Universiteit Leiden

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Leiden Learning & Innovation Centre

Grassfields

A yearly funding scheme available for upscaling educational innovations.

Through the implementation agenda 'Towards a Blended University', Leiden University fulfils its ambition to be a future-proof institution which responds well to changes in both its organisation and educational programmes. This ambition is achieved by:  

  1. Encouraging and supporting opportunities to improve educational quality.   

  1. Turning promising ideas into experiments.   

  1. Scaling up successful educational innovations according to a method that leads to their adoption across all faculties.  

The Grassfields funding scheme focuses upon this third ambition. Grassfields provides funding for recently completed and ongoing educational projects with a clear case for wider deployment within the university. This fund will upscale educational innovations which are faculty-transcending in character and exists to ensure that innovation projects do not fail after a successful pilot phase, provided that the only barrier to scaling is that other (external) funding is not found.  

Practical Information

Practicalities

  • Grant name: Grassfields.  

  • Funding amount: A maximum of €300k can be requested per year, available for one project.  

  • Timeline: Projects can last for a maximum of 36 months.  

  • Application deadline: 3 October 2025 before 17:00 CEST.  

  • Project Pitching: Shortlisted project teams will be requested to join a Pitching and Q&A session with the assessment committee the week of 3 or 10 November.  

  • Final decision: On or before 5 December 2025, 17:00 CEST.  

  • Funding released: By December 31st 2025 17:00 CEST.  

  • Language: Applications can be submitted in either English or Dutch. 

Eligibility

  • Educational projects and research (with ICT) which are (almost) completed & for which there is proven success and a concrete need for faculty-wide scale-up.   

  • Primary applicants must have teaching duties for the duration of the project.  

  • Primary applications must hold one of the following titles: Lecturer, Universitair Docent, Universitair Hoofddocent, or Professor.  

  • There must be primary applicants from at least two faculties.  

The grant is initially intended for the following target groups:   

  • Funding projects submitted for Comenius Leadership and the Dutch Higher Education Premium which have not been awarded, or are longlisted for nomination.  

  • Teacher (teams) who have carried out an educational innovation project/research within a faculty and wish to scale it up with colleagues to other faculties. These projects and research may have previously been funded externally through, for example, the Comenius programme (teacher and senior fellow), NRO, VIS grants, or Growth Fund initiatives.   

Assessment Criteria

Applications will be assessed on the following criteria:   

  • Alignment with Leiden University’s educational vision.  

  • Proven improvement to educational quality.  

  • Composition of project team.  

  • Potential impact for the university as a whole.  

  • Feasibility of structural implementation. 

How to Apply

  • The form will close on the 1st of September 2025.  

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