Leiden Learning & Innovation Centre

Grassfields

A new funding scheme available for upscaling educational innovations.

Through the implementation agenda 'Towards a Blended University', Leiden University fulfils its ambition to be a future-proof institution which responds well to change in both its organisation and educational programmes. This ambition is achieved by:

Encouraging and supporting opportunities to improve educational quality
Turning promising ideas into experiments
Scaling up successful educational innovations according to a method that leads to their adoption across all faculties

The Grassfields funding scheme focuses upon this third ambition. Grassfields will provide funding for recently completed and ongoing educational projects with potential for wider deployment within the university. This fund will upscale educational innovations which are faculty-transcending in character and exists to ensure that innovation projects do not fail after a successful pilot phase, provided that the only barrier to scaling is that other (external) funding is not found.

Practical Information

Practicalities

Grant name: Grassfields.
Funding amount: A maximum of €300k can be requested per year. At the discretion of the assessment committee, multiple projects can receive funding depending on the amount requested per project.
Timeline: Projects can last for a maximum of 36 months.
Application deadline: 22nd September 2024 before 17:00 CEST.
Final decision: On or before 15th November 2024, 17:00 CEST.
Funding released: By December 31st 2024 17:00 CEST.
Language: Applications can be submitted in either English or Dutch.
Contact information: grassfields@llinc.leidenuniv.nl.

Eligibility

Educational projects and research (with ICT) which are (almost) completed & for which there is a concrete need for faculty-wide scale-up.
Primary applicants must have teaching duties for the duration of the project.
Primary applications must hold one of the following titles: Lecturer, Universitair Docent, Universitair Hoofddocent, or Professor.
There must be primary applicants from at least two faculties.

The grant is initially intended for the following target groups:

Funding projects submitted for Comenius Leadership and the Dutch Higher Education Premium which have not been awarded, or are longlisted for nomination.
Teacher (teams) who have carried out an educational innovation project/research within a faculty and wish to scale it up with colleagues to other faculties. These projects and research may have previously been funded externally through, for example, the Comenius programme (teacher and senior fellow), NRO, VIS grants, or Growth Fund initiatives.

Assessment Criteria

Applications will be assessed on the following criteria:

Alignment with Leiden University’s educational vision.
Proven improvement to educational quality.
Composition of project team.
Potential impact for the university as a whole.
Feasibility of structural implementation

How to Apply

Fill out the form to access the application material.
The form will close on the 1st of September 2024.
Send your completed application to grassfields@llinc.leidenuniv.nl by 22 September 2024, before 17:00 CEST.