Teaching and Learning Discovery Grants

In 2026/27 the Institute of Teaching and Learning will invite applications for the UoM Teaching and Learning Discovery Grants. These small-scale grants will support colleagues to host discussions between students, academics, professional service colleagues, and/or people connected to the university which help develop a better understanding of a teaching and learning problem we want to address as an institution. 

This Discovery funding is intended to support: 

• Early stage or exploratory enhancement work 

• Learning about the current picture: the needs and experiences of colleagues and students, and what works and what does not 

• Testing ideas or approaches to teaching, assessment, curriculum, student partnership, or academic development 

• Generating evidence, insight, or exemplars that can inform wider adoption 

Discovery Grants align with the Manchester 2035 Delivery Handbook principles of improvement by design, being user driven and engaging purposefully, and reflect the Manchester 2035 Delivery Handbook’s approach to delivering improvement at Manchester:  

• Understand the need: gather insights from those affected (surveys, focus groups, listening sessions, existing feedback); use data (student experience, colleague surveys, service stats) to spot pain points and opportunities; frame problems in terms of lived experience, not just process gaps; feed back what you’ve heard so people see their input is shaping the work  

• Set design principles: Be clear about the outcome you want to achieve; share these principles openly to guide co-creation and keep them under review; ensure your design fits within wider University standards and approaches 

• Co-create solutions: Engage people early before plans are locked down – even well-designed solutions can create problems if they don’t join up later, so seek early guidance to avoid siloed fixes; involve those with experience and subject specialists, drawing insight from both within and beyond the sector; use inclusive workshops, before, during and after planning, or design sprints to shape ideas; be honest – explain what can and can’t be co-created; loop back regularly to show how input has influenced the design 

• Prototype and test: Start small – mock-ups, pilots or trials to test in practice; capture feedback from real users and refine iteratively; not every activity can be piloted, but most have elements that can be tested; use feedback loops to adapt and improve before scaling 

• Design inclusively: Actively involve diverse perspectives, especially under-represented voices, and report back clearly on how feedback on how proposals impact our communities has shaped the outcomes; create psychological safety across teams and hierarchies so people can speak up regardless of role or seniority; check back in during and after delivery to confirm inclusion is real, not assumed 

• What good looks like: People affected can see how their feedback shaped the outcome; solutions are tested with real users before being scaled; EDI, wellbeing and accessibility are integral, not afterthoughts; designs are aligned with University-wide systems and principles; clear feedback loops are in place, so learning and improvements are continuous.  

Applications will be required to explicitly situate projects within the Manchester 2035 strategy.

Discovery Grant Maps

Discovery Grants will require awardees to complete at least one of three possible templates during the workshops:

• empathy map
• user journey map
• systems map

Colleagues will also be encouraged to share their learning through short blogs, reflections or case studies helping to build and share insights across the University, contributing to institutional learning through locally-led innovation, teaching enhancement and scholarship activity. 

Grants can be used to pay for catering, on-campus room hire and/or vouchers for students or those not employed by the University in recognition of their participation and time.

Resources and templates

Resources and templates for empathy maps, user journey maps and systems maps will be made available when applications open for 2026/27.

Outputs

The outputs of a Teaching and Learning Discovery Grant will be  

1. a completed Teaching and Learning Discovery Grant report, with maps attached. These should be submitted the Teaching Excellence team and disseminated to the appropriate committee(s) and/or group(s) 
2. a dissemination blog, reflection or case study for the award holder(s) to share their experiences and findings across the University, contributing to institutional learning through locally-led innovation, teaching enhancement and scholarship activity.