Full Grant Details

2025/2026 College of Health and Agricultural Sciences Collaborative Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Grants

Deadline for applications: February 9th, 2026

To promote interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning collaborations within the College of Health and Agricultural Sciences (CHAS), an annual grant is offered to support collaboration between educators in at least two CHAS schools. The goal is to enhance the educational experience and outcomes for our students through a collaborative approach to educational innovation by educators within the CHAS. The CHAS Collaborative Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Grants are directly aligned with the CHAS strategic priority of providing a holistic education that fosters excellence, drives innovation in teaching and learning, prepares competent graduates, and ensures an outstanding student experience.

CHAS Education and Training:

Collectively the Schools within the College provide a holistic education experience that challenges students to learn, enquire, create, reason and innovate so they can gain knowledge and attitudes to be personally successful, be life-long learners and shape local and global society. Our college aims to be at the forefront of providing the best education to prepare our students for challenging careers and to be lifelong learners.

College Actions: 

• Foster a culture of innovation and excellence in teaching and learning in the College. 
• Develop opportunities for more social learning, interprofessional and interdisciplinary learning and curriculum opportunities across the college, thus also enhancing student engagement, well-being and belonging. 
• Enhance learning experiences through practical learning and evidence-based clinical simulation methodologies and technologies, preparing students to become competent practitioners in their respective fields. 
• Explore and design novel cross-College programmes, modules, and microcredentials in collaboration with external partners, both globally and nationally, to provide our students with opportunities to develop a broad range of knowledge, skills and careers. 
• Develop the physical infrastructure at all our locations for excellence in education

College of Health & Agricultural Sciences: Vision, Mission and Strategic Objectives (2025)

Objectives:

CHAS is already recognised for excellence in teaching and learning across schools and disciplines. The CHAS Collaborative Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Grants will drive  further enhancement and progress toward the CHAS education and training strategic actions by:

1. Incentivising  communication  between faculty from different CHAS schools to share evidence-based teaching practices and approaches and identify opportunities for collaboration.          
2. Further advancing innovations in technology-enhanced learning and clinical simulation.
3. Ensuring universal design is at the heart of all CHAS teaching and learning initiatives.
4. Delivering educational opportunities involving collaboration with industry, the public, patients, and society.
5. Enhancing student engagement and providing an outstanding educational experience to our students.
6. Better equipping graduates with the knowledge and skills required to excel in their professions and make meaningful contributions to society.
7. Creating sustainable models for interdisciplinary teaching and learning that can be replicated as appropriate across the College.
8. Advancing educational excellence and international recognition through interdisciplinary educational research and scholarship.     

Grant Funding available:

A total of €30,000 is available to support 2-3 projects per annum with a maximum award of €15,000 per project.           

Duration of projects:

18 months.

Terms and Conditions:

1. Applications must have co-applicants from at least two Schools within CHAS.
2. Projects must begin by September 2026 and be completed by March 2028 latest.
3. The scheme cannot cover the cost of a new staff hire to deliver the project, however, it is acknowledged that some hourly paid work / outsourcing may be required.
4. Payments to student partners in projects can be included.
5. Successful applicants must submit a short report detailing outputs and impact within two months of project completion.

Who is eligible to apply? 

The lead applicant for each project must be a member of CHAS staff including faculty and professional/technical/research staff involved in Teaching and Learning with a contract of employment that extends beyond the end date of the project. Additionally, a member of CHAS staff including faculty and professional/technical/research staff involved in Teaching and Learning with a contract of employment that extends beyond the end date of the project must be named as a co-applicant for each project. Individuals on honorary contracts, adjunct faculty, and visiting appointments cannot be the lead applicant but may be named as co-applicants.

Evaluation process and criteria:

All eligible proposals will be reviewed by an assessment committee including the CHAS Education and Training Group, which includes all Associate Deans for Teaching and Learning within CHAS.

The committee will evaluate the proposals on the basis of the following criteria: 

1. Interdisciplinary Collaboration - evaluates the extent to which the project involves collaboration between at least two CHAS schools (10 points).
2. Innovation in Teaching and Learning - how the project proposes informed innovation  in teaching, learning and/or assessment approaches (10 points).
3. Student Engagement and Experience - the potential impact on student engagement  and educational experience (10 points). 
4. External Collaboration - how the project engages with industry, the public, patients, or society to enhance learning opportunities (5 points).
5. Sustainability and Replicability - whether the project has long-term potential beyond the funding period and if it can be replicated or scaled within CHAS (10 points).
6. Feasibility and Timeline - considers the practicality of the project, including the clarity of the plan, resource suitability, and likelihood of successful completion within 18 months (5 points).

How to apply:

• Complete and submit the (opens in a new window)application form by February 9th, 2026. 
• The form requires concise information about the project objectives, methodology, expected outcomes, timeline, and budget, as well as short CVs from each applicant. 
• Applicants will be notified of the outcome by March 30th, 2026.

Reporting:

Awardees will be required to provide a short periodic report every 6 months and a final report on completion of the activity outlining any initial outcomes and impacts and learnings that arise from the award, also sharing any positive outcomes.  Awardees may also be invited to present an overview of the projects and early results at CHAS Teaching and Learning events. Failure to provide the required report as mentioned above will result in funding being withheld and the awardee being ineligible for further rounds of the Scheme. 

We would also request that outcomes that arise subsequently (e.g. grant applications submitted, papers published, reports or policy briefs submitted) are reported to the CHAS Education & Training Group when they arise, and that the support of CHAS is acknowledged where appropriate. 

Questions:

Please direct any questions regarding the CHAS Collaborative Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Grant to gemma.larkin@ucd.ie