Grant Round 2 2015
Applying for a seed grant
Dr Alison Kuiper
Institute for Teaching and Learning March 2015
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Plan for today’s workshop
› Introductions
- Alison Kuiper, Rebekah Moles, Carl Schneider and you
- Are you planning to apply or thinking about it?
› Thinking about applying
- Focus on seed grants
- 2015 priorities and your idea if you have one
› Preparing your application for submission
- Process
- Requirements and support
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Aim of OLT grants program
› To provide funding for academics and professional staff
› to investigate, discover, develop and implement innovations in
learning and teaching
› Grants facilitate scholarship and research into learning and
teaching, and promote systemic change in the sector
› They play an important role in providing esteem for learning
and teaching scholarship and practice
3
2015 Seed grants
Round 2
› Funding $40,000 per grant
› Closes internally 5pm Thursday 4 June 2015
› Closes with the OLT 5pm Monday 22 June 2015
› Seed projects can be:
- pilot projects which test and evaluate an original idea including those that plan to
build into full proposals
- single-institution, small scale projects
- pilot projects
- projects to build the capacity of early career academics, including projects which
are led by early career academics
4
Does your project fit an OLT priority area?
2015 priority areas
› Academic standards
› Assessing equivalence of qualifications and learning outcomes
› Assessment and promotion of student learning (on selected topics)
› Curriculum design (on selected topics)
› Employability skills
› Improving institutional pathways across higher education
› Improving access to and outcomes in higher education for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people
› The contemporary PhD
› Handout
5
What makes a good application?
The OLT suggests a good application
› Demonstrates a passion for improving learning and teaching
› Is well grounded in literature
› Displays innovative strategies and approaches
› Shows a willingness to engage with emerging technologies
› Matches aims and activities to deliverables and outcomes
› Has well thought out dissemination strategies
› Shows good cross-institutional collaboration and engagement with
industry
› Considers the work of past OLT projects
› Considers the scope of the project beyond the home institution
6
In 2015
› Increased emphasis on dissemination, implementation and transferability
› Project impact and previously completed OLT work added to the criteria
› A project impact plan needs to be developed
› All criteria to be addressed under separate headings in the application
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Making an application
› Follow the steps on the ITL website
› http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/awards/oltprojects.htm
› Download and get very familiar with the OLT document and resources
› http://olt.gov.au/grants-and-projects/programs-and-applications
› Establish a team
› Find partners (not required for seed grants but see p3)
› Contact HoS for advice support and letter
› Seek feedback
› Use the checklist on the website
› Submit application in plenty of time with all required docs
8
Academic resources
OLT and ITL resources
› Make use of both
› http://olt.gov.au/grants-and-projects/programs-andapplications
› Seek feedback from
› mentors
› faculty colleagues
› previously successful applicants for OTL grants
› other successful grant applicants
› Alison Kuiper ITL (PEI and ICO)
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Academic resources
http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/awards/oltprojects.htm
› OLT Grant Application Process When Leading a Project
› OLT Workshop (1.6mb - PPT)
› Seed projects FAQs
› Managing your project
› Good practice reports
› Good practice resources
› Grant application handbook report
› Key features of successful applications
› Successful grant holders
› Research funding toolkit
› Advice re industry partners
› Successful proposals
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Resources for internal submission
On webpage http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/awards/oltprojects.htm
› Template letter of support - Sydney project
› Template letter of support - Sydney as partner
› Template letter of support - other institutions partnering with Sydney
› Checklists
- for internal submission on website
- in OLT doc for final submission
› Queries about letters, budget, compliance to Myra
myrophora.koureas@sydney.edu.au
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Criteria
A. Project rationale and need for project
B. Project outputs (or deliverables)
C. Project impact
D. Project approach
E. Project team and governance
F. Project budget
Handout
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Project rationale and need for project
› Addresses priority
› Usefulness
› Readiness
› Grounded in theory
› Assessors consider
› 1
quality of application
› 2
how important the project is to the sector
13
Project outputs (or deliverables)
Project outputs (or deliverables)
› Be realistic about proposed outputs
› Delineate the scope
› Identify assumptions
14
Project impact IMPEL model
Impact Management Planning and Evaluation Ladder
15
Project approach
› Appropriate plan
› Stages
› And timeline - Begin 1 February 2016
› Note complexities of inter-institutional agreements and time for ethics
approvals
› Be wary of surveys; are there alternative strategies which could be used
for collecting data?
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Project team and governance
› Roles and responsibilities of team members
- involve them in the planning
- a preliminary allocation of responsibilities among the team
members is advisable
› Demonstrate capacity of team to deliver
- including the quality and timeliness of the project leader’s
previous work
› It’s important to show the project will work.
› Allocate tasks and make sure people have the skills
17
Project budget
› Questions?
› Queries about letters, budget, compliance to Myra
myrophora.koureas@sydney.edu.au
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Submission issues and compliance requirements
› ICO, DVCE’s Office, provides this support, notifies OLT of impending
applications
› Only applications that have been notified and have received university
approval will be considered by the OLT
› Evidence of support from your faculty is required before letter of support
from the University can be provided
› Partner applications also require a letter of support from the DVC(E)
› Prepare your application following the 6 steps by the internal submission
date
› The internal closing date is firm
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Making an application
› Online form (p16- 18)
› Seed proposal – 10 A4 pages (p12)
› Criteria above
› Associated appendices (p18)
- Letter of endorsement
- Additional letters of support
- Biographies of team leader and members
- If applicable, design specifications
- All in form of one .pdf through Grants portal
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Appendices
Don’t ignore these!
1. Assessment process
2. Obligations associated with receiving a grant
3. Intellectual property
4. Key web links p.29
5. Proforma for letters of support - lead and partners
6. Project impact planning
7. Information about project team and governance
8. Information about project budget, funding and payment
9. Definitions and descriptions
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Key things to note in making an application
›1
Value of the project
›2
Impact beyond the institution
›3
Methodology
›4
Technical requirements
› The value of the project is the most important factor in determining
funding.
› However an application which is professional and compliant provides
evidence that you are well organized
› and that the grant is well planned and likely to deliver on outcomes.
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