Proposals for Teaching Innovations
- The revised form of the Education Labs. This section funds practices that bring clear added value to the quality and impact of INGENIUM teaching, connected to what happens in the classroom rather than to pedagogical theory in the abstract.
IN ONE MINUTE
- For a teaching practice you want to test, evaluate and document — and then share with colleagues across the alliance.
- The practice must be connected to delivery, with students as the beneficiaries. A study about teaching, with no classroom attached, does not belong here.
- Both routes. Fast track by 16 October for delivery February–June 2027; general call by 18 December for 2027/2028.
- This is the successor to the Education Labs, with a stronger focus on delivery and on the evidence a practice leaves behind.
- What you produce becomes an evidence-based learning resource other colleagues can use.
AT A GLANCE
| Who can apply | Academic staff at any INGENIUM partner university. Teams across partners are encouraged but a single-institution innovation is eligible where the evidence it produces is shared across the alliance. |
| What is expected | A practice, a class in which it runs, a way of finding out whether it worked, and something colleagues can reuse. |
| Route and dates | Fast track by 16 October 2026. General call: expression of interest by 13 November, application by 18 December 2026. |
| Funding | Up to EUR 10,000. Typical costs are tools, materials, student assistants, and time for evaluation. |
| Assessment | Relevance 3 + Quality 4 + Impact 3 = 10. Six points to pass. |
| Who decides | Technical review by the mixed transition group with the Secretariat, then endorsement by an INGENIUM committee. |
What an innovation looks like
The strongest proposals are specific. Not ‘introducing active learning’, but a named change to a named course, tried with a real cohort, with a way of finding out whether the students were better off. The change can be modest. What matters is that it is deliberate, observed and written up.
Innovations that respond to the four directions of the INGENIUM Innovation in Education Strategy — student-centred education, excellent teaching, co-operation and co-creation, and artificial intelligence and digitalisation in education — are particularly welcome. The strategy is itself being revised through Next INGENIUM, and the colleagues who deliver this first generation of innovations will shape that revision.
Examples of the kind of thing that fits
Assessment redesign
Replacing a final examination with a portfolio or an authentic task, and comparing what students actually demonstrate.
AI in the classroom
A structured use of generative tools in a course, with explicit rules, and evidence of what it changed for learning rather than for convenience.
Inclusive design
Redesigning materials, pacing or participation so that learners with special educational needs are designed for rather than accommodated afterwards.
Student partnership
Students co-designing part of the course, with a record of what they changed and what it produced.
How to apply
- From 14 September 2026
Choose your route
If the innovation can run in a class between February and June 2027, use the fast track. If it needs the next academic year, use the general call.
- By 16 October 2026
Fast track: apply directly
Complete the application form and upload it. Review is rolling and approvals are communicated in early November.
- 13 November, then 18 December 2026
General call: express interest, then apply
The networking phase in between is where innovations find colleagues at other partners willing to run the same experiment in a different context.
- During the semester
Deliver, evaluate and write it up
Collect what you said you would collect, and produce the resource other colleagues can use. That resource is the output the alliance is funding.
How your proposal is assessed
Relevance, Quality and Impact, scored out of ten in total. Six points are needed to pass. Assessment in this edition is light and enhancement-oriented: where a proposal falls short on one dimension but is otherwise strong, the feedback says what would fix it.
3
Relevance
Does it advance what the alliance has committed to?
- A clear connection to delivery, with students as the beneficiaries
- Alignment with the four directions of the Innovation in Education Strategy
- Relevance of the practice to colleagues beyond the proposing team
- Connection to an existing or proposed Pathway, where one applies
4
Quality
Is it well designed, and can it actually be delivered?
- A specific, well-defined change rather than a general intention
- A credible way of finding out whether it worked
- Feasibility within the course and the semester proposed
- Ethical handling of student data and participation
- Inclusion and accessibility built into the design
3
Impact
What will change, and will it last?
- What students gain, and how many of them
- The quality and reusability of the resource produced
- Uptake by colleagues at other partners
- Prospects for the practice to become normal rather than exceptional
The three dimensions are common to the whole call; the points listed under each are the version that applies to this section. A small number of categories may carry a different weighting, which will be published here before the call opens.
Funding & Support
Up to EUR 20,000 may be requested for a single initiative as total budget, divided among the partners. There is no minimum. The application asks what the money is for and roughly how much goes to each element, not for a formal budget.
Considering the experimental nature of the initiative, expenses related to promotion and dissemination are totally acceptable.
| What is being funded | Usual source | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Short staff or student mobility | INGENIUM project funds | Staff mobility is highly encouraged. Each institution funds their own staff, and organisational expenses can be divided. |
| Small conferences and dissemination events | INGENIUM project funds | Supporting collaborative work, engagement |
| Participation in conferences and other spaces for exchanges | INGENIUM project funds | The expenses are allowed if they align with the objectives of the project |
| Platforms, tools and materials | INGENIUM project funds or institutional resources | This included publishing of materials, books, articles and the like, if they are connected with the results of the project. Subject to the purchasing rules of the partner concerned |
| Bringing a stakeholder into the project | INGENIUM project funds | State the organisation where it is known |
| Staff time and compensation | Institutional rules apply | Generally not included in this call.. Check the institutional rules published at your own university |
Fast-track application
For initiatives ready to run between February and June 2027. There is no expression of interest: complete the application form, then upload it here with any supporting material. Applications are reviewed as they arrive and approvals are communicated in early November 2026.
Expression of interest
For innovations running in 2027/2028. Short by design: the practice, the course it would run in, and how you would know whether it worked.
Frequently Asked Questions
A teaching innovation happens in a classroom with students. A training proposal teaches colleagues. An innovation often becomes a training proposal later, once there is evidence worth passing on.
Yes. Unlike collaborative teaching, this section does not require two partners. What it does require is that the evidence and the resource are shared across the alliance.
This section replaces them, with a stronger focus on delivery in the classroom and on the resource each innovation leaves behind. Colleagues who ran an Education Lab are particularly encouraged to build on it here.
That depends on your institution and on what you collect. Check locally before submitting, and say in the application what applies.
Useful Documents
Documents for this section are in preparation and will be published here before the call opens on 14 September 2026.
Talk to us
| UNIVERSITY | COORDINATOR | |
|---|---|---|
| UNIOVI | Jesús Daniel Santos | ingenium@uniovi.es |
| TUIASI | Irina Lungu | irina.lungu@academic.tuiasi.ro |
| UdA | Marcello Costantini | marcello.costantini@unich.it |
| Xamk | Eeva Kuoppala | eeva.kuoppala@xamk.fi |
| Skövde | Mikael Ejdebäck | mikael.ejdeback@his.se |
| HKA | Melissa Gruber | melissa.gruber@h-ka.de |
| MTU | Michael Hall | michael.hall@mtu.ie |
| Rouen | Ligia Livanu | ligia.livanu@univ-rouen.fr |
| UoC | Georgios Kossioris | kosioris@uoc.gr |
| MUS | Magdalena Kasnakova | m.kasnakova@mu-sofia.bg |
