Graduate Education Innovation Fund
Fund Overview
The Graduate Education Innovation Fund (GEIF) contributes to the mission of School of Graduate Studies, by fostering excellence in graduate education, including an exceptional student experience. The purpose the GEIF is to enrich the learning experience of graduate students in both our research-based and professional degree programmes, by supporting projects within and across academic divisions and units, that create positive, innovative changes in the design and delivery of graduate education at the University of Toronto.
This three-year pilot project was launched in Fall 2021. A review process will ensue to ensure that the initiative meets its goals. Read about the winning proposals from Fall 2021.
“Through the Graduate Education Innovation Fund, we want to support creative and thoughtful experimentation to revitalize our programs and better train the future generation of change-makers.”
Prof. Vina Goghari, SGS Vice-Dean, Research and Program Innovation
Goals of the Graduate Education Innovation Fund
The goal of the GEIF program is to advance excellence and innovation in graduate education through greater exposure to innovative educational practices within and across programs and curricula, including both the classroom, practica, and field settings. Proposals that accomplish at least one of the following themes are invited. Proposals in areas outside the ones listed are encouraged to liaise with SGS to discuss suitability.
— Experiential Learning: Support and enhance the transfer of learning through active learning opportunities, within and beyond traditional educational settings and methods.
— Interdisciplinary Learning: Encourage collaborations among instructors across academic disciplines, units and divisions with the purpose of creating exceptional interdisciplinary learning experiences for graduate students.
— Technological Innovation: Use of technology to enhance the educational experience.
— Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Renewal of graduate education with specific attention to representation of Indigenous ways of knowing.
— Diverse Cultural Perspectives: Renewal of graduate education with specific attention to representation of racialized perspectives, other minoritized voices, as well as intercultural experiences and civic engagement. Strengthen opportunities to learn abroad, international work, and bringing global and international experiences into our local environment.
— Decolonization, Anti-oppression, and Anti-racism: Enhancing educational practices, such as teaching and curriculum renewal, to build a more just and equitable learning environment.
— Professional Development: Create, strengthen and assess professional development opportunities for graduate students.
— Public Scholarship: Focusing on engaging the public through a scholarly agenda. Strengthen opportunities for public dissemination of scholarly work (e.g., personal blog post, podcast interview, or op-ed) and for partnerships with a school, community organization, or cultural institution (e.g. museum, theatre, archive) in an ongoing two-way exchange of knowledge and practices.
Research Component
The GEIF is a grant for curricular, teaching, and professional development innovation; it is not a research grant. While a research component to a project may be appropriate, the sole purpose of a proposal should not be the production and dissemination of new research. The fund is for ‘creating’ something innovative that enhances the education, teaching, and curricular capabilities of the University.
If a component of a project proposal involves the production of new research through the engagement of human participants, please ensure that Research Services has been consulted for ethics guidance.
Eligibility
University of Toronto faculty members with continuing appointments are eligible to apply (i.e., assistant professor, associate professor, and professor for both the tenure and teaching streams; part-time assistant, associate, and professor that have undergone continuing review). Typically, applicants will hold Graduate Faculty Membership with SGS. Collaborators can include librarians, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows etc., as appropriate to the project.
Funding Amounts
Ten seed grants of a maximum of $5,000 each will be available on an annual basis. Applicants are encouraged to seek out contributions from their unit or division and document it in their budget.
General Guidelines
- All budget items must be accompanied with a justification of the amount and necessity.
- It is recommended and encouraged that GEIF recipients use existing University of Toronto resources where appropriate; that is, student participation, technical support services, professional services, etc.
- GEIF funds may not be used for any of the following:
- Pay faculty salaries.
- Offset travel costs to conferences at which you are presenting your work.
- Basic computer and related equipment expenses, nor will such items be considered as matching funds. However, specialized equipment that is specifically related to the project may be eligible, so long as a justification for inclusion is contained in the application.
- The most valuable resources that GEIF can support is time. We encourage applicants to budget for time by including line items for items including:
- Project coordinator and / or project management costs.
- Research assistants, teaching assistants and work-study students who can support projects.
Adjudication Process
The adjudication committee will consist of:
- Vice-Dean, Research and Program Innovation, SGS (Chair)
- Three Faculty Members
- Two Graduate Students
Each application will have three reviewers. Each reviewer will:
- Provide strengths and weaknesses of the application based on scheme presented below.
- Providing a rating score based on the scoring system below.
- Rate each application in the top 50% or bottom 50% of applications.
An adjudication committee meeting will ultimately decide the funded applications.
Application Information
For details on applying, please take a look at the summary of our September 2023 GEIF information session (PDF).
Please refer to our list of previously funded applications. We encourage applicants to re-submit to a subsequent adjudication cycle if unsuccessful.
The deadline for applications is November 1, 2023 and April 3, 2024.
Application Checklist:
Successful applicants will report their process, outcomes, experiences, and / or learnings in a one page lay summary that may be posted as is or in part on the GEIF website. Successful applicants may also be asked to participate in SGS events promoting this initiative.
Appendix: Potential Other Funding Sources
- Teaching Grants, UTSC’s Centre for Teaching and Learning
- Education Development Fund, Faculty of Medicine
- Global Classrooms Funding Initiative, Office of the Vice-President International
Contact
Vina Goghari, PhD
Vice-Dean Research and Program Innovation, SGS
sgs.vdeanprograms@utoronto.ca
Angelique Plata
Executive Assistant to the Vice-Deans, SGS
sgs.vdeanea@utoronto.ca