Funding Opportunities for Learning and Teaching Innovation

Imperial medicine students

Briefing session recording

A recording of the Q&A and Briefing session can be accessed here using your Imperial login details. 

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

The Education Office is coordinating an open call for expressions of interest for learning and teaching innovations which have potential to be scalable, have impact widely across Imperial and are aligned with the aims of the Learning and Teaching Strategy.  

As previously, this call draws together the Pedagogy Transformation Fund, the President’s Excellence Fund for Learning and Teaching Innovation and the Digital Innovation Fund. We are running a single unified call for all three funds.

Funding for projects of up to £50K each will be eligible for support from the President’s Excellence Fund for Learning and Teaching Innovation. Projects totalling £50K and over will be considered under the Pedagogy Transformation and Digital Innovation funding routes.

Proposals for projects should be submitted by 12:00 on Friday 3 May 2024.

Funding Priorities

Projects are expected to further Imperial’s aims and align with the Learning and Teaching strategy in one or more of these areas: 

  • Reviewing our approach to assessment and feedback, with the aim of improving quality and reducing workloads for students and staff 
  • Delivering degree programmes that challenge students to achieve their full potential through authentic discovery-based learning 
  • Developing extended learning opportunities for our current students, alumni, and a global community of learners yet to discover us 
  • Growing our digital education capabilities both in scale and in scope to enhance our use of novel digital technologies, virtual educational spaces and data 
  • Fostering a supportive environment which offers a sense of community both inside and beyond the learning environment 

Further details about these five aims can be found online. 

Funding Call Information

The Application and Development Process

  1. The deadline for submitting an Expression of Interest form is midday on Friday 3rd May 2024. Applicants are encouraged to attend the funding call briefing session taking place 11  March 2024. 
  2. Expression of Interest forms should be submitted to ltstrategy@imperial.ac.uk
  3. Applications will be reviewed by a panel of College education leaders.
  4. Applicants will hear back from the panel in June. 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?

In line with the College’s Learning and Teaching Strategy, the aim of the funding is to enable the realisation of creative new projects by providing resources and freeing-up time and space for staff to innovate, to develop and adapt known methods, and to introduce entirely new teaching methods while evaluating the effectiveness of these methods in the context of Imperial.

This funding call provides seed funding to allow staff to pilot projects and demonstrate potential for impact and integration across College. It is not anticipated that continuation funding will be available for projects funded via this call.  Shortlisted projects will be expected to outline plans for long-term sustainability, including how any required future funding will be sought (for example, via Faculty/Department buy-in or seeking external funding). Applications for funding must be supported by the Head(s) of Departments(s) or equivalent.

The resources needed to carry out a project will depend on local priorities, the scope, the size of the department/team and the extent to which the proposal develops entirely new activity or builds upon existing work.

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)

How to Apply

Please submit completed Expression of Interest forms by midday, Friday 3rd May 2024 to ltstrategy@imperial.ac.uk