Seedcorn Fund

Find out about our TILT Seedcorn Fund – a funding scheme for projects with potential to grow and impact learning and teaching at NTU.

The TILT Seedcorn Scheme awards funding for small projects with the potential to grow and impact learning and teaching at NTU and across the higher education sector. It's intended to provide colleagues with a small amount of funding for 'blue sky' exploratory Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) projects.

Other frequently asked questions

What can Seedcorn Awards fund?

A Seedcorn project can be the inception stage of a potentially bigger project or the award can assist with existing SoTL scholarship or projects. A non-exhaustive list of past projects the Seedcorn fund has supported includes:

Conference attendance or visiting other Higher Education Institutions or organisations to share practice and scholarship related to learning and teaching;
Support evaluation of learning and teaching approaches or the expansion of an enhancement which has been piloted or initially adopted; and / or,
Purchase or hire resources to use in a learning and teaching innovation or a scholarship project (where these are not already available within NTU).

How many Seedcorn Awards are available each year?

The Seedcorn Fund provides colleagues with funding of up to £750 for small-scale projects on a competitive basis.

Up to ten Seedcorn awards are offered each academic year.

What Seedcorn Funds are available?

Up to ten awards are offered each academic year across two rounds.

The Seedcorn Fund provides colleagues with an award of up to £750 for small-scale projects on a competitive basis. Projects can be at the inception stage of a potentially bigger project, or the award can assist with existing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) projects. To see if you're eligible, access our guidance and applications forms on Thrive (NTU student/staff log-in required).

How can I find out more?

For further information about the Seedcorn Fund, please contact TILT by email at tilt@ntu.ac.uk.

TILTStories (Seedcorn) showcases the innovative projects and rich experiences of colleagues who have won seedcorn funding to support ‘blue sky’ projects with potential to enhance learning and teaching at NTU.

Previous Seedcorn award holders include colleagues from across all four of NTU campuses and were awarded Seedcorn funding to fund projects with potential to have a positive impact on learning and teaching at NTU.

Previous Seedcorn awards have helped colleagues to:

Develop support for students – Samuel Barclay (Nottingham Institute of Languages and Intercultural Communication) secured funding to research Academic English language use across the different subject disciplines in the School of Science and Technology (SST), and developed pedagogical interventions based on that evidence.
Attend conferences and other events - Rachel Stubbington (SST) secured funding to present at the ‘Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting’ in Detroit, USA. This enabled Rachel to share her learning and teaching practice with an international audience, and to disseminate insights from the conference internally at NTU, and across the sector through social media and a blogging.
Buy equipment to facilitate learning and teaching – Daniel Shin (ADBE) was successful in his application for funding to purchase a portable conferencing system to support the work of the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) initiative. COIL is online learning in an international setting, involving interaction between students and staff from different international and intercultural backgrounds. This conferencing system allows Daniel and colleagues to work collaboratively with colleagues overseas and positively impacts on learning and teaching practice both internally at NTU and externally.

Applying for Seedcorn funding

Lia Blaj-Ward shares her experiences of applying for Seedcorn funding.

The process for Seedcorn funding

Alison Hardy shares her experiences of applying for Seedcorn funding.

About TILT

Find out about the Trent Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT) an initiative to support excellence in learning and teaching at NTU.

TILTOnline

Find out how we're building our online community through TILTOnline and growing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at NTU.

TILT Practice and Scholarship Groups

Find out about the goals of TILT Practice and Scholarship Groups, which are improving learning and teaching across NTU.

Scholarship Projects for Undergraduate Researchers (SPUR)

Learn about SPUR, our funded scheme offering NTU students a taste of collaborative academic research.

Annual Learning and Teaching Conference

Find out about the TILT Annual Learning and Teaching Conference (ALTC), an annual event which showcases innovative practice in learning and teaching.