New £1 million fund to foster innovation in research and teaching

Imperial's new Excellence Funds aim to promote courageous and innovative ideas in research and teaching.

First announced in the President’s Address in March 2016, the new Excellence Funds will provide funding for staff to pursue the new and the risky, with £500k each allocated for the Excellence Fund for Learning and Teaching Innovation and the Excellence Fund for Frontier Research.

Writing to the staff community today, Imperial’s President, Professor Alice Gast, said: "In my March 2016 Address, I highlighted the importance of excellence in our teaching and research. I said that I would be dedicating £1m per year to reward excellence while promoting courageous and innovative ideas in research and teaching. I hope as many of you as possible will participate with inspiring proposals."

Innovating education

Professor Simone Buitendijk, Vice-Provost (Education), will oversee the Excellence Fund for Learning and Teaching Innovation. The scheme will be used to support educational initiatives that will challenge students to fulfil their potential. The first year of the scheme will focus on supporting innovation in the use of technology enhanced learning and innovation in assessment and feedback.

Professor Buitendijk said: “We are committed to providing the very best educational experience possible. My priority is to bring academic rigour to our own teaching, to ensure it is challenging, student-centred, and outward looking, to equip our students with the qualities modern society demands: questioning and deep knowledge coupled with collaboration skills and an entrepreneurial mindset. This funding will give our excellent teachers the time and space to be bold, to test new methods, and to learn.”

Breakthrough research

Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-Provost (Research), will oversee the Excellence Fund for Frontier Research. This scheme will support research ideas which are potential breakthrough programs that have the potential to put the College in a leadership position, but may not yet have received external funding.

Professor Jennings said: “Frontier research is intrinsically risky, but offers the potential to bring a whole new understanding of basic research. Exploring it takes talent, courage and curiosity. This new Fund will support individuals or research groups who are moving into new or underdeveloped research areas, or examining a well-established research question from a fundamentally new and disruptive angle.”  

Acting courageously

Imperial’s strategy recognises acting courageously as a key enabler to sustaining excellence in research and education. Other initiatives include the MIT - Imperial College London Seed Fund, announced last year, which aims to kick-start early-stage, risky and ‘blue skies’ research ideas that might not otherwise be pursued.