Project Awards (funded)

Project Awards can be used by the proposers of projects in a variety of ways, such as for ‘buy-outs’, administrative or research support to underpin the project, materials or software. Projects will usually be considered which request Teaching Excellence Award funding of up to approx. £5k. Funds associated with Project Awards are usually paid to a Department or College. In some cases, the award sum has been matched by the recipient’s Department or College.

Strategic Areas

The Division is seeking to encourage, in particular, project proposals under the following themes – which align with Divisional and University strategic objectives – but projects in other areas are also welcome:

• Developing new Access and Widening Participation initiatives in relation to both undergraduate and graduate admissions.
• For undergraduate admissions, initiatives should be aligned to the University's Access and Participation Plan and include information on how the impact of the project will be evaluated.
• For graduate admissions, initiatives should have a particular focus on encouraging under-represented groups, such as black students, students with lived experience of displacement and students with Bangladeshi or Pakistani heritage, in applying for graduate courses within the Division.
• Developing graduate research training and transferable skills training initiatives
• Development or use of innovative methods to support the delivery of teaching/to enhance students’ learning experience (whether for undergraduate, graduate taught or graduate research provision)
• Developing opportunities to increase undergraduate and/or graduate taught students’ understanding of marking criteria
• Developing teaching opportunities for graduate research students

To see examples of previously funded projects, please visit the Previous Awards and Interviews with previous winners pages.

Eligibility

These awards are open to Collegiate University staff, whether or not they are, or have previously been, a recipient of an award(s) in another category or categories.

In considering proposals for Project Awards, the Selection Panel will look in particular for evidence of the following:

• It is realistic in terms of scope, time and cost.
• Degree of fit with overall departmental/course/divisional strategic aims.
• It is likely to make a significant contribution to the department’s/course’s activities and/or the applicant’s area of work.
• It may have potential scalability/relevance across the Division and/or University.
• Project Awards should be for new initiatives that would not otherwise happen, and not to supplement what a department is already doing or should be paying for as a core part of the course.
• Only projects which are targeted at UG, PGT and/or PGR are eligible (e.g. a project proposal focused on postdoc development would not be eligible for an Award).
• Project proposals with implications for curriculum content must be discussed with and signed off explicitly by the course leadership team before they are submitted.
• Project teams should declare in their application forms whether their projects are a development of, or closely related to, a funded project submitted in a previous round, and require that the outcomes or impact of the previously funded projects are included as part of the application.

Please contact Julia Leung or Elena Martin if you have questions about the eligibility of a potential Project Award application.

How to apply

The 2024 Project Awards is now open for applications until 24 May 2024. Find out more about the 2023 winners on the 2023 Awardees page.

Download Application Form