Research Funding

ALDinHE’s funding call is now closed. The next round of funding will open in Spring 2024.

We have £5,000 available in funding, with a maximum of £1,000 per project, and this opportunity is open to anyone who works at a member institution. Each year ALDinHE allocates funding for innovative research projects that focus on specific aspects of Learning Development.

Call for proposals 2024-2025

We are looking to fund a number of small-scale research projects, which aim to help promote learning development as a scholarly activity.

While we continue to invite a broad range of proposals that engage with learning development practice or theory, and impact on student learning, we would like to give particular attention to applications that focus on four vital areas:

  • equality, equity, diversity and inclusion, and in particular, the intersectionality within the EDI domain;
  • links with, and contribution to students’ sense of belonging, and/or mental health and wellbeing;
  • The impact of Learning Development;
  • sustainability for the future and lifelong learning in Learning Development and Higher Education.

We encourage funding proposals that respond to, and aim to gain insight into ensuring learning development plays an active role in tackling some of these issues and remains sustainable in the long-term.  This includes applications that specifically look at values-driven learning and practice and how you are expressing these or working with students to these values. You may wish to apply this lens to inclusivity or BAME students, to scholarship, to digital learning, delivery and accessibility, or to a combination of all of these. Consider also how you might bring students into that conversation.

What could higher education look like in 2025-2026, and where do we want Learning Development to be? Your research project can help shape that outcome. 

We are also particularly keen on receiving applications that undertake active exploration into scholarship of Learning Development, and make connections between the literature on learning development and scholarship literature.

Please read the guidance for applicants and complete two versions of the application form, returning these to admin@aldinhe.ac.uk

The next round of research funding will open in Spring 2024.

Applicants will be notified in September 2024.

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

  1. The extent to which the research will directly impact or further enhance students’ experiences of Learning Development.
  2. Evidence of collaboration and clear implications for the field of Learning Development, beyond the individual’s immediate practice / subject field.
  3. Appropriate and achievable aims within the context of the project, including details as to how the project will be evaluated and shared with the LD community.
  4. Appropriate research question/s, methodology and breakdown of financial details and how this builds on the current literature within the field.
  5. Demonstration of how the project is aligned with the research team’s interest and experience in pedagogic research.
People discussing Research Funding

To apply for ALDinHE research funding, all guidance, application forms and templates are provided within the application 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 email admin@aldinhe.ac.uk . 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.

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.

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