eSTEeM Call for Scholarship Project Proposals July 2026

Welcome to the 27th eSTEeM call for scholarship project proposals. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is likely to play a key role in revolutionising many areas of our lives. The use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in HE has proven to be a highly contested area. The OU has responded by generating resources, interest groups and policies (for example,  Digital, Data and AI hub, Generative AI in learning, teaching and assessment at the OU and Critical AI Literacy Skills ). 

For this project call, eSTEeM would like to invite practitioners to investigate the role of GenAI in helping us to understand/interrogate the following strategic priority areas: 

• Equitable student experience and outcomes: We seek projects related to Access, Participation and Success (APS) which investigate issues around tuition, assessment, retention and awarding gaps for students from specific minoritised or marginalised groups. We are particularly interested in projects related to those students identified as high priority in the OU’s Access, Participation Plan: Black students, students with mental health challenges and students with the highest level of deprivation. For example, we would be interested to understand how GenAI could enhance or hinder these students’ outcomes and experience with the OU. Accessibility with respect to disabled and neurodivergent students’ experiences of GenAI tools would also be interest to us. 
• Continuation and completion: To meet the OU’s goal of enabling success for our students, we are actively seeking scholarship projects that investigate the roles of GenAI in enhancing or hindering student continuation, completion and sense of community/belonging. Projects examining risks, limitations or unintended consequences are equally welcome.
• Curriculum design and assessment: We are keen to encourage projects that investigate how GenAI can be deployed to deliver innovations in sustainable curriculum design and assessment as well as the limitations of doing so.
• Staff and student community, wellbeing and support: With the increase in awareness of requirements around staff and students’ mental and physical health, we are looking for projects that foster a supportive and inclusive environment for both staff and students. We are particularly interested in initiatives that address mental health and wellbeing, enhancing a sense of belonging and strengthening community connections across diverse student and staff populations. We would be interested to see proposals investigating ways in which GenAI can be used to achieve these goals.

A number of eSTEeM project teams have begun to focus on the use/implications of GenAI. If you are interested in knowing more about them, please visit 'Projects'. 

If you are developing a scholarship proposal that does not engage with GenAI directly, please be assured that we are planning to issue a generic project call in early 2027. If your project is time sensitive and you cannot wait until the next project call, please get in touch at [email protected]. The eSTEeM Directors would be happy to discuss how we can help you progress your project before the next call. 

As before, we are keen to support groups and individual scholars. To participate in this project call, please send in:  

1. Fully worked-up proposals by groups or individuals, or
2. An email expressing your interest in joining others working on particular themes. We will then match people according to your expressed interest(s) and help you explore and potentially develop a new project.

If you are new to the STEM Faculty and haven’t heard of eSTEeM, or have not previously engaged with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) but are interested in undertaking a SoTL, please talk to your School Scholarship Lead. Details can be found in the supplementary document under ‘Related Resources’ towards the bottom of this page. If you are based outside a school, or are unsure who best to contact, then please contact [email protected] in the first instance to arrange a discussion with an eSTEeM Director and we will advise you further.

Across all priority areas, we would encourage project teams to consider how to actively involve students as collaborators/co-investigators within their project teams. We are happy to provide guidance on how exactly this might be achieved within the context of your project and potentially put you in touch with students who might be interested in collaborating with you. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more.  

Before writing up a project proposal, we strongly encourage potential project leads to familiarise themselves with the latest OU policies and resources in GenAI (by visiting Digital, Data and AI hub, Generative AI in learning, teaching and assessment at the OU and New insights on student learning). 

Pre-bidding Workshop and Drop-in Sessions

We will be holding a pre-bidding workshop to assist colleagues with the preparation of an eSTEeM project proposal and to discuss any project ideas that you may have. We would strongly encourage anyone who is new to submitting a proposal to attend. The workshop will take place on Monday 7th September, 10.30-12.00 via MS Teams. The workshop will be recorded and available to view shortly afterwards. If you are unable to attend the workshop but wish to discuss your project idea or have any further queries, please email [email protected] or attend one of the drop-in sessions.

In addition, we will be holding two focused drop-in sessions (9th and 14th September, 19.00-20.00) to enable colleagues who are interested in the same priority areas to meet. Please confirm your attendance by visiting the registration page. Registration will close for the workshops at 17.00 on the 4th September. If you wish to attend any of the sessions but have not registered by then, please email [email protected].   

Budget 

The expected amount of funding for each project will be up to a maximum of £4,000 for the total duration of the project. Funding for external dissemination to UK or international conferences may be requested separately up to a maximum of £2,000. However, please note that any requests must be made to the eSTEeM Management Team before the submission of an abstract to a conference and is dependent on the remaining budget within eSTEeM for that academic year.

Length of project

The estimated duration of projects is around 12-18 months with each team member expected to commit a minimum of 10 days for the duration of the project. 

Full project proposals

If you have a worked-up proposal in mind, then please download a project proposal form below under ‘Related Resources’.

Expressions of Interest

If you unable to submit a full proposal but would be interested in working with others on a particular theme, then please register your interest by sending an email to [email protected] indicating the priority area(s) you are interested in investigating and why.

Submission deadline

The deadline for fully worked-up proposals and expressions of interest is 17.00 Friday 9th October 2026. Please note that late submissions will not be considered within this call. Proposals will be scrutinised by the eSTEeM Coordination Group in November and proposers will be informed shortly afterwards.

For more information regarding the selection criteria, sign-off procedure, details about the pre-bidding workshop and drop-in sessions and details of the School Scholarship Leads, please see the supplementary document below under ‘Related Resources’. Please read the supplementary document carefully. 

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. We look forward to receiving your proposals and expressions of interest.