We work with faculty management to incentivise educational research and provide a dedicated funding overview section on the STER website. We established a supportive infrastructure, offering guidance and resources, and streamlined the application process for efficiency.
OVERVIEW
UT
BIG (Brinksma Innovation Grant)
The BIG is an annual grant to an individual (academic) staff member, enabling them to develop and/or test an innovative didactic concept.
One winner per year: compensation of 0.2 FTE of the winner's appointment for one calendar year, plus € 2,500 fundings.
The next call will be announced in early 2026.
Teaching & Learning Fellows
The goal of the Teaching & Learning Fellows program is to ensure that staff are stimulated to pioneer in educational R&D activities that can advance their professional development and help improve education regarding aspects that are on the educational agenda of the UT.
The Faculty Vice Dean of Education will be informed about this call and will distribute the calls to the programme directors.
Erasmus+ staff mobility grant
The Erasmus+ staff mobility grant aims to support teaching and training mobility between international partner institutions and UT. The Erasmus+ programme supports staff mobility to promote European-level educational cooperation, exchange in education, follow-up training and traineeships for university staff members. It may consist of three funding components:
- living allowance, daily
- travel cost allowance, one-time
- green top-up to travel costs (if applicable)
The grant amount is based on the average cost of living in the country of the host institution, duration of stay, nature of the mobility and the travel distance as determined by the European Commission.
Grants for teaching activities are available year-round and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis (until depletion of UT budget).
Grants for training activities are available for application twice a year, in October (for trajectories between October to February) and in March (for trajectories between March to September.) These calls will open for applications for one month and will be announced in the UT Employee Portal.
Cooperation Among Organisations and Institutions: Erasmus+ Key Action 2 (KA2): Supports partnerships between organisations and institutions for cooperation, excellence, innovation and/or capacity-building projects: https://www.erasmusplus.nl/actueel/deadlines
Dutch National Funding Possibilities
Comenius programme
The Comenius Innovation Programme for Higher Education provides teachers with the resources needed to implement their innovative ideas for education:
Teaching Fellows € 50,000
Senior Fellows € 100,000
Leadership Fellows €500,000
When to apply: The grants are open yearly. Typically, around September, you need to submit a letter of intent.
Nederlandse Onderwijspremie
The Nederlandse Onderwijspremie aims to recognise and encourage educational teams for their efforts in educational innovation and improvement. One nomination per institution.
First prize: €1,200,000; second prize: €800,000; third prize: €500,000.
Scale-up grant
This grant allows educational professionals to further implement and disseminate previously implemented innovation projects to other courses or institutions. Innovations with evidence that the approach seems to work through evaluations, research or practical experiences will be scaled up and given a broader range with this grant round. Usually open between March and May each year. € 75.000 to € 100.000
Beleidsgericht onderwijsonderzoek: inspelen op een veranderende arbeidsmarkt
For this funding round, applications can be submitted for carrying out policy-oriented educational research into current themes in vocational education.
Through this funding round, NRO wants to finance research that provides reliable and usable knowledge for educational issues of concern to policymakers and educational professionals in vocational education. At most € 575,000. Usually open around June.
Kennisbenutting Plus
Kennisbenutting Plus is a grant for activities that stimulate the utilisation of educational research. A budget of 50.000 euros in total is available. Since this grant is focused on Dutch education, all documentation is in Dutch. Please go to the Dutch call page. Closing date for full application 1 January 2026, €50,000
Funding Support & Guidance
Linlin Pei: Advises on suitable grants and offers guidance on proposal preparation as well as educational research methodologies.
Join STER
Want to be connected with colleagues motivated for educational innovation and research, or find partners to jointly apply for grants? Check out STER