Call for Applications

**Please note - this round is now closed and the call details are for information only**

Individual Grants - Wales:Round 12

The UK Centre for Bioscience is pleased to announce the availability of grants of up to £4,000 for members of the bioscience community from departments in Wales with bioscience HE provision.

Applicants from institutions in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not eligible to apply for this round but a UK-wide funding call will be issued by the Centre later in 2010.

This funding is offered to encourage the development, establishment or validation of innovative learning, teaching and assessment materials or methods . Applications in the following areas are particularly welcome:

• Student engagement
• Welsh medium provision in the biosciences
• Flexible learning (includes responding to student needs and changing student populations and diverse modes of learning provision)
• Education for Sustainable Development (with an emphasis on sustainable literacy and skills relating to professional, social, ethical and environmental responsibility)

The total funding available for this round is £4,000 and we anticipate funding one or two projects (with a maximum award for individual projects of £4,000).

The primary focus of the Teaching Development Fund is to develop and disseminate good practice in bioscience learning and teaching. Funding will not be awarded if the project outcomes and benefits are limited to a single institution. Consequently, if you do not have project partners in at least two other higher or further education institutions you are required to involve 'critical friends' from at least two other higher or further education institutions to maximise the transferability of project outcomes and benefits.

Projects may begin from October 2010 onwards and all projects should be completed and final reports submitted by 31 July 2011.

We welcome enquiries regarding this round of funding. Please email heabioscience@leeds.ac.uk

How to apply

Applications must be made on the current application form. You may also wish to refer to our guide to bidding for funding.

You should submit one paper copy (signed) and an electronic copy by e-mail no later than Friday 15th October 2010 to:

The Centre Manager, UK Centre for Bioscience
Room 9.15 Worsley Building
University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT

Tel: 0113 343 3001, Fax: 0113 343 5894, Email: heabioscience@leeds.ac.uk

Selection of successful projects

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

1. With reference to the literature and other work, the establishment of a case demonstrating a need for the project within the Bioscience community
2. The likelihood the project will successfully meet that need
3. Demonstrates the applicability, currency and transferability of the project outcomes across the Biosciences
4. Clearly deliverable project plan including proposed start and end dates and milestones
5. Provides a detailed plan for how the impact of the project on student learning will be evaluated and evidenced (within and beyond the formal timescales for the project) and provides assurances that they will provide the Centre and HE Academy with updates during and beyond the life of the project
6. Proposed expenditure is appropriate and justified and the budget represents value for money

Project outcomes

Production of the following is a requirement of funding:

• Project abstract
• Poster (based on the UK Centre for Bioscience template)
• An article in the UK Centre for Bioscience Bulletin (our printed newsletter)
• Interim progress reports and a final report

We would also encourage you to submit a manuscript to our peer-reviewed journal Bioscience Education

Additionally, a selection of the following resources/activities should be produced as part of the project and will be made available through the UK Centre for Bioscience:

• Present outcomes at a UK Centre for Bioscience event
• Briefing paper/s
• Case study/ies
• Guide/s
• Teaching resources
• Course materials
• Conference paper
• Journal paper
• Web-based material
• Workshop session
• Other

Please note: it is an expectation of our funding that project holders commit to ongoing evaluation of the impact of their work on student learning beyond the formal end of the project and that you agree to provide the Centre with updates on impact from time to time, upon request.

Financial arrangements

The grant is cash limited, can be used for anything necessary for the completion of the project (with the exception of computer hardware and software as noted below), will be subject to the submission of satisfactory interim and final reports and will be administered through the local institution's financial arrangements.

The amounts of funding available are small - we anticipate funds will be used for things such as buying out a small amount of your own time, covering the costs of employing a student, producing resources etc.

Purchase of computer hardware and software will not be funded except under exceptional circumstances.

Any consumables to be purchased as part of the project must be individually detailed in the budget proposal.

As funding is limited we expect to receive more applications than we can fund. Therefore, to maximise return we will be looking closely at value for money in the proposed budget. Please note that payment of the award will be made on satisfactory completion of the project.

Reporting procedures

We will keep bureaucracy to a minimum to reflect the size of the funding. The UK Centre for Bioscience will monitor the funded proposals through the submission of simple proforma-based interim and final reports.

Support provided by the UK Centre for Bioscience

Successful projects will be allocated a member of the Centre's team to be their main point of contact. The contact will undertake a site visit during the course of the project and will provide ongoing advice and support by telephone, Skype and email.

The Centre would like to trial the use of a wiki to support project holders. The wiki will only be accessible to project holders and Centre staff. Project holders will be able to write updates on their projects, including the interim and final reports. Centre staff will be able to comment and provide feedback to project holders. An additional wiki will be set up as common space for all project holders and the Centre to share information. It is expected that the wikis will help improve the support for projects provided by the Centre. If you are interested in taking part in this trial please indicate this on your application form.

Accessibility

All teaching materials, web sites etc must comply with appropriate accessibility guidelines (such as the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (http://www.w3.org/WAI/) in order to ensure fulfillment of your obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act (revised 2005) and specifically Part 4 (SENDA). (For further information contact TechDis at http://www.techdis.ac.uk).

Downloads

Application form

Download this call for applications: A summary of the contents of this page

Funded projects

To get a feel for the types of project we fund you may wish to refer to the following sections of this site:

• Current projects (individual and departmental)
• Completed projects