This blog is written by Education Incubator Communications Intern Priyankha Khindri.

At the Education Incubator we currently have an exciting opportunity for University of Exeter students who want to develop innovative student-led projects on anti-racism and inclusivity, and gender safety to apply for funding.

Run in conjunction with the Provost’s Office, we are offering up to £5,000 worth of project funding. This funding is available to students who have an idea that contributes to solving an issue of race or gender safety that people face during the student journey and who can deliver their project between April – July 2022.

This funding call is open to all students at the University of Exeter and the deadline to submit application forms is 5pm 25th March 22.

University of Exeter’s Existing Initiatives

The Education Incubator is interested in hearing from students whose projects are bold, innovative and can build on the equality, diversity, and inclusion activities delivered across the whole of the University. 

The University currently has a number of different anti-racism and gender safe initiatives. Some of these, such as the Erase the Grey campaign, will probably be quite familiar. The campaign was created by Glasgow Caledonian University and is run under licence to the University. It aims to raise awareness and challenge attitudes and behaviours on gender based violence. The campaign is live across all of the university’s campuses. Many of us may have made use of others such as the reduced fare Night Bus run in partnership with Stagecoach that runs four nights a week in Exeter, ensuring that students have a safe way home at all times.

Others are in the process of being developed for example an online module on consent, or the in-person bystander intervention training which will be rolled out later this year to provide students with the tools to tackle sexual and racial harassment. 

You can read more about staff and student projects, initiatives, activities and networks here: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/departments/inclusion/groups/networks/  

Past Education Incubator Projects 

At the Education Incubator we would like to give students the opportunity to develop projects in response to what they have identified as problems or issues concerning race and gender safety thus far on their student journeys. Last year five Student Led Anti-Racism projects were funded, and as a result of their success the Education Incubator looks forward to offering this opportunity again this year.

These projects were a response to issues that were relevant to the students who ran them and include the Decolonising the Politics Curriculum. This project was led by three students who recognised that the existing curriculum, including reading lists and taught sessions, failed to reflect the diversity of the university’s staff and student body. The students came together to consider how the curriculum could be changed and adapted in order to be more inclusive and representative. Their work has seen reading lists changed and inspired discussion of best practice across the university. Another project, Active Together, aimed to promote the physical and mental health of minority ethnic students by working with the Students Guild. The team worked on a number of projects including the creation of a badge that sports societies could achieve following proof of the adoption of a zero-tolerance policy on racism. Such projects are fundamental to the University of Exeter which believes that there must be a culture shift at all levels of the university in order to address issues of racism and gender safety.

For more inspiration and information about the above projects, including the three other projects that received funding, follow this link.

Turning Ideas into Action 

For the students who created these projects it was a process to see their ideas turned into action.  However their journeys, and yours, will be fully supported not only financially but with guidance from the Education Incubator team and access to the University’s institutional knowledge and networks. 

To apply for 21/22 funding you need to fill in this form by 5pm on Tuesday 25th March.

The form will ask for details about your project such as;

• What problem your project aims to address?
• What your project proposed solution is?
• How can the success of your project solution be monitored and measured?

This may seem like quite a daunting process however there are plenty of resources available on what makes a good application and the selection criteria available here.

The Education Incubator is here to help every step of the way and we are offering drop-in sessions on the 21st of March from 10:30 – 12:00 or on Tuesday 2:30 – 4:00pm.

To sign up to one of these slots, or if you need more information email the Education Incubator team: educationincubator@exeter.ac.uk

Good luck.

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