VP International visits AIMS

Funding to kick-start new and innovative education collaborations with the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences 

Applications

Applications for the Imperial - AIMS Education Seed Fund are now closed. 

 

The AIMS institutes focus on both basic and applied mathematics, covering a large range of mathematical applications in physics, quantitative biology, bioinformatics, scientific computing, finance, agriculture modelling. 

The AIMS – Imperial Education Seed Fund promotes and supports early-stage collaboration among academics, researchers and students at Imperial. The fund encourages projects that combine expertise and efforts across Imperial and AIMS to jointly develop new teaching, learning and student experience opportunities. 

There will be an online information session held on 21 February. The link to register can be found in the guidance document.

At Imperial, this fund has been made available as part of the President’s Excellence Fund for Learning and Teaching Innovation.

Guidance

Types of Projects

Projects are expected to benefit students and staff at both institutions. Applicants must clearly state the impact that the award will bring to both institutions in terms of student experience, and, where possible, involve staff-student partnerships in the design and delivery. 

Projects which support development in the following areas are encouraged:  

  • Research-led education: projects that are informed by the most recent research in the relevant topic. This could entail encouraging students to participate in research projects. 
  • New applications for digital technologies: Projects that pursue innovative, inclusive and impactful online experiential learning opportunities. 
  • Multidisciplinary, global challenge topics that may be linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 
  • Student entrepreneurship: Projects that provide students with the knowledge, skills, and resources to develop an entrepreneurial mindset through joint projects or creating experiential learning opportunities (e.g. joint hackathons).
  • Flexible lifelong learning: Projects that meet the needs of learners at different stages of their lives and careers .
  • Learning analytics: projects that foster knowledge exchange on approaches to building learning analytics platforms, and structures, and designing metrics to support and enhance the student experience.
  • Exchange of academic and professional knowledge: Study visits or workshops to clearly and demonstrably aid the exchange of academic and professional knowledge, including sharing of good practice to underpin the preparation of a long-term collaborative partnership (e.g., preparation of a PhD summer school, joint module delivery, etc.) 

All projects are encouraged to incorporate digital innovations appropriate to achieving their project goals in line with our institutional education strategies.

Projects can be either curriculum based or extracurricular. Interdisciplinary projects are particularly encouraged.  

Funding

This call has a total budget of £20,000 from Imperial, to be awarded to up to 5 successful AIMS and Imperial collaborating teams.  

Total project budget requests are not expected to exceed £10,000. Funds can only be spent on activities which fit the purpose of this call. 

The applicants also declare that the Imperial-AIMS Education Fund award will not be used for any item(s) funded or pending funding from other sources. 

All funds will be paid to the Imperial PI to manage locally and in line with standard College guidance.   

Eligible costs 

Cost 

eligible / not eligible  

Student support costs  

(e.g., student bursaries) 

eligible  

Consumables 

eligible 

Travel and subsistence  
 

eligible 

Project related equipment 

eligible 

Professional services fees  

eligible 

Indirect and estate costs 

not eligible 

Salary costs (staff) 

not eligible  

 

Eligibility and Process

At Imperial, the fund is open to permanent members of staff only.  

One proposal per principal applicant per call is permitted.  

Each application should have one principal applicant based at Imperial and one principal applicant at AIMS and should contain:  

  • A written case for support to address the following questions:  
  1. Project Summary: A description of the project and collaboration proposed, a brief description of the intended use and impact of the funding. Please refer to point 2 above for guidance. 
  2. Significance: Explanation of how the activities proposed will enhance education and teaching practices at both Imperial and AIMS.
  3. Student experience: A description of how the project will benefit student experience at both institutions, and how it will facilitate students working together across institutions.
  4. Outcomes: Discuss how you will know if the collaborative project has been successful in achieving the intended outcomes.
  5. Sustainability: A description of how and when the project outcomes will become embedded into standard educational practices at each institution following the initial seed funding
  6. AIMS-Imperial partnership: A description of how the project team will collaborate throughout the project and the benefits of involving of team members from each institution.
  • A financial summary: Each application should provide information on the requested costs using the budget section of the application template (see ‘Funding Requested’). 
Review and Selection

The panel will rank the proposals based on: 

  • how the activities proposed will enhance education and teaching practices at Imperial and AIMS
  • clarity of project outcomes
  • how and when the project outcomes will become embedded into standard educational practices at each institution
  • innovative use of new learning formats
  • positive impact on student experience at both institutions
  • extent to which the project demonstrates a full collaboration between AIMS and Imperial team members in the design and delivery
  • alignment of the budget with the fund’s guidelines regarding use of funding 

AIMS and Imperial will then jointly review applications to make a final decision on which applications will receive funding.  

Key Dates

Information session - link in the guidance document

21 February 2024

Application Close 

3 May 2024 

Feedback and revision for shortlisted projects  

May - July 2024

Result Announcement 

July 2024

Project Commences 

1 August 2024 (Project duration: Up to 12 months) 

Project Completion 

By 31 July 2025 (extensions will not be granted) 

Contact Information

AIMS - Imperial Education Seed Fund

globalseedfunds@imperial.ac.uk

International Relations Office
Imperial College London
Faculty Building Level 2
South Kensington Campus
London
SW7 2AZ

Tel: +44(0)20 7594 2666