Educational Research and Development Grant 2025
The purpose of this grant is to support educators and academics involved in education activities with their career progression. It enables them to demonstrate evidence of innovation in teaching and the ability to obtain external funding and training in educational research. This support is particularly crucial because initiatives backing educational research on effective teaching, especially at higher education levels, are currently underfunded. Consequently, the grant aims to improve the education of future experimental biologists through evidence-based learning.
Applications must clearly demonstrate transferability and impact on the SEB community. Projects involving collaborations between at least two institutions will receive more favourable consideration. Such collaborations help ensure that educational initiatives and project outputs can be transferred to various educational contexts, thereby increasing their impact and potential for publication. If you need assistance connecting with other SEB members who share similar research interests, please reach out to [email protected] or consider joining the Outreach, Education, and Diversity Focus Group.
This grant will not support outreach with schools or public audiences (Please check the SEB Outreach Grant).
Funding can't be provided to purchase equipment and consumables that sit locally (no transferability and impact to the SEB community).
Overview
SEB members are eligible to apply for grants of up to £2000, while non-members can apply for grants of up to £200. These grants aim to support educational research initiatives aimed at enhancing learning, teaching, and assessment in experimental biology. Additionally, they support the development and dissemination of open-access teaching resources for use in higher education. Examples of support for projects include, but are not limited to:
- Materials and resources specific to the educational activity/project
- Costs related to data collection, maintenance or storage (for example, incentives for participants, purchase of website domain to allow public access to your open-access educational material/resources)
- Short-term assistance (for example, student interns, educational researchers). This grant does NOT cover academic staff salaries.
- Travel costs for collaborators, experts, or educational researchers from external institutions to visit and work at the grant recipient's university/institute.
- Registration for virtual or online educational events and/or training courses related to your research/project.
- Travel costs for educational events, training, or visits to educational organisations.
Application Deadlines
The grant application is open all year round; however, the review and decision process comprises two yearly rounds. This biannual schedule ensures that aspiring recipients have multiple chances to secure funding for their projects.
| Application submission | Judging | Notification of result |
| by 31 January | February | March |
| by 30 June | July | August |
Eligibility criteria
- Educational Research and Development Grants are available to all SEB members and any member of the science community in a role that involves teaching in higher education who wishes to contribute to improving learning, teaching, and assessment in experimental biology and/or the development and dissemination of open-access teaching resources for use in Higher Education.
- Applicants are required to either have a minimum one-year employment contract that involves teaching responsibilities or a guaranteed one-year source of funding in a teaching-focused capacity, starting from the date of the grant's award.
- The grant is available for applicants worldwide.
- SEB Members can apply for a maximum of £2000
- SEB non-members can apply for a maximum of £200
- Successful applicants may only apply for 1 Educational Research and Development Grant per year.
- If an application is rejected, applicants may reapply in the next funding round provided there is significant improvement to their application and the concerns of the judges have been addressed. If rejected a second time, applicants may not submit proposals for the same initiative/activity.
- Funding is not provided retrospectively.
- Projects completed within one year of claiming the funding will receive favourable consideration. However, projects extending beyond this timeframe will also be evaluated if reasons for the longer duration are provided in the application and are deemed reasonable. For longer projects, the application should also specify anticipated shareable resources, markers of project success, or publishable data expected within the initial year.
Terms and conditions
- Awards must be claimed within 3 months of being notified of the successful outcome of your application.
- Successful applicants must acknowledge the SEB support in their projects/research/activity and in all dissemination materials (for example, by displaying the SEB logo). SEB marketing materials may be requested for this purpose.
- Applicants must submit a report within three months of the project finalisation, which might be used as a base for an article in the SEB magazine or website. The report should also include an evaluation of the impact and success of the project.
- If the project runs for longer than one year, applicants must submit an annual progress report and provide updates on the project's development, including any adjustments made to the original plan.
Judging criteria
Judging Panel:
The grants will undergo evaluation by two peer reviewers appointed by SEB. These reviewers will assess the applications and offer feedback. Additionally, bespoke support will be available to applicants to assist them in producing high-quality, publishable work. All awardees will receive training in qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as educational research ethics.
Judging Criteria:
Applications will be judged against the criteria below and will be given a score between 0-10 for each criterion (with 0 meaning the criteria has not been met at all and 10 meaning it has been met extremely well). If applicants receive less than 5 points on three or more of the judging criteria the project will be automatically rejected.
- Show clear objectives for the idea/project. Provide as much information as possible and demonstrate the proposal has been thought through.
2. Relevance. How relevant is the educational research/project to experimental biology, and is it a novel area? The applicant must:
- Demonstrate the relevance of the topic to experimental biology education.
- Promote experimental biology and/or its educational researchers/educators.
- Show the importance of the educational research/project for higher education students.
3. Impact. How will the applicant evaluate any potential impact of the educational research/project? What is the expected long-term and short-term impact of this educational research/project? The applicant must:
- Provide as much information as possible on how they plan to evaluate the successes and failures of your educational research/project.
- Demonstrate the impact of the educational research/project on the SEB community.
4. Dissemination. Can other SEB members share or replicate the proposed educational research/project? Has the applicant demonstrated an awareness of the channels and networks which address education in bioscience, through which any achievements arising from the grant may be disseminated? The applicant must:
- Demonstrate how transferable their educational idea/project.
- List ways they would disseminate their educational research/project.
5. Realistic. Has the applicant provided a defined timeframe and clear budget for the proposal? Has the applicant shown that the requested funding will make a significant difference to their ability to deliver the project? The applicant must include:
- A detailed justification of expenses.
- A clear breakdown of how the money will be spent.
- Applicants are encouraged to seek funding that matches the scope of their project, striking a balance between adequacy and moderation.