Fund

Project Support and Funding

IATL provides funding and support for student-led research projects and, through the Education Fund jointly supported with WIHEA, for staff-led projects that support the university's Education and Student Experience Strategy.

Funding call information is below.

Contact us at IATL.ProjectSupport@warwick.ac.uk if you have questions. For projects IATL has supported recently, visit our ProjectsLink opens in a new window page.

Student Led Projects - funding call open, apply by Wednesday 1 April 2026

We have updated the Project Support scheme this year to focus solely on student-led research projects. Please see the guidance below for the Guiding Themes for this funding call and much more. Applications are due by the end of Wednesday 1 April 2026 (23.59 UK time). The scheme provides funding and support for students to lead, produce and share their work. See the 'Contact us' tab in the guidance below if you have a question or would like to book a short consultation to discuss your proposal.

Staff Led Projects - support provided through Education Fund

IATL and WIHEA have jointly launched the Education Fund for staff-led strategic projects that support the new Education and Student Experience Strategy. Please see the Education Fund website for guidance about the annual funding call. The Education Fund replaces both departments’ open funding schemes for staff projects.

The IATL's Den

Open to all current students who have taken or are taking an IATL module or received IATL funding, the IATL's Den supports IATL students in advancing their entrepreneurial ideas. Watch this space for next year's application round.

Graphic of a dragon and a circle of flames

Key Information for Student Applications (updated for 2025/26)

Student proposal guidance

Students at any level of study can apply for up to £1,500 for a student-led research project.

All project proposals must address one or more of our Guiding Themes for this funding call.

All proposals must involve undergraduates. Particularly if a project includes both postgraduate and undergraduate students, the proposal must explain how all students on the project team will be substantially engaged in the research. If the lead applicant is a postgraduate, one or more named undergraduate(s) can either be included on the project team at application stage, and/or undergraduate(s) can be recruited to the team after funding is confirmed.

See our co-creation page for resources to support and promote co-creative practice.

Proposals must include a detailed budget. See Funding and Budget Guidance for key information about what costs we do and don’t support and a sample budget.

If you would like to discuss your proposal before applying, click on this link to book a 15-minute consultation.

Key points:

Projects must be student-led and involve undergraduates
Projects must be completed within 3 months of the lead applicant’s graduation at the latest
Work funded through Project Support cannot be used for or contribute to any form of assessment
Students can submit one application per funding call as the lead or co-lead applicant
Consider if your research may or would require ethical approval; if it does, IATL has an ethics process for student research undertaken outside of a module, or you may be able to use your home department’s student ethics process. If you have a question or are unsure about ethical approval, you can book a 15-minute consultation.
All projects will apply to share their research through the International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR) and/or the journal Reinvention, alongside other forms of sharing that applicants propose.
We may bring students together to work jointly if they propose similar topics.

Please ensure you review Approvals Required before you apply. Applications missing required approvals after the deadline will not be considered.

For the purposes of Project Support, PhD students are considered students (rather than staff), including if they are undertaking paid teaching work at the university, and so are eligible to apply for Project Support.

To learn about projects we have supported recently, please visit our ProjectsLink opens in a new window page.

Guiding Themes for this funding call

Projects must align with at least one of the following Guiding Themes. The themes reflect IATL’s strategic priorities for a research-infused curriculum.

These themes are intended to support and orientate project design rather than prescribe project scope.

See also the next tab, Illustrative questions and starting points, offered as inspiration as you align your proposal with one of more of these Guiding Themes.

Guiding Theme 1: Access, Equity and Participation in Undergraduate Research

Understanding the structures, barriers and enablers that shape who participates in undergraduate research.

Guiding Theme 2: The Undergraduate Research Experience

Examining the motivations, challenges, identities and skills that define students’ research journeys.

Guiding Theme 3: Embedding Research in Taught Curriculum

Exploring how curricular, co‑curricular and hybrid models can integrate research into teaching and learning.

Guiding Theme 4: Research Cultures and Dissemination for Student Researchers

Investigating how students engage with research cultures and how their work can be communicated, published or showcased.

Guiding Theme 5: Interdisciplinarity and Innovation to Support Undergraduate Research

Considering how interdisciplinary work and innovative platforms — including ICUR and Reinvention — can support undergraduate research.

Illustrative questions and starting points

The following questions are offered not as requirements but as inspiration as you align your project proposal with one or more of the Guiding Themes for this funding call. These questions highlight areas of particular interest within IATL’s strategy for a research-infused curriculum.

Projects are welcome to interpret these questions creatively or move beyond them entirely.

In your application, you may use these prompts as starting points, provocations or points of departure, shaping proposals that speak to your own contexts, academic disciplines and ambitions. We welcome proposals that will enable project teams to explore what may be working well and/or what could be improved and the reasons for this. We encourage innovative, exploratory and unexpected approaches that contribute to the wider landscape of student research at Warwick.

Illustrative questions:

1. Access, Equity, and Participation

What are the barriers that prevent undergraduates from participating in research?
How can undergraduate research be made more accessible, inclusive and equitable?
What challenges do students face once engaged in research, and are these challenges experienced unevenly?

2. Skills, Capacities and the Research Experience 3. Research In and Outside of the Curriculum

Should student research take place within the curriculum, on the modules that students take; be co‑curricular, taking place outside the formal curriculum but complementing/enhancing what students learn on their course; be extracurricular, unrelated to a course of study and more focused on personal development/interests; or a combination of these?
How can research be embedded effectively into modules, assessments, summer projects or other structures?
What are the implications of research being assessed as part of curriculum delivery?

4. Research Cultures, Communities and Dissemination 5. Interdisciplinarity and Innovation

Funding and Budget Guidance

Applications must include a full breakdown of the budget, supported by detail to explain each proposed cost.

FAQs

What kinds of projects or costs does IATL *not* fund?

Project Support funding does not normally cover:

purchase or use of equipment
a project that involves delivering a course of learning
fees to publish material in a journal or on a platform
a project of yours that is the same or very similar to one we funded earlier. Contact us before applying if you wish to develop a project that has already received support.

Students, please note that funded activity/outcomes:

cannot be used as part of any student assessment
must be completed within 3 months after the project lead's graduation at the latest.

Please ensure you review guidance on key points for proposals and Guiding Themes for this funding call. If you are unsure whether we can fund an item or activity, please ask us before you apply.

Budget shortfall and/or other funding applications

If your project costs exceed the total amount available through Project Support, you must explain how you plan to cover the funding shortfall.

If you are (also) applying to another funding scheme, you must provide details and specify what costs would be covered by Project Support versus the other scheme. You must also explain what would happen if you do not secure another funding award.

What rate should students be paid?

We support students being paid for their project work when possible given the funding limit. There are two approaches to calculating student payments:

calculate living costs (accommodation, food, etc.) during the project period, and list these costs, or a proportion of them if you plan to work on a project part-time rather than full-time. Be sure to provide a total figure supported by a detailed breakdown - OR
calculate a hourly rate: the standard rate we support for student work is the equivalent of Unitemps FA4 spinal point 16. This is currently £15.77/hour (August 2025 rates). Student projects are funded through a bursary, so you would not actually be employed through Unitemps and there is no Unitemps fee.
See the 'What does a good budget look like?' tab for a sample budget.

If I am awarded funding, how and when will I be paid?

Project Support funding is provided via a bursary payment which is paid into your student account.

If your application is awarded funding, it can take up to 10 working days and sometimes longer for you to receive the bursary.

Ensure you allow for this timing, as well as for ethical approval if required, when planning a project.

What does a good budget look like?

Be specific, include details and don't generalise. We need to understand why you need the money you’re applying for and how you arrived at the figures in your budget. If you include an estimate, explain how you estimated that cost. For the Unitemps rate referred to below, see 'What rate should students be paid?'

An example of a budget without sufficient detail:

'I am applying for £1,200 from IATL. Basically, I need this amount to cover my travel and other project costs. I will need to travel out of town a few times to interview participants. I might also need to pay someone to help me with filming since I have no experience of this'.

Here is a stronger example of a research project budget. It draws on details, including the planned number of participants and hours of researcher work, that the applicant has already included in their proposal:

Example research budget

Cost 1, Participant Compensation: for their involvement in the project, each participant will be offered a £20 voucher. Including 12 participants and compensating them £20 each = £240
Cost 2, Materials Production: Each booklet given to participants consists of 16 pages. According to a quote from Smith Printing on 21 November 2025, printing one page costs 10p. So 12 booklets of 8 pages at £0.10 per page (12 x 8 x £0.10) = £9.60
Cost 3, Student researcher costs:
- Student 1: 5 hours per week for 6 weeks = 30 hours
- Students 2 and 3: 4 hours per week for 6 weeks (2 x 4 x 6) = 48 hours
- Equivalent Unitemps rate is £15.77/hour, so the total cost for student researchers: 30 + 48 = 78 hours x £15.77 = £1,230.06
Total budget: £240 + £9.60 + £1,230.06 = £1,479.66

Any examples provided here are to demonstrate the type of information to include, rather than indicating that we are able to support specific requests.

Approvals Required

All applications require supporting statement(s) for the lead applicant, received by the deadline. The type of supporting statement(s) required depends on the level of the lead student applicant - see tabs below. Upload your statement to the application form or email to us at: IATL.ProjectSupport@warwick.ac.uk

Late submissions will not be accepted, and applications missing a required statement will not be considered.

Undergraduate or Masters student lead

An Academic Supporting Statement is required for all undergraduate and Masters student leads.

Please take some time to discuss your proposal with an academic who can then provide you with a supporting statement.

Your supporting academic must complete the Supporting Statement template. We must receive the completed statement by the deadline.

PhD student lead

Two approvals are required for a PhD student lead. These are:

statement of support from your PhD supervisor;
approval from your Head of Department.

For both approvals, please submit a brief email or document that includes their signature. An email will be taken as electronic signature. Your PhD supervisor does not need to complete the Academic Supporting Statement template. We must receive both approvals by the deadline.

How to apply & timescales

Please ensure you have reviewed all guidance before you apply, including

what types of project proposals and themes we support
our funding process
what approvals are required by the deadline.

We must receive all application materials including the online application form and approval(s) by the deadline. Incomplete applications will not be considered. The Review Panel includes staff and students.

To discuss your proposal before applying, click on this link to book a 15-minute consultation.

if you cannot find any open consultation slots, try refreshing the page

Timescales:

Application deadline is noted on the Project Support webpage
Review Panels usually meet 10-12 working days after a deadline
After the Review Panel meets, we aim to contact you within 10 working days
If projects are approved, it can take another 10 working days and sometimes longer for a bursary to be paid
Please allow for all timescales above, and seeking ethical approval if required, in your planning.

Click here to access the Project Support Application Form (2025/26) Link opens in a new window