The selection of Education-Focused SoTL Grants (EF SoTL Grants) for 2026 has been completed. Congratulations to all successful applicants for putting forward innovative and ambitious proposals.
In the 2026 round:
Applications for the 2026 EF SoTL Grant program opened in December 2025 and closed on 23 February 2026. We received a large number of applications from across the University and are pleased to announce the following applications were successful:
| Effective Coordination of Large Units of Study |
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Jiva Lamsal, Mohammad Polash (Engineering), Janine Coupe (Business), Benjamin Lay (Business), Angela Hecimovic (Business), Amanda Turner (Engineering), Ross West (Engineering), Guien Miao (UTS, Engineering), James Wakefield (UTS, Business) & Spyros Schismenos (RMIT, Engineering) |
| From Studio to Sector: Embedding Visual Arts Professional Practice Through Exhibition |
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| Vicky Browne & Yvette Hamilton |
| Reflection in practice: supporting tutor development in large interdisciplinary experiential learning units |
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| Jessica Kean (FASS & DVC E&S), Felicity Blackstock (DVC E&S) & Lilian Cameron |
| Design Studios at the Cultural Interface: Building an Evidence Base for Best Practice |
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| Beau de Belle, Elle Davidson, Michael Mossman, Elizabeth Donovan, Genevieve Murray & Tara Sydney |
| Process-over-product assessment in the age of genAI: phase 2 |
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| Jessica Tyrrell & Marcel Scharth |
| Structure or anti-structure? Navigating tensions when teaching at scale |
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| Paul Finn, Jennifer Sun & Runshuang Tang |
| AI as a cognitive sparring partner: Combining slow computing principles to AI-Augmented Problem Solving in Business Information Systems education |
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| Sultana Lubna Alam & Mark Freeman & Diah Priharsari (Deakin University) |
| From Participation to Belonging: The role of Unmarked Group Presentations as a Pedagogy for Belonging, Collaboration, and Employability in a Large First-Year Business Unit |
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| Wes Hamilton-Jessop, Olga Gouveros & Sara Cao |
| Interactive Oral Assessments: Student Experience at Scale |
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| Eszter Kalman, Samantha Clarke & Jessica Frawley |
| Evaluating the impact of professional development: An investigation of the Modular Professional Learning Framework (MPLF) |
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| Jessica Frawley, Samantha Clarke and Eszter Kalman |
| Collaborating with Difference in Business: Supporting Confucius Heritage Culture (CHC) Students’ Participation in Group Work |
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| Jinqi Xu, Eagle Zhang (Business) & Felicity Blackstock |
| Building career agency through student engagement at scale: the role of emotional drivers and self-efficacy |
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| Jennifer Fletcher, Gordon Spence (Science), Casey Squires (Science) & Damian Birney (Science) |
| Beyond the declaration: Using human-in-the-loop telemetry to illuminate student-AI interaction and foster evaluative judgement |
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| Ali Shakiba & Thomas Chaffey |
| Improving Tutor Feedback Quality and Student Learning Outcomes Through Real-Time AI Guidance |
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| Hamish Fernando, Mohammad Polash, Elliot Varoy, Thomas Elton & Jonathan Kummerfeld |
| Fabrication-based Learning to Enhance Contextualization and Active Learning in Foundational Engineering Units |
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| Aditya Putranto, Gobinath Rajarathnam, Aoni Xu, Timothy Langrish, John Kavanagh, Marjorie Valix & David Alam |
| Early Warning: Using AI to Predict and Support At-Risk Students in Large-Scale Units |
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| Mohammed Polash, Hazem El-Alfy, Armin Chitizadeh & James Brown (Science) |
| Impact of AI Literacy on Student Learning in Introductory Programming Units |
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| Mary Lou Maher & Elliot Varoy |
| Designing AI-Facilitated Reflection in Experiential Learning: Mechanisms, Student Experience, and Responsible Integration |
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| Nicholas Tse & Corinna Galliano (Business) |
| Co-designing client-centered professional communication; learning to improve placement readiness in allied health and nursing students |
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| Petra Avramovic, Suzanne Máté, Gianina Raymundo, Robyn Johnson, Nicole D’Souza, Steph Busby & Tamara Power |
| Developing entrustable professional activities for advanced pharmacy practice: A work integrated learning initiative |
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| Lily Pham, Claire O’Reilly, Jessica Pace, Andrew Bartlett, Irene Um, Jack Collins, Susan Welch & Carl Schneider |
| Can live digital annotation improve visual attention and learning in virtual microscopy? An eye-tracking study in neurodivergent and neurotypical learners. |
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| Jessica Lazarus, Erik Wibowo, Suzanne Ollerenshaw, Frank Lovicu, Katie Dixon & Laura Lindsay |
| Designing simulated practice education experiences for allied health students that involve actors with lived experience of intellectual disability. |
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| Rene Fraser, Celine Serrano-Diaz, Rebecca Barton & Janelle Weise |
| Striving for Cultural Safety: Clinical Yarning Training and Assessment in the Sydney Pharmacy School |
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| Joel Hillman, Alexander Burke, Susan Welch, Rebekah Moles, Stephen Carter, Justine Dougherty, Elizabeth Bourne, Sarah Veli-Gold & Reakeeta Smallwood |
| The how and why of learning with Complete Anatomy: A high-level learner and educator impact evaluation |
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| Kat Sanders, Ashik Srinivasan, Jennifer Menzies, Sarah Croker, Thea Werkhoven & Fereshteh Pourkazemi |
| Prioritising student, staff and community voices in the co-design of lived experience trans and gender diverse simulation scenarios |
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| Justine Dougherty, Tracey Pearce, Horas Wong & Steph Busby |
| Feedback and rejection-sensitivity dysphoria in higher education. |
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| Renee Lim, Timothy Davies & Melinda Lawther |
| The HOME study: How Our Master’s students Experience belonging (Westmead Campus) |
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| Su Aung, Tamara Power, Brendan McCormack & Bangyun (Susanna) Wang |
| Understanding the Early Feedback Task (EFT) and its impact in the Faculty of Medicine and Health |
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| Melissa Cameron, Andre Johan Breedt, Tina Barclay, Catherine Leamey, Indigo Murphy, Kate Edwards & Scott Stimpson |
| Developing digital health competencies to enhance graduate employability |
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| Anna Janssen, Petra Avramovic, Adeola Bamgboje Ayodele (ADP), Carl Schneider & Krestina Amon |
| Students’ perceptions of learning critical reflection skills during health science work placements: Enhancing engagement in written and verbal reflection |
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| Sarah Nash, Nadia Tudberry, Milan Przulj, Elizabeth Bourne, Amani Bell, Rachael Rietdijk, Julia Blackford & Frances Gray |
| Office hours reimagined: ‘drop-in’ clinics for student success |
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| Kiplin Patanwala, Joanna Harnett & Ingrid Gelissen |
| Humanising Education through Aesthetic Relational Teaching: The HEART Project |
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| Ness MacGregor, Reakeeta Smallwood & Tamara Power |
| Co-designed interprofessional hi-fidelity manikin simulation to improve Faculty of Medicine and Health students’ ability to manage clinical deterioration |
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| Christina Darwell, Astrid Frotjold, Bangyun (Susanna) Wang, Justine Dougherty, Sonia Cheng & Michelle Maw |
| Understanding Student Help-Seeking in the Age of Educational AI: Pedagogical Alignment, Productive Struggle, and Question-Asking Behaviour |
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| Matthew Clemson, Angela Sun, Jonathan Kummerfeld (Engineering) & Sebastian Kobler (Engineering) |
| A cross-interdisciplinary evaluation of practical skills tests in large first-year biology, chemistry, and physics units |
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| Henry Matovu, Joy Ghrayche, Pierre Naeyeart, Daniel Schumayer, Francesca van den Berg, Mohammad Rafat, Michael Widjaja, Reece Sophocleous, Osu Lilje, Hong Dao Nguyen, Matthew Pye & Tim Lee |
| Strengthening engagement across the first- to second-year transition in large statistics units |
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| Januar Harianto, Andy Tran, Yeeka Yau, Liana Pozza & Diana Warren |
| Advancing Clinical Supervision Pedagogy: Using Developmentally-Tailored Approaches to Strengthen Engagement, Competency, and Confidence in Early Clinical Placements. |
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| Shannon Webb, Alice Norton, Trinh Ha, Elizabeth Seeley, Simon Boag & Maree Abbott |
| Evaluating Generative AI for Improved Student Feedback in Large First-Year Classes |
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| Francesca Van Den Berg, Osu Lilje, Rebecca Cross, Matthew Pye, Miki Jahn, Manuel Lequerica Tamara, Sabin Zahirovic, Pauline Ross & Dieter Hochuli |
| Student-facilitated success: The value of peer-assisted study sessions (PASS) for mathematics and statistics students |
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| Daniel Costa, Alissa Beath, Rosie Cameron, Jaslene (Huan) Lin, Steson Lo & Fu Ken Ly (DVC E&S) |
| Facing Feedback: Developing Student-Teacher Feedback Literacy Through Partnership |
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| Simon Boag, Alissa Beath, Daniel Costa, Steson Lo, Elizabeth Seeley, Shannon Webb, Kelsey Zimmermann & James Brown |
| Scaling Interactive Oral Assessment in Large STEM Units: Frameworks, Student Partnership, and AI-Supported Preparation |
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| Angela Sun, Andy Tran, Helen McGuire (FMH), Shila Ghazanfar & Rajesh Johnsam (Flinders University) |
| Teaching First-Year Students How to Learn: Co-designing Self-Regulated Learning at Scale |
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| Alissa Beath, Ju Li Ng (Business), Elizabeth Seeley & James Brown |
| Designing Industry-Linked Learning Pathways in Sustainability Programs |
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| Yinyan Liu, Fabian Sack, Yifei Ma, Mengyu Li & Manfred Lenzen |
| Investigating the Learning Impact of Individual Career Consultations in a Music Industry Skills Unit |
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| Jeremy Rose & Paul Mason (DVC E&S) |
In our Sydney in 2032 Strategy, we're committed to offering our students transformational learning experiences. The Education Focused SoTL Grant program is a competitive granting scheme which funds SoTL projects for Education Focused (EF) academics, with the goal of delivering this transformational learning experience.
Applications for the 2026 EF SoTL Grant program opened in December 2025 and closed on 23 February 2026. All academics who were currently employed during this time were eligible to be included on a proposal.
Applications were assessed on ten criteria:
1. Endorsement
2. Priority
3. The research question
4. Project feasibility and adherence to ethical approaches
5. Evidence-based innovation and discovery
6. Collaboration
7. Transferability
8. Impact and sustainability
9. Previous EF SoTL Grant progress (if applicable)
10. Budget
In the 2025 round:
Applications for the 2025 EF SoTL Grant program opened in early December and closed on 24 February 2025. We received a large number of applications from across the University and are pleased to announce the following applications were successful:
| Pedagogy for Civic Engagement and the Common Good: PPE and Beyond |
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| Vafa Ghazavi and Alexandre Lefebvre |
| Intercultural Collaborative Learning Through Virtual Exchange: Enhancing Japanese Language Learning Experience and Outcomes |
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| Ai Terada, Nobu Akagi, Masafumi Monden, and Yoko Yonezawa (Collaborators from Tohoku University include: Kazuko Suematsu, Rumi Watanabe, and Yukiko Shimmi) |
| Inclusive Learning with Generative AI: Supporting Diverse International Student Cohorts |
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| David Varga and Teodor Mitew |
| Exploratory Study on Application-based Learning Through Developing a Creative Campaign on Gender |
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| Arpita Das and Jessica Kean |
| Engaging the City: Urban Anthropology for Civic Purpose |
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| Leanne Williams Green and Vafa Ghazavi |
| Developing Collaborative Learning in Design Thinking |
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| Jody Watts, Ju Li Ng (Business), and Vanessa Loh |
| Evidence-based Practices of Assessment in Design Education |
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| Ricardo Sosa Medina, Nina Hansopaheluwakan Edward, Emrah Baki Ulas, Brittany Klaassens, Jody Watts, Samuel Gillespie, Moe Qashlan, Adrian Wong, and Michelle Chen |
| Operationalising Interactive Oral Assessment |
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| Alison Casey, Carmen Vallis, Dewa Wardak, Elly Meredith, Joseph Boulis, Swati Nagar, Danny Gozman, Praveena Chandra, and Angus McBean |
| Assessing Process Over Product in the Age of genAI |
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| Jessica Tyrrell and Marcel Scharth |
| AI-Driven Simulations for Real-World Finance Education: Transforming Trading in FINC6010 |
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| Daisy Liu, Quan Gan and Stephen Fan |
| A Cross-Institutional Analysis of Gender Disparities in the Finance Major at Australian Universities |
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| Craig Mellare and Evelyn Lai (UNSW) |
| Decolonising Business Education: Applying Constructive Alignment with AI to Foster Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Teaching and Learning Environments |
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| Mesepa Paul, Swati Nagar, Amy McHugh (NCCC), and Elif Sahin (NCCC) |
| Empowering Lifelong Learners: The Role of Generative AI in Self-Regulated Learning |
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| Jennifer Sun, Doowon Lee, Ju Li Ng, He (Fred) Huang, and Mark Freeman |
| Exploring Evidence-based Approaches to Enhancing Consistency and Overcoming Challenges in Project-Based Learning (PBL) Units |
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| Sandhya Clement, Xi Wu and Peter Lok |
| Improving First-Year Engineering Units for Smooth Transition of First-Year Students to University |
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| Aditya Putranto, Tom Goldfinch, John Kavanagh, and Tim Wilkinson |
| AI-Facilitated Reflection: Enhancing Learning Beyond Written Submissions |
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| Nicholas Tse |
| Empowering AI Engineering Education: A Novel Learning Framework for Software Engineering |
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| Huaming Chen and Dong Yuan |
| Belonging Through Assessment |
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| Karina Murray, Sandra Noakes, Louise Cauchi, and Louisa Di Bartolomeo |
| Enhancing Epidemiology Education: Scenario-Based Learning for Real-World Preparedness |
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| Lucy Corbett, Tim Driscoll, Erin Mathieu and Michael Walsh |
| Can Repeated Spot Tests Help Health Sciences Students to Learn Anatomy Identification? |
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| Erik Wibowo, Elizabeth Clarke, and Sarah Kobayashi |
| Integrating Real-Time Feedback in Pharmacy Counselling Labs Through Drama-Based Learning |
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| Fatemeh Emadi, Jessica Pace, Paul Dwyer (Theatre and Performance Studies) and Jonathan Penm |
| Using an AI-driven Chatbot to Improve Confidence in Patient Communication Skills in Bachelor of Oral Health Students |
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| Kyle Cheng, Tabitha Acret and Melinda Lawther |
| Reimagining Assessment in Research Education for Health Professions Students in the Age of Generative AI |
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| Joanne Hart, Shailendra Sawleshwarkar, Shanika Nanayakkara, Danijela Gnjidic, and Thomas Baille |
| Developing Evaluative Judgement: Enabling Students to Make Decisions About the Quality of MCQs and SAQs in a Collaborative Pharmacy Exam Bank |
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| Rebecca Roubin, Megan Anakin, Andrew Bartlett, Tina Hinton, Slade Mathews, and Kellie Charles |
Nursing Curricular Innovation, joining: -Explore the Experience and Support Needs of a Postgraduate International Nurse at the Sydney Unversity -The Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence in Nursing Education: Co-designing Assessment Principles with Students |
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PIs: Elizabeth Leonard and Tamara Power Collaborators: Jacqueline Bloomfield, Belinda Clough, Murray Fisher, Kylie Lovardo, Michelle Maw, and Louise Sheehy |
| Whose Narrative Is It Anyways? Comparing Teacher-Student Narratives of First- Year Psychology Courses |
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| Simon Boag, Daniel Costa, Steson Lo, Elizabeth Seeley, Kelsey Zimmermann, and James Brown |
| Student Collaboration to Critically Evaluate and Re-design First-Year Animal Sciences Unit |
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| Emma Thompson |
| How Can We Close the Achievement Gap for International Students? |
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| Alice Huang and Dewa Wardak (Sydney Business School) |
| Refining Support and Assessment for Cultural Competency via Cultural Immersions |
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| Rebecca Cross, Matthew Pye, Tina Bell, and Jordan Pitt |
| Pilot Study to Enhance Physics Learning via AI |
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| Daniel Schumayer and Mohammad Rafat |
| Two-Stage Exams: Transforming Exams into Learning Experiences |
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| Timothy Lee, Caitlyn Forster, Stephen-George Williams, Tanya Latty, and Tom White |
| Student Learning with AI in MEDS, joining: -Enhancing Student Learning Through Generative AI-Driven Socratic Interactions -Improving Student Learning with AI: Developing an Evaluation Framework and Feedback System |
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PIs: Matthew Clemson and Angela Sun Collaborators: Sebastian Kobler (PhD student, Engineering) and Jonathan Kummerfeld (Engineering) |
Student Engagement in Maths/Quantitative 1000-level UoS, joining: -Understanding Lecture Attendance Patterns in First-Year Maths and Statistics |
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PIs: Rosie Cameron, Reyne Pullen and Yeeka Yau Collaborators: Jaslene Huan Lin, Ken Ly (DVCE), John Mitry, Hong-dao Nguyen, Mohammad Rafat, Andy Tran, Diana Warren and Michael Widjaja |
Student Learning with AI in Chemistry 1000-level UoS, joining: -Design and Evaluation of a Generative AI-supported 3D Visualisation Platform for Learning Abstract STEM Concepts |
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PIs: Stephen George-Williams, Henry Matovu and Pierre Naeyaert Collaborators: Osu Lilje, Elliot Varoy (Engineering), Michael Widjaja, Shane Wilkinson and David Yu |
| Investigating the Impact of Artificial Intelligence Chatbot on Student Understanding of Scientific Writing |
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| Osu Lilje, Tsz Wai Rosita Pang, Januar Harianto, Monica Basuki, Matt Pye, Christopher Hammang and Claudia Keitel |
| Smart Quizzes, Smarter Workflows: Investigating the Impact of AI-Generated Quizzes in Large Units of Study |
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| Reece Sophocleous, Francesca van den Berg, and Jane AL Kouba (University of Wollongong) |
| Eval-uation: Developing Evaluative Judgement in Science Education |
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| James Tsatsaronis, Francesca van den Berg, Reyne Pullen, and Ryan Sweeder (Michigan State University) |
| Uncovering Blind Spots: Inquiry Activation in AI Game-Based Learning for First-Year Music Studies |
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| Shin-Kang Lee (Gavin), Jocelyn Ho, Jeremy Rose, and Laura Case |
| Reflections from a Community of Music Practitioners on the Effectiveness of Ongoing Peer Review of Teaching |
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| Carla Trott, Jennifer Rowley |