The President and Principal’s Fund for Educational Excellence

The Panel will evaluate applications based on the following criteria: 

1. Demonstrating educational innovation and exploration with the potential to make a measurable contribution to one or more key strategic priorities 
2. A robust evaluation approach 
3. Clear evidence of incorporating the student voice eg co-creation 
4. Potential for wider reach and increased impact, including across other disciplines, Schools/Institutes and/or Faculties
5. Evidence of a clear and achievable project plan
6. A clear plan for dissemination with the potential to raise the profile of Queen Mary and enhance our reputation for excellence in education
7. Alignment to the priorities set out in the 2030 Strategy for Education and the Student Experience and The Queen Mary Education Approach

1. The project lead should be a member of Queen Mary staff working in an academic Faculty, School or Institute 
2. Funding is not available for the continuation of projects which have previously received funding from the President and Principal’s Fund for Educational Excellence, the Westfield Fund or Drapers’ Fund 
3. If the project lead has previously received funding from the President and Principal’s Fund for Educational Excellence, the Westfield Fund or Drapers’ Fund, the project (including evaluation) should have completed before being eligible to apply 

Allowable expenses 

 Non-allowable expenses  

Two information sessions are taking place for potential applicants. The slides are now available to download Information session slides [PDF 249KB].

• Tuesday 20 March 10:00-10:30 – Book your place
• Tuesday 1 April 12:30-13:00 - Book your place

Applicants are strongly encouraged to engage with the support available to help them to articulate the potential impact of their proposal. Two sessions of the workshop ‘Getting Started with Educational Impact’ are taking place as follows: 

• Monday 24 March 10:00 - 11:30 Book your place
• Wednesday 23 April 13:30 - 15:00 Book your place

In this 60-minute workshop, participants will learn how to analyse a funding call to understand what will make a competitive bid and develop a practical approach to producing an educational scholarship proposal applied to a specific call. Sessions for each Faculty are taking place as follows: 

• HSS Wednesday 2 April 15:00 - 16:00 Book your place
• S&E Wednesday 9 April 12:00 - 13:00 Book your place
• FMD Thursday 24 April 14:00 - 15:00 Book your place

The panel will be chaired by the Interim Director of the Queen Mary Academy and will include educators who have been recognised for their innovative practice. 

Please download, complete President and Principals Fund application form 25-26 [DOC 93KB] and email to qmacademy@qmul.ac.uk. 

The deadline for receipt of applications is 5pm on Monday 19 May 2025.

Please attend one of our Information Sessions when there will be a chance to learn more and ask questions. If you would like support in developing your evaluation plan, please attend one of our ‘Getting Started with Educational Impact’ sessions. Details for both can be found above.

If you still have questions please contact us qmacademy@qmul.ac.uk

The panel will look at your application and assess whether the proposed budget is likely to achieve the stated deliverables. We have provided some sample costings [PDF 36KB], based on previous funded projects, to give an indication of the kinds of activities which have previously been funded.

The panel will look at costs in terms of impact: are the suggested items aligned to maximise the impact of your project (in terms of number of students who will benefit, measurable contribution towards strategic aims etc..)? The panel will be looking for costs which are well aligned to the project aims and plan.

Project leads have discretion on the use of funds and are expected to meet their objectives within the overall funding awarded. No additional funding will be available. If costs increase, project leads will be expected to absorb any additional costs within the funding which has been allocated.

A member of the Queen Mary Academy team will be assigned to support you and help you to stay on track. At the end of the year we will ask you to complete a short final report. You can see an example of the format which will be used for projects funded in financial year 2025/26 President and Principals Fund final report template [DOC 74KB]

The Fund application form will ask you to share your dissemination plan. This should include, for example, sharing the work at the Festival of Education, producing a case study for the website, sharing resources produced during the project, speaking at conferences, applying for prizes and other forms of external recognition.

Funding will be awarded for financial year 2025/26 and funds will be transferred to your budget code in August 2025. If you wish to carry forward funds to the 2026/27 financial year, please ensure that you use an Extra Departmental Activity (EDA) code.

We therefore advise you to consider whether your project is achievable in one academic year.

The slides from the Information Sessions are now available to download Information session slides [PDF 249KB]

Successful applicants will be expected to disseminate their work externally in ways which enhance Queen Mary’s reputation for excellence in education. This might include producing content for the website, speaking at conferences, applying for prizes and other forms of external recognition.

Project leads will be asked to report on progress and dissemination to ensure that projects stay on track and receive the support that they need.

The project lead will be responsible for dissemination, which will include presenting the outcomes at the Festival of Education, producing case studies and other outputs which evidence the impact of their work (using qualitative and quantitative approaches as appropriate).

Successful applicants will have access to support from the Queen Mary Academy in the further scoping and development of their projects. This will include practical advice and guidance on educational scholarship, evaluation, impact and dissemination alongside a community of practice of project leads.

President and Principal's Fund for Educational Excellence 2023/24

• AI for student learning and research - Nick Fisher, Dr Cassandra Lewis (Institute of Dentistry); Paula Funnell, James Soderman, Chenee Psaros, Sharlin Ahmed, Rosella D'Alesio (Library), Dr Pedro Elston, Rofique Ali (Institute of Health Sciences Education); Dawn Buzzard, Catherine McLean (TELT) and student collaborators, QMA Support: Graeme Hathaway
• Co-creating AI best practices in higher education (HE): Building AI skills enhancement resources through interdisciplinary Student-Staff Best Practice Sharing Sessions - Dr Xue Zhou, Dr Joanne Zhang, Dr Lilian Schofield (School of Business and Management); Dr Lesley Howell (School of Physical and Chemical Sciences); Dr Aisha Abuelmaatti (School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science); QMA Support: Graeme Hathaway
• East London Atlas Project - Dr Elsa Noterman, Dr Alex Henshaw, Dr Andrew Russell, Dr Philippa Williams (School of Geography), QMA Support: Elise Omfalos
• Empowering Skill-Based Education through Virtual Reality - Dr Lesley Howell (School of Physical and Chemical Sciences); Professor Chie Adachi (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry); Dr Pedro Elston (Institute of Health Sciences Education) QMA Support: Elise Omfalos
• ePortfolio Based Learning for Personal and Professional Development, using the Graduate Attributes Framework - Dr Timothy Fulton and Dr Sally Faulkner (School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences) QMA support: Elise Omfalos
• ‘GenAIrating’ Critical Clinical Thinking: A new approach to learning using large language models - Dr Stuart Miller, Ian Griffiths, Dr Simon Lack, Dr Manuela Angioi, Prof Dylan Morrissey (William Harvey Research Institute), Dr Esther Murray (Institute of Health Sciences Education), QMA Support: Graeme Hathaway
• Get spotted! a podcast series and a masterclass on communicative practices that make you stand out at university and in your dream job! - Dr Weronika Fernando and Dr Saima Sherazi (School of Languages Linguistics and Film) QMA Support: Elise Omfalos
• How might we create spaces that support human flourishing, enabling students and staff to thrive and innovate? - Dr Louise Younie, Dr Rofique Ali, Dr Nandini Hayes, Vanessa Thompson (Institute of Health Sciences Education); Professor Chie Adachi (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry); Dr Nicholas Hostettler (School of Politics and International Relations); Marianne Melsen (QMSU) QMA Support: Dr Ana Cabral, Olu Popoola and Puiyin Wong
• QMCUR (Queen Mary Centre for Undergraduate Research) - Dr Giuseppe Viola, Dr Maria Romero Gonzalez, Professor Henri Huijberts, Professor Julia Shelton (School of Engineering and Materials Science), QMA Support: Puiyin Wong

Drapers’ Fund for Innovation in Learning and Teaching 2023/24 

• Innovative and diverse creation of teaching materials in Economics, Finance and Business Management: new approaches in the classroom with co-creating Research-Led, Learning by Doing, Peer-Led Team Learning and Teaching with Historical Perspectives - Dr Daniela Tavasci, Dr Eileen Tipoe, Dr Luigi Ventimiglia (School of Economics and Finance); Dr Xue Zhou and Dr Lilian Schofield (School of Business and Management), QMA Support: Puiyin Wong