing of good practice to underpin the preparation of a long-term collaborative partnership (e.g. preparation of a PhD summer school, joint module delivery etc) 

All projects are encouraged to incorporate digital innovations appropriate to achieving their project goals. 

Projects can be either curriculum based or extracurricular. Interdisciplinary projects are encouraged.  

This call has a total indicative budget of £16,500 from Imperial and $20,000 from Cornell, to be awarded to 4-5 successful Cornell and Imperial collaborating teams. 

Total total project budget requests are not expected to exceed £8,000 resp. $9,000 (equal partitioning £4,000/ $4,500 or in differing amounts, e.g. £6000/ $2,000). Funds can only be spent on activities which fit the purpose of this call.

Eligible costs 

At Imperial, the fund is open to permanent members of staff only. At Cornell, applicants must be tenure track or RTE Cornell faculty. 

One proposal per principal applicant per call is permitted. 

Each application should have one principal applicant based at Imperial and one principal applicant at Cornell and should contain: 

• A written case for support to address the following questions: 

1. Alignment to call: A description of the project and collaboration proposed, a brief description of the intended use and impact of the funding. Please refer to point 2 above for guidance. 
2. Impact on student experience: A description of how the project will benefit students at both institutions, and how it will facilitate students working together across institutions. 
3. Added value: Explanation of how the activities proposed generate demonstrable added value that has the potential to change teaching.
4. Sustainability and strategic value: A description of the long-term impact and development of the project, and how it will add value to the partnership between Cornell and Imperial.  
5. Cornell- Imperial partnership: A description of how the project team will collaborate throughout the project and the benefits of involving of team members from each institution.   

At Imperial, all eligible applications will be considered for funding by the Vice-Provost (Education) with assistance of a review panel with representatives from all Faculties, and the International Relations Office. 

At Cornell, all eligible applications will be considered for funding by the Vice-Provost for International Affairs with assistance of a review panel with representatives from faculty and Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs. 

The panel will rank the proposals based on: 

• excellence of education project 
• how the activities proposed generate demonstrable added value that has the potential to change teaching 
• the difference the funding will make, including clear justification of why this funding scheme is appropriate 
• how and when the project outcomes will become embedded into standard educational practices at each institution 
• innovative use of new learning formats
• impact on student experience
• Cornell - Imperial partnership: the project demonstrates a full collaboration between Cornell and Imperial team members in the design and delivery 

Cornell and Imperial will then jointly review applications to make a final decision on which applications will receive funding. Details of how to access funds at each institution and the reporting guidelines will be outlined in the award letter sent to successful applicants. 

The deadline for the call is Tuesday 30 May 2023  

• Decisions are expected to be announced by end July 2023 2022. 
• Starting date for these grants is expected to be 1 August 2023; the maximum award duration is 12 months
• Grant end dates must not exceed 31 July 2024; extensions will not be granted.