On the 21st of March, the CLI hosted a Fellows Connect event with a special focus on research grants. The event included talks from the Nationaal Regieorgaan Onderwijsonderzoek (NRO) representatives on what research the NRO supports, as well as how they work to disseminate the new information arising from this research.
Walking into the Education Lab on the 21st of March, the atmosphere was buzzing, with old and new CLI fellows filling the space. With a CLI Fellowship, you can spend 0.2 FTE every week on researching educational innovation or working on an educational project. The CLI regularly organises events for its past and present fellows, such as Fellows Connect. This edition marked the fifth anniversary of Fellows Connect events, which was celebrated with cake. Each edition has a different theme; however, the overarching aim is to encourage networking and the spread of ideas and information among fellows.
This Fellows Connect focused on the topic of research grants. To facilitate this, guests Lars de Bruin, Pia Hindriks, and Lisa Sipma from the Nationaal Regieorgaan Onderwijsonderzoek (NRO) joined us at the Education Lab to discuss this topic. The event included talks from the NRO representatives on what research the NRO supports, as well as how they work to disseminate the new information arising from this research. Furthermore, CLI Fellow and NRO grant recipient Marieke Meeuwisse (associate professor at ESSB, research fellow of the CLI, awarded with a Comenius teaching fellowship and member of the KNAW Comenius Network) shared her experiences and tips from the project she worked on that was funded by the NRO.
What is the NRO and what do they do?
The Nationaal Regieorgaan Onderwijsonderzoek (NRO) is an independent unit of the Dutch Research Council, which specializes in educational research, across all disciplines and education levels in the Netherlands. They aim to impact the educational landscape of the Netherlands as a whole, so they focus on the broader level of improvements and innovations that can come from the combined work of individuals.
The NRO supports categories of research projects through funding in several application periods throughout the year. Projects are ranked on different themes, as well as if they are more research-based or innovation-based, but there are also ‘free research’ topics, where the researcher can pursue any topic they are passionate about.
How the NRO helps improve life on campus and innovate for the future
Through the various grants that the NRO provides, researchers from all levels of education, including from EUR, can apply to have their project funded by the NRO. One such researcher is Marieke Meeuwisse, who applied for NRO funding for her research into psychosocial factors that relate to student success. She explained that, while you will not get every grant you apply for, it is still a great experience to work together with the NRO. She recommended looking into short-term and small-scale practice-based research that the NRO offers to start with, and then also potentially become an assessor for the NRO, as to learn what goes into a successful project proposal. Following these experiences, Marieke was awarded with a Comenius teaching fellowship, and has subsequently become part of the KNAW Comenius Network. This network spans over 500 other Comenius grant recipients, and organises events to facilitate the exchange of new information and ongoing research findings.
Alongside the mission of stimulating and advancing educational research and innovation, another goal of the NRO is to spread these new findings and information. Thus, the NRO organizes many events and conventions yearly in which researchers and educators can come together and share their experiences. These events include the NRO Congress and the Comenius Festival, which are both great opportunities to learn about current research, and meet like-minded researchers who may become future collaborators.
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If you would like to know more about CLI Fellowships, visit the website! It provides information on how to apply for a fellowship, as well as current and previous fellowship projects.
Want to know more about NRO? Then visit their website.
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