Terms of Reference - Centre for Innovation in Education

The Centre for Innovation in Education will make available annual funding to support innovative teaching practice across the University of Liverpool, and to provide assistance to programme/module teams and their students to research and demonstrate innovative practice to enhance the learning experience for students at the University of Liverpool.

The award(s) shall be known as the ‘CIE Curriculum Innovation Fund’. The total value for all awards paid out in any single academic year will be a budget of £10,000, with each individual award being up to a total value of £2,500.00.
Applications are welcomed on an annual basis from staff and students of the University of Liverpool* and are to address improvement to the teaching and learning experience of students at the University of Liverpool. A University of Liverpool ‘Cost Centre’ code is required - project holders will need to liaise with their school’s administration team to confirm and receive funding.
The award(s) will be used by the Centre for Innovation in Education to fund development and research of innovative teaching and learning practice.
All successful applications must include an element of student participation. The form of this participation can range from student consultation where opinions and feedback is taken from students, to student-partnership projects where applications are put forward jointly by staff and students. We can provide links to sources of information to provide guidance in this area. Meaningful and appropriate forms of student participation will be an assessment criteria for project proposals. Recognising a need to provide incentives for students to engage or to recompense students for where they have played a major role, project holders may wish to devote part of the funding to give an award, stipend or payment to students.**
You will be required to use the UoL Research Ethics Decision tool or consult the University’s Research Ethics Policy prior to applying to determine whether ethical approval is required for your project. If you do require ethical approval, you will be expected to apply for approval prior to submitting your application for funding (you will be required to include your Project ID as part of the application process). If University research ethics approval is required for your project, you will be required to provide evidence of ethics approval being granted before funding is awarded if your CIE Innovation Fund application is successful.
Prior to making an application, applicants are welcome to meet with a member of CIE to discuss their plans. We hope that this will help maximise the impact of the fund and in particular to support those who may have never made a funding application. The discussion is available to help guide you through the application process, suggest possible related areas you may wish to consider, approaches to evaluation, how to engage students/staff, put you in touch with others who may have relevant experience or direct you to relevant literature. The discussion does not form part of, or feed into the evaluation process. For avoidance of any conflict of interest, the member of CIE you meet with will not take part in the review Panel, and CIE cannot be named as research partner for applications.
Applications will be reviewed by a Panel, which consists of CIE staff with one external University representative and one representative from the Liverpool Guild of Students. The allocation of funds to projects selected by the Panel will be subject to approval by the Leadership Team of the Centre for Innovation in Education.
If in any year there are no applications of sufficient merit, then the award for that year will be withheld or allocated to an appropriate student experience project(s) identified and agreed by the CIE Senior Leadership Team.
CIE and the Student Experience and Enhancement directorate (SEE) reserve the right to amend these Terms of Reference going forward.
We hope that successful applicants will be able to disseminate their work for the benefit of others. Applicants will be required to:
- Present their project and findings at the annual CIE Learning & Teaching Conference.
- Produce a case study aligning the project to one of the 3 hallmarks, 3 attributes or core value of the Liverpool Curriculum Framework.
- Demonstrate student involvement in the project and impact on the student experience with an end of project evaluation report.

*CIE Staff are not eligible to apply for funding as project leads, but can form support roles in projects.

**payment can be, but are not limited to, casual paid short term work, voucher incentives, prizes etc

Further Reading on Student Participation and Partnership