Research Funding

ALDinHE Funding Call 2026 is now open until 22 July 2026

ALDinHE have funds available to distribute for research projects. This opportunity is open to any individual or group whose principal investigator works at a UK member institution. Each year ALDinHE allocates funding for innovative research projects that focus on specific aspects of Learning Development (LD). 

Call for proposals – deadline 22 July 2026

We will fund up to six small-scale research projects that promote research into LD and promote it as a scholarly field. The lead researcher should be from an ALDinHE member institution based in the United Kingdom. We invite a broad range of proposals, but would especially encourage applications that focus on one of these themes: 

• Advocacy for Learning Development* – projects which explore how, considering the current HE climate, we can communicate and shape perceptions of the value of LD or otherwise positively develop its professional standing. We are especially in reach beyond immediate professional contexts, e.g. to institutional or sector level. 
• Empowering student partnerships – projects whose research is conducted in partnership between LD staff and students (i.e. students as co-researchers and/or producers of resources). We especially encourage partnerships with groups whose voices may otherwise feel under-represented. 
• Equality of Opportunity – Exploring how LD contributes to reducing some of the Office for Students’ Equality of Opportunity risks for students, e.g. academic support (Risk 6), Mental Health (Risk 8) or progression from Higher Education (Risk 12)   
• Theory-practice connections – Developing the evidence base on the connection between how theories or pedagogies behind LD impact on student learning. 
• Learning Development in a digital age – exploring ways in which LD can operate effectively, to be relevant to student learning in an increasingly AI- and data-informed digital HE environment.  

Applicants may request up to £1250 for their project. *In the turbulent HE climate we find ourselves in, advocacy for LD is our key strategic aim this year. Applicants may therefore request an extended amount of £1500 if their proposal aligns closely with advocacy, as set out in the first theme above.  

We welcome proposals that explore how LD plays an active role in tackling some of these key issues, remains sustainable in the long term, and helps to shape the future of higher education. This includes applications that specifically look at how the ALDinHE values are driving practice with students, and fostering learning. You may wish to apply this lens to any concepts contained within the five bullet points above, or another. In particular, please consider how you might bring students into that conversation. 

We encourage applicants to engage with the existing scholarship of LD and locate the contribution that they can make within that literature.  

Additional notes:

Before applying, we strongly encourage applicants to carry out preliminary enquiries with their institution to gain permission to apply, and about aspects of ethical and financial clearance: 

• if your proposed project involves empirical research, we do not expect ethical approval to be in place in advance of the application, but we do expect you to be prepared to undertake a timely ethical approval process if your bid is successful. 

• ALDinHE pays the agreed funds in a lump sum upon completion of the project (approximately 13 months after confirmation). Please check with appropriate departments in your institution (e.g. finance) on how to set up any necessary mechanisms for bridging aspects of the funding during that time. 

• If applications require the approval of a Research team at your institution, please ensure that is obtained. 

Please consult with the ​​applicant guidance for more details. 

Applicants will be notified in October 2026.

The ALDinHE grants are competitive bids, which are judged by the Research and Scholarship Development working group against the following criteria:

To apply, all guidance, application forms and templates are provided within the applicant guidance. 

ALDinHE offers mentoring to support members who want to apply for research funding. If you would like to request a mentor to guide you through the submission process and preparation processes, please contact a mentor via the Mentor Directory or the wider network in the Networking and Expertise Directory. Contact directly and check if they have capacity to provide support. Please note that a mentor does not guarantee that an application will be accepted. 

Project outcomes are disseminated to the wider community through the website and the annual ALDinHE conference. We also encourage all successful applicants to write up their project for publication in The Journal for Learning Development in Higher Education. As these are, in effect, requirements of the funding, we also encourage applicants to suggest other more creative ways that they will use to disseminate to the LD community. Dissemination activity can, and generally does, take place after the 13 month funded period ends. 

For further information, please email: admin@aldinhe.ac.uk 

LD Research

Current and past ALDinHE funded research, in the field of learning development is listed below. If you’d like to know more detail about a particular research topic, please contact the individual researcher directly, using the details listed.