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The national Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO) annually awards the Comenius grants, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. These grants enable teachers to bring their vision on teaching into practice. The grants for educational innovation are inspired by the well-known Veni, Vidi, Vici grants for research. This year, two Utrecht teachers managed to secure a grant: one Teaching Fellow grant and one Senior Fellow grant. A fantastic achievement and an important impulse for the further development of academic teaching.

Teaching Fellow grant

Teaching Fellows receive €50,000 for each project. This concerns project proposals for the duration of one year, focused on innovation within a course. The following project proposal from UU has been awarded funding:

Projectleader: Annerieke Oosterwegel
Theme: Bildung / Personal development
Project: Autonomie Duurzaam Eigen Maken (ADEM): Een handleiding voor jezelf / Sustainably Internalising Autonomy (ADEM): a manual for yourself

Many students struggle with expectations they believe they have to meet. The aim of this project is to let students experience control over their academic career by gradually and concretely indicating how they can structure themselves and their experiences in such a way that they feel autonomous and resilient. There will be an autonomy development course, in which insights from developmental psychology and personality psychology - in particular identity development and autonomy - will be translated to the educational situation.

Senior Fellow grant

Senior Fellows receive €100,000 for each project. This concerns project proposals for the duration of two years, focused on innovation within a faculty, large degree programme or a substantial part of the institution. The follow project proposal from UU has been awarded funding:

Projectleader: Jeroen Janssen
Project: Hier hoor ik thuis. Ondersteuning van eerste-generatiestudenten voor de start van hun opleiding / This is where I belong. Supporting first-generation students at the start of their studies

At the faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, first-generation students (students whose parents did not attend academic education) drop out significantly more often than second-generation students. Explanation: they do not feel at home as much in a university setting. This project will develop an evidence-informed intervention to help them feel at home more quickly.

Comenius network

Above Fellows will become members of the Comenius network of the KNAW. This national network is made up of all teachers who have procured a grant in the , as well as the nominees for the ISO teacher awards. The network is a meeting place where educational innovators exchange experience and ideas. The Utrecht members can be found here.

In the coming years the Comenius programme will develop into a programme that enables a wide range of educational innovations yearly. Through visibly rewarding excellent and committed teaching, the government aims to make an explicit contribution to diverse teaching and research careers within higher education institutions.

More proposals

In addition to the Teaching and Senior Fellow grants, NRO also offers , of €500,000 per project. In total, 82 proposals have been submitted from Dutch universities this year. Funding was available for 32 of these proposals.

Are you a teacher at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and are you interested in submitting a proposal? Contact the Centre for Academic Teaching via cat@uu.nl for support. On Monday 15 June 2020, 13h00 – 14h30, an information meeting on the Comenius grants will take place. Read more about this meeting and sign up here.

After the summer, the first letters of intent are due to be submitted for the 2021 grants. The Centre for Academic Teaching has a large network of experts and we would be happy to help you perfect your research proposal.