The Education Incubator

The Education Incubator, part of Experimentation and Innovation, is a University of Exeter investment in cultivating pedagogic innovation and collaboration. The Education Incubator supports and encourages educators from across the University to develop innovative approaches to teaching and learning by creating spaces in which educators feel empowered to explore new pedagogic ideas and participate in peer learning.

We do this through the delivery of our:

Grant funding for University of Exeter academic and professional colleagues to work in teams to deliver projects that will innovate an identified pedagogic challenge. In the academic year 24-25, the Education Incubator will offer three grant funding streams to educators at the University of Exeter;

• Phase 1:  Experimentation Grants
• Phase 2:  Incubation Grants
• Phase 3:  Acceleration Grants

Communities of Practice which bring together colleagues across the university to participate in networks of interested peers. For our Incubator Fellows we host Development Workshops, Incubator Cafes and an online network. Through these platforms we support our Incubator Fellows to share their project learning experiences and explore inspirational education practice. For our wider colleagues we bring people together through our Writing Retreats, LunchTimeTalks and our varied partnership events.

Effective Partnerships between educators and students.The Education Incubator provides opportunities for collaborations across the University of Exeter. Through our Grants we enable partnerships that inform future education, and offer a space to reimagine and redefine learning.

Our approaches

The Education Incubator supports educational innovation through our approaches to design thinking, person-centred care and co-creation.

Design Thinking: We support Incubator Fellows by offering problem solving resources that help identify and frame a pedagogic problem, then test, evaluate and iterate ideas to solve it. Find out more about these resources on the Experimentation grants page.

Person-Centred Care: Through our Communities of Practice, we provide spaces for our Incubator Fellows (both educators and students) to conduct open conversations, encouraging a culture of care, openness and honesty, which acknowledges emotion. Innovators are supported and learn from each other, so that the greatest value and visibility are created by the collective. By doing this, we aim to generate better results for Incubator Fellows, but also to create and maintain meaningful change within the education system. 

Co-Creation: Through the delivery of our Education Incubator Grants and Communities of Practice, we create an environment that encourages peer-learning, sharing, and exchange between Incubator Fellows - encompassing University of Exeter staff, wider professional networks and student-led initiatives. We believe that co-creating provides the best conditions for the success of the projects we support – resulting in better experiences and outcomes for our students, educators and the education system.

Our values 

The values that underpin our delivery and approaches are creativity, collaboration, and empowerment.

We gather with the spirit of curiosity to challenge traditional thinking and test emerging ideas.