Teaching and Learning Discovery Grants
The UoM Teaching and Learning Discovery Grants support small-scale projects that explore, test and evaluate ideas to enhance teaching and learning. Aligned with the Manchester 2035 strategy, the grants support colleagues to generate evidence, gain insight into student and staff experiences, test potential approaches, and identify what works in practice to inform future practice.
Projects may focus on areas such as teaching, assessment, curriculum development, student partnership or academic development. Funding can be used for activities such as student focus groups, workshops and co-creation activities that support exploration and evidence-building.
Projects are expected to produce at least one of the following outputs:
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.
Resources and templates
Empathy map
An empathy map is a visual tool used to develop a deeper understanding of the experiences, needs, motivations, feelings and challenges of people affected by a particular situation, service, task or learning experience. In teaching and learning, empathy maps can be created collaboratively with students, colleagues or other stakeholders to build a shared picture of their experiences while avoiding the need for individuals to disclose personal details. By drawing these insights together, an empathy map can help educators identify diverse perspectives, uncover barriers and opportunities, and enables inclusive, evidence-informed decision-making grounded in real experiences.
- Radka Newton PFHEA, University of Lancaster shared how empathy maps helped her to understand students' experiences on her Masters' programme [6 minutes] (opens in new window, YouTube)
When developing an empathy map you should consider who and how many people need to be involved and how you are going to plan and facilitate co-creation (e.g., workshops). This guide provides practical tips, advice and resources to support you through each stage of creating an empathy map.
Benefits at a glance
- Develop a deeper understanding of student or colleague experiences and needs
- Challenge assumptions and inform evidence-based decision-making
- Surface insights, emotions and motivations that may otherwise be missed
- Support inclusive, person-centred design and improvement
- Keep projects focused on the people they are intended to benefit
Further reading, support and resources
- Advance HE: Design-thinking for higher education (2024) (opens in new window) - Guide 1 explains different stages of design-thinking, how you might use it in HE teaching and learning, and also suggests activities you could use in different contexts (framed as "design-thinking in 10-minutes" or "design-thinking in an hour"). Section 1 of the guide focuses on "Developing empathy".
- Dave Gray (2017), Updated Empathy Map Canvas (opens in new window) - this blog post provides access to an empathy map template and shares advice and guidance on how to develop an empathy map.
- SoTL Series workshop: Understanding Teaching and Scholarship through personas and empathy mapping - explore empathy mapping further and in the context of understanding your teaching and scholarship in this workshop coordinated by the Teaching and Scholarship Network
Case studies
These case studies are real examples of how design-thinking can be applied to HE teaching and learning for discovery and enhancement and the impact on both staff and students.
The Student Change Lab
About the Student Change Lab
The Student Change Lab was an initiative focused on improving student partnership and feedback processes by using human-centred design approaches. The project aimed to equip student representatives and staff with human-centred design tools and approaches to strengthen empathy, collaboration and partnership and support meaningful change, ensuring that the time and effort invested by students and staff in feedback processes leads to tangible outcomes.
Student blogs
- The Student Change Lab: Learning and co-design to unlock the creativity of our academic student reps (TEA blog)
- The Student Change Lab: How to best analyse feedback - reflecting on my experience at the Student Change Lab (TEA blog)
- The Student Change Lab: Reflecting on using journey maps to capture the Student Experience (TEA blog)
How to apply
Applications for Discovery Grant funding will open early in the 2026/27 academic year. Information about how and when to apply will be shared on the TALON Viva Engage group and via the Teaching-focussed mailing list.
Guidance
Applications for funding should explicitly situate the project proposal within the context of the Manchester 2035 strategy and delivery handbook. That is to clearly state how the project will contribute to Manchester 2035 through testing, learning and evidence-building.
Suggested reading
Design-thinking or Human-centred design in Higher Education
- Dyer, S. and Deacon, K. (2023), "Discovery Grants for Education Innovation: Supporting the Adoption of People-centred Design in HE One Step at a Time", International Journal of Management and Applied Research, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 231-244. https://doi.org/10.18646/2056.102.23-018 (opens in new window)
- Dyer, S and Kuzmina, K. (2024). "Prototyping educational change: Learning from a ten-week service design programme", in Newton, R., Mutton, J., and Doherty, M. (eds.) Transforming Higher Education with human-centred design. London: Routledge, pp. 102-116. https://doi-org.manchester.idm.oclc.org/10.4324/9781003383161 (opens in new window)
- Newton, R., Dyer, S., Lopez, I., Morgan, T., Trowsdale, D., and Iftikhar, F., (2025). Design Thinking for Higher Education. Available at https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/design-thinking-higher-education-dt4he (opens in new window)
- Newton, R., Mutton, J., and Doherty, M. (eds.). (2024). Transforming Higher Education With Human-Centred Design (1st ed.). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003383161 (opens in new window)
Empathy mapping
- Newton, R., Dyer, S., Lopez, I., Morgan, T., Trowsdale, D., and Iftikhar, F., (2025). Design Thinking for Higher Education. Available at https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/design-thinking-higher-education-dt4he (opens in new window) - Guide 1 explains different stages of design-thinking, how you might use it in HE teaching and learning, and also suggests activities you could use in different contexts (framed as "design-thinking in 10-minutes" or "design-thinking in an hour"). Section 1 of the guide focuses on "Developing empathy".
- Gray, D. (2017), "Updated Empathy Map Canvas", Medium, 15 July 2017. Available at: https://medium.com/@davegray/updated-empathy-map-canvas-46df22df3c8a (opens in new window) - this blog post provides access to an empathy map template and shares advice and guidance on how to develop an empathy map.
Contact
If you have any queries about the UoM Teaching and Learning Discovery Grants, please contact the Teaching Excellence team.