LONDON’S GLOBAL UNIVERSITY
UCL ChangeMakers
Project Proposal Form:
Guidance document for students
Introduction
UCL ChangeMakers projects is a scheme offering funding for education enhancement projects
where students work with staff to implement a change they feel would benefit themselves and
other students at UCL. This could be connected to your course but it could more generally apply to
your learning and development at university. For example, we have had projects looking at
careers choices for continuing in academia, building a module choice database, writing a wellbeing guide and putting on an interdisciplinary robotics and art exhibition.
We provide project funding of between £100-£1000 and student stipends to cover either two lead
students or one lead student and up to three support students. We expect projects to take two
terms - autumn and spring terms for the June deadline or spring and summer terms for our
October/November deadline. We recommend that you apply in June if you can, to avoid having to
work on your project during the exam period (where applicable).
If you want to find out more about the scheme check out the information on our website:
www.ucl.ac.uk/changemakers
The Proposal Form
The project proposal form can be downloaded from the UCL ChangeMakers Moodle site. It is
designed to give the panel of staff and students the information they need to come to an informed
decision on support and funding for potential projects. It is important that you give as much detail
as possible when filling out the form to help the panel with their decision-making.
The proposal form has 5 sections, only 4 of which students need to complete:
1. Applicant details
2. Project details
3. Links to the Connected Curriculum: this only needs to be filled out by staff
4. Project team
5. Dissemination and impact
As UCL ChangeMakers continues to grow, there has been more competition for the funding
available. Unfortunately, we do not always have the funds available to support all the projects.
However, we will provide you with feedback so you can continue to develop your idea or seek
funding elsewhere.
Criteria
It is important that you demonstrate how you meet the criteria for UCL ChangeMakers projects in
order to be successful. Most projects that were turned down last year were felt to fall outside the
scope of UCL ChangeMakers, which is about advancing the learning experience of UCL students.
To help you meet all the criteria, we have designed the questions to extract this information from
you.
Our criteria and related questions:
⇒ Enhancing the student learning experience at UCL: will your project help a range
of students at UCL to have a better experience when they go about their academic
studies?
Qs on proposal form:
Project aims
Who will benefit & why?
⇒ Feasibility: can your project be completed within approx. 22 weeks (two terms) and
with an average of £400 funding (the max funding we award is £1000)?
Qs on proposal form:
How will you approach your project? (Project timeframe required)
What resources will you need? (Funding forecast required)
What support will you need in your department in order for your project to be
successful?
⇒ Sustained Impact: we are not expecting you to ensure your change is embedded in
practice but we are asking you to think about how you can try to ensure that your
project would or could continue beyond the lifetime of the project, even if this is a
report that goes to key staff in your department
Qs on proposal form:
What support will you need in your department in order for your project to be
successful?
Please indicate how you intend to persuade others (students or staff) to
continue the project
⇒ Breadth of Impact: your project must benefit those beyond your immediate project team.
This doesn’t need to be a vast group for example, it might be anyone taking a certain
module you are on or belonging to a certain group of students e.g. disabled PhD students
Qs on the proposal form:
Who will benefit & why?
⇒ Partnership: all projects must be a collaborative venture involving at least one student and
a member of staff (the staff partner). We encourage you to speak to others when
developing your project idea if possible. If you are not sure which staff to approach, we
recommend you speak to someone you feel comfortable having a discussion with even if
they might not be directly linked to the project e.g. your course leader or personal tutor
Qs on the proposal form:
Who has been involved in devising your project proposal?
What, if any, support is already in place?
⇒ Dissemination: we want you to think about and identify the people who you think would
need to or would benefit from hearing about your project
Qs on proposal form:
In what ways will you share the outcomes of your project more widely?
Funding Guidance
As part of your project, we are asking you to estimate how much funding you require in order to
successfully undertake your project. This will help us to allocate you the correct amount of funding
for your project – we will also use our own judgement, so do not guarantee that you will get the
funding requested, even if your project is successful. You will not be held to your breakdown of
costs, but your estimates will help you in managing the budget you are allocated.
In order to help you, we have provided some examples of budget forecasts from current UCL
ChangeMakers projects. The projects shown demonstrate a range of funding amounts allocated.
Please note that the amount you are finally allocated may differ from the amount initially requested.
If you need any help with your estimations, please contact us: changemakers@ucl.ac.uk
Examples of budget forecasts from current UCL ChangeMakers:
Project 1: Earn or Learn Taskforce, an educator's perspective
Resource Marketing/Publicity Event costs (food and drink) Travel costs Design of report & materials Other Total expenditure: Expense £80 £120 £50 £200 £50 £500 Project 2: Connecting alumni, staff & students
Resource Focus group with refreshments:
10 x current student Focus group with cash incentive &
refreshments: 10 x alumni
Launch event for approx. 20 staff & student Printing report Total expenditure: Expense £50 £150 £100 £25 £325 Project 3: Student Conference (using UCL rooms)
Resource
Book tokens for 35 x contributors
Lunch for 50 x participants using JBR lunch
vouchers
Other catering for the day
Wine reception & stalls
Total expenditure:
Expense
£350
£200
£100
£150
£800
Project 4: Improving belonging & retention
Resource
Incentive for survey: 1 x £20 amazon
voucher
Incentives for posting on blog:
30 x Coffee & cake vouchers for UCL Cafes
Total expenditure:
Expense
£20
£180
£200
Planning your Time
In addition to forecasting your budget, we have also asked you to plan your time. We hope this will
be useful to you, as well as showing the panel that your project is manageable and feasible. It will
also help the UCL ChangeMakers team when supporting you throughout the project as it will give
us an indication of the activities you need to undertake in your project in order for it to be
successful.
When planning your time, we recommend the following:
•
Start at the end point and work your way backwards
•
Note that the end point for you might not be the deadline we have asked projects to be
completed by (end of the spring term for the June deadline and end of the June for the
November deadline). Your deadline might actually be before your academic workload gets
heavy at the end of term, before your scenario week or before you go off on a field trip
•
Always plan for the activities to take longer than you first think
•
Factor in preparation time. For example, if you are running a focus group you will also need
to recruit for it, draw up your questions, create consent forms and information sheets and
possibly brief any students who will be supporting you
•
Factor in time for analysis of data. Give yourself plenty of time before you are due to
present a report or case study so you have time to properly think about your data and what
it means. You might also want to consult your team or your cohort more widely if the data
throws up something unexpected
•
Think carefully about whether you really need to collect data and what sort of data would be
most useful. For example, if you talk to the StARs in your department they might have
already begun investigating or have some input on your area of work
•
Think about how you are collecting your data and the time impact this will have on those
you hope will participate. If an hour long focus group might be hard for people to commit to,
could you actually run a donut afternoon where people drop by to give their views on a
feedback pro-forma you would like to implement?
•
Plan the activities around your other obligations: work, academic, social etc.
•
If you feel like you are tight for time, don’t try to cram everything in. It is better to rethink
your approach see if there is a better way of doing things or whether you need to recruit
other people to your project to spread the workload. It might also be that this year you
spend scoping out your project and next year you can put in a proposal to action what you
discover this year
•
If you are not sure how long certain things might take, get in contact with us and we might
be able to offer some advice
Project Team
Your UCL ChangeMaker project should be about partnership; working with your department in a
way that allows you to take ownership of your ideas whilst collaborating with them to help ensure
you can make a successful change.
Staff Partner
For that reason we require that as a minimum you work with a Staff Partner. This is one member
of UCL staff who is connected to your project in some way (so if your project is looking at library
reading lists, you may have a staff partner in library services rather than your department).
The role of the Staff Partner is:
ü To be a sounding board for your ideas
ü They can give you insider knowledge of how the department/service works which is
essential when planning your project and thinking about the change you want to make
ü They can help you with local bookings e.g. departmental contacts for 3D printing materials,
departmental room bookings, emailing out invitations to other students in your department
ü Another source of support and encouragement
ü They can help you identify your stakeholders so you know who needs to hear about your
project for change to be possible
ü Act as an advocate for your project in the department
Your Staff Partner should not be expected to take on much of the work beyond this.
Ideally we would like to see that you have consulted with your Staff Partner prior to
submitting a project proposal as this helps to ensure that you have backing within your
department or service relevant to your project. However, we appreciate this is not always possible
so if you haven’t yet approached anyone it would be good if you could provide an indication of
who you might approach or where we could help you find a staff partner e.g. help you make
contact with someone in Digital Education.
Of course, you can have more than one Staff Partner if that is what works best for your project.
Student team
Having a Staff Partner is a requirement but we recommend that you work with other students on
your project. We have had many successful projects undertaken by just one student and we
recognise that some people prefer to work on their own or they do not feel there is any need to
work with anyone else.
However, having students to work with can be beneficial as you have more people to bounce
ideas off, you can spread the workload and they can support you in carrying out the project and
making decisions. It can also be a less lonely experience.
When you sit down and think about your project in particular think about what skills are needed for
it to be successful, whether you possess those skills and if not, how you could find students who
do. Recently we started a project that required someone proficient in quantitative data analysis
only to discover no one on the team had that skillset. Solution? Recruit someone who does. If you
find yourself part way through the project and in need of additional members of your team, you
can always recruit further down the line and we are happy to help with that.
Student Stipends
We set aside £300 (subject to our funding) to pay student stipends and this money is separate
from the funding your will get for your project. The typical way we pay this is as follow:
• £150 for 1 x lead student (you) and £50 for up to 3 support students
• £150 for 2 x lead students (you and one other, who will be taking on equal responsibility)
If you think you will need additional students it is essential you let us know on the proposal form,
even if you haven’t recruited them yet as we may be able to give you additional funds.
Sometimes students ask us to divide up the money differently e.g. pay 4 student £75 equally. That
is also fine and we are happy to discuss this with you.
Recruiting Other Students
We can help you recruit other students for your project. Our experience is that in time you will
recruit your own but we can help if needed. Once again, just indicate on the proposal form how
many students you think you will need and what role they will be taking on (lead or support).
Dissemination
Dissemination of your project is important, which is why we are asking you to think about it already,
even if you haven’t 100% finalised a plan of action.
Stakeholders
Change doesn’t happen in a bubble. It requires you to identify stakeholders and get them on board.
Who your stakeholders are will vary depending on your projects but identifying who they are will
help you figure out who you need to tell about what you are doing and what the outcomes are. It
might be your fellow students, Head of Department, Moodle team or any number of other people.
Timing
How and when you tell people about your project is another important consideration. It might be
your Head of Department needs to give their support at the beginning and receive a final report of
your recommendations. It might be students need to be consulted throughout or that your Staff
Partner needs monthly updates so they can continually help you make a case for change with
their colleagues.
Ways to disseminate
Here are some suggestions for how you can disseminate your work:
⇒ Posters in your department showcasing your change or recommendations
⇒ Written report
⇒ Presentation to your department
⇒ Presentation/Poster at a conference e.g. the UCL T&L conference, UCLU Education
Conference, Change Agents Network seminars/webinars/events
⇒ Launch event for your change
⇒ Case study for the UCL ChangeMakers website
⇒ Video for the UCL ChangeMakers website
⇒ News feature in MyUCL (students) or Week@UCL (staff)
How do I apply?
To apply for a UCL ChangeMakers grant, please download the UCL ChangeMakers project
proposal pack on the UCL ChangeMakers Moodle site and submit your application by 10am on
the 17th June 2016.
If you have any questions regarding this, please contact changemakers@ucl.ac.uk
The deadline for submissions is 10am, 17th June 2016