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Each year, the Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO) – on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science – awards grants aimed at helping lecturers translate their vision for teaching into real-world practice.

These grants for educational innovation are inspired by the well-known Veni, Vidi, Vici grants for research. Five proposals from UU teachers are being honoured with grants this year: two Teaching Fellow grants, three Senior Fellow grants and a Leadership grant. This is an amazing achievement and will provide a vital impetus to the further development of our academic teaching. Dr. Merel van Goch, member of the Utrecht Young Academy, has received a Teaching Fellow grant for her project. 

Teaching Fellow grant

This category is for proposals for a term of one year, aimed at innovation within a specific course or unit of study. Teaching Fellows receive €50,000 each for their project. Merel's project is titled "I choose consciously: a reflective start with a broad, self-directed training through vlogs from seniors". 

In this project, prospective students learn - through vlogs of senior students - how to consciously choose courses before the start of the broad, self-directed undergraduate program Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS). LAS-students design their own study path, resulting in a unique combination of deep, broad, integrative and reflective learning. During their studies they receive intensive guidance, but in the summer before they start, they choose their courses relatively independent. By these vlogs prospective LAS-students can independently make more conscious and better informed choices for a reflective start of their studies. They get to know the university better; they learn to make choices and to anticipate their consequences. This way, they study more consciously, confidently and enthusiastically, hopefully leading to less study or wellbeing problems.

The other Teaching Fellow grant has been awarded to dr. Patricia Canning on "FLEXible learning: Targeting Social Inequalities through Forensic Linguistics". See the  for the complete overview of awarded projects.

Comenius network

The Fellows also become members of the Comenius network of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). This national network consists of all lecturers who have received a grant from the , as well as the nominees for the ISO Teachers' Award. The network is a meeting place where educational innovators exchange experiences and ideas. The Utrecht members can be found here.

Innovating your education?

Are you a teacher at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and are you interested in submitting a proposal? This autumn lecturers can apply for a Comenius grant or other educational innovation grants. Please contact the Centre for Academic Teaching at cat@uu.nl.  After the summer, the first letters of intent for the 2021 grants should be submitted. The Centre has a large network of experts and is happy to help you optimise your project proposal.