Deadline: 14 June 2016
The Wellcome Trust has announced Science Learning+ Partnership Grants initiative involving a partnership of US-based National Science Foundation (NSF) and UK-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
The Programme aims to make a transformational step to improve the knowledge base and practice of informal science experiences, to better understand, strengthen and coordinate their vital role in science engagement and learning.
Programme Objectives
- To strengthen the research and knowledge base by:
- investigating the value, outcomes, and impacts of informal STEM experiences, especially upon young people from birth to age 19
- developing theoretical understandings of the processes which lead to these outcomes and impacts
- developing better methodologies to measure the impacts of informal STEM experiences, especially upon learning and mediation of learning
- building research capacity in informal STEM learning.
- To bridge the practice and research gap by:
- increasing partnerships, understanding, and influence between STEM education/learning researchers and practitioners
- developing collaborations among institutions and individuals engaged in informal STEM experiences
- documenting and communicating the outcomes of research-practice collaborations, such that they inform and affect practice.
- To share knowledge and experience by:
- encouraging the sharing of knowledge and skills relating to informal science learning – between researchers and practitioners, across different countries (particularly the US and UK/Republic of Ireland), and across different areas of research expertise.
Priority Areas
The initiative seeks to support practice-based research which falls within or across the following priority areas:
- understanding learning
- engagement in STEM
- skills development
- equity
- diversity
- access to informal learning settings
- measurement of outcomes
Funding Information
Funding of approximately £1.5 million will be provided for the Partnership Grants.
Eligibility Criteria
At least one organization in the US and one in the UK/Republic of Ireland in collaboration, can apply for the initiative.
How to Apply
The lead partner must complete a Wellcome Trust/ESRC budget form to attach as a supplementary document to the proposal.
Eligible Countries: US, UK, Ireland
For more information, please visit Science Learning+.