Award
Through our Small Grants Fund, BERA awards funding annually to research on a different, pressing theme each year, with the intention that each project will:
The value of each individual award is up to £5,000 and BERA normally budgets for funding of up to three projects. In addition to the £5,000 award, if they are presenting their research at the BERA 2025 conference, the recipient will be able to claim back the cost of conference registration.
For this year’s awards, BERA wishes to fund research focusing on the professional learning for teacher educators within the following four areas:
Outputs
The key output is a final report of between 2,000-3,000 words to be published by BERA . Recipients of the funding are also expected to write at least one BERA Blog on the subject of their research and are strongly encouraged to submit their work to present at the BERA Conference in 2024. We may also consider holding bespoke events on the subject of each or collectively.
Educational researchers in any context, or at any career stage are invited to apply.
Each small grants recipient will be appointed a member of council as a point of contact throughout the duration of the project.
Criteria for assessment
Proposals are submitted on a proforma (see below) and each proposal is judged as to how well the aims and objectives of the proposed research address the priority theme (the professional learning for teacher educators) and are rigorous in their approach.
Applications are scored in the first instance by BERA’s College of Reviewers and assessed as to:
*BERA’s work is based on building meaningful, enduring, and respectful relationships across different peoples and cultures. To do this successfully, requires a strong commitment to EDI and this commitment extends to all aspects of our work. When we talk about EDI at BERA, we mean treating people fairly, impartially and without bias creating conditions which encourage and value diversity, promote dignity and inclusion and a culturally sensitive approach. For more details see BERA’s Equality Policy
BERA reserves the right not to award a grant if insufficient quality proposals are submitted. All applicants must be a current individual member of BERA and where possible, teams of researchers should include an early career researcher. This award will be judged in the first instance by the BERA College of Reviewers, with members of Leadership Committee making the final decision. In line with our wider discussions on equality and diversity, the ethnicity, gender and institutional affiliation of all applications will be collected and monitored.
We regret that as a small-scale funder, and a registered charity relying on the volunteer labour of our members, BERA is not able to offer feedback on individual applications and correspondence will not be entered into.
Participation
BERA aims for these projects to make contributions to the discipline. Applicants are encouraged to identify audiences beyond teacher educators such as training teachers and policymakers to maximise its impact and contribution to debates.
Format for proposal
Please download the project proposal form here
Format for the Final Report
The Final Report should not exceed 3000 words, excluding title and references. Estimates for word count are indicated per section to indicate the expected text balance.
Participation
It should be noted that we wish to encourage the development of research capacity through involving postgraduate students and early career researchers.
Research Ethics
The host organisation is responsible for ensuring that ethical issues relating to the research project are identified and brought to the attention of the relevant approval or regulatory body. Approval to undertake the research must be granted before any work requiring approval begins. Ethical issues should be interpreted broadly and may encompass, among other things, relevant codes of practice, the involvement of human participants, tissue or data in research, the use of animals, research that may result in damage to the environment and the use of sensitive economic, social or personal data. The BERA Ethical Guidelines can be found at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/publications/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018
If you require this application in a different format for accessibility reasons, please contact membership@bera.ac.uk
Timeline
As these grants are designed to be both topical and themed alongside one another, the aim is to publish them concurrently to achieve maximum impact. Therefore, no extensions to the timetable will be granted. Should recipients not be able to adhere to this timetable, the funds will have to be returned to BERA.
The primary applicant must be an upto date BERA Member. If you aren’t currently a member, you can join here.
To submit an application, please upload your completed proposal form here
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