Access and Participation Plan Intervention Innovation Fund

We want to support innovative, evidence-based projects that:

• Address equality of opportunity gaps for our APP Priority Groups
• Are underpinned by sector good practice and research evidence
• Include meaningful student voice and co-creation
• Have potential to scale across the institution
• Can be robustly evaluated to contribute to sector evidence
• Can be delivered between March and June 2026

Projects should focus on aiming to support the reduction of an APP Priority Group gap, which could be any of the following:

Access gaps

• TUNDRA Q1 (Students from the most underrepresented neighbourhoods in higher education)
• Free School Meal Eligibility (Students who were eligible for free school meals during school)

Attainment gaps

• Ethnicity (Students from Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnic backgrounds)
• IMD Q1 (Students from the most deprived areas - Index of Multiple Deprivation Quintile 1)
• Disability (Students who have disclosed mental health conditions or multiple impairments)

Continuation and completion gaps

• Mature Students (Students aged 21 or over at the start of their course)

Progression gaps

• Black Students
• IMD Q1 (Students from the most deprived areas - Index of Multiple Deprivation Quintile 1)

Full lifecycle support

• Care Leavers (Students who have spent time in local authority care) and Estranged Students (Students with no contact or support from their parents/guardians))
• Asylum Seekers (Students seeking asylum in the UK)

The dashboard below shows equality of opportunity gaps at Keele across four key lifecycle stages: Continuation, Completion, Attainment, and Progression. Data is shown as 2-year and 4-year averages for each stage.

How to read this dashboard

• Each number is a percentage point gap - it shows the difference in outcomes between APP Priority Groups and comparison groups
• Red/salmon shaded cells indicate gaps - the darker the red, the larger the gap where disadvantaged students are underperforming
• Blue shaded cells show areas where disadvantaged students are performing better than the comparison group
• White/neutral cells indicate minimal or no gap

What the numbers mean

For example, if you see “18.0” in red under Attainment for black students, this means black students achieve good degrees at a rate 18 percentage points lower than white students - this is a significant gap requiring intervention.

Using this data for your application

When developing your Innovation Fund proposal:

• Identify the largest gaps (darkest red cells) in your area of interest
• Match your project to a specific APP Priority Group shown in the left column (e.g., TUNDRA Q1, black students, IMD Q1, students with mental health disabilities)
• Target a specific lifecycle stage (Continuation, Completion, Attainment, or Progression)
• Reference specific gap sizes in your application to demonstrate strategic alignment

Need more detailed data?

For School or programme-level gap analysis, please contact Si Price.

Projects will be required to clearly articulate the following:

• The rationale behind selection of the chosen theme
• Details of the proposed project, its outputs and how it is envisaged that this will enhance (a) institutional practice; and (b) sector practice
• Clear link to the institutional Equality of Opportunity Risk Register
• The standard of evidence you aim to produce (Type 1, Type 2, Type 3)
• How you intend to evaluate the project
• How you intend to develop the project in a scalable way for the benefit of the wider institution
• How student consultation and engagement will be embedded within the project
• A detailed breakdown of planned expenditure
• A Theory of Change

To apply for the funding, you will be required to submit a Theory of Change. You are encouraged to attend a Theory of Change Workshop prior to submitting an application.

We will deliver workshops from mid-January 2026 to support you in developing a Theory of Change for your application. These workshops will cover what a Theory of Change is and why it matters, using the TASO Theory of Change template, developing your project logic model, and evidence standards and evaluation planning.

Theory of Change Workshops will take place during the following times. Please register via Keele People or the Keele App.

Funding is available for up to five projects. Each project will receive up to £1,000 for evidence gathering and preparatory activity (i.e. sector review, development of a project plan, ethics application and approval, pilot activities and evaluation, etc).

All funding must be spent within the year it is awarded (i.e. funding must be spent by 30 June in the same year it is awarded).

Funding will NOT be provided for teaching or workload buy-out, or equipment for staff.

Eligible costs include materials and resources, student engagement activities, evaluation costs, dissemination activities, workshop delivery, specialist input, and other direct project costs.

Any unspent funds must be returned before year-end. They cannot be spent on anything else or reallocated.

If you wish to prepare your answers offline beforehand, you can download Intervention Innovation Fund application questions (PDF). As part of the application, you are required to upload a Theory of Change. Applications without a Theory of Change will not be considered and will instead be considered an incomplete application.

Applications will be assessed on the following criteria:

• Strategic alignment: Clear APP Priority Group and gap
• Evidence base: Clear evidence-informed rationale for project, or clear lack of sector or global evidence for this intervention type
• Institutional alignment: Clear link to the institutional Equality of Opportunity Risk Register
• Evaluation quality: Clear overview of intended evaluation
• Impact potential: Strength of potential benefit(s)/impact(s) in relation to the highlighted area
• Scalability: Potential for wider institutional and sector application
• Student voice: Effectiveness of proposed approach to student involvement in the project
• Value for money: Clear, justified budget with good value for expected impact

All applicants will receive feedback on their proposals, whether successful or not, to support future applications and development.

Application deadline: Friday 27 February 2026, 5pm.

Please fill out the Application form here. 

Successful applicants will be required to:

• Sign a project agreement outlining deliverables, timeline, and monitoring requirements
• Provide a valid internal budget code for funding transfer and obtain budget holder sign-off
• Provide regular progress updates to the APP Strategy Group (typically quarterly)
• Complete financial reconciliation by 30 June 2026
• Produce an End of Year 1 evaluation report by July 2026
• If continuing to Year 2, produce a final evaluation report for external publication

Projects that demonstrate strong impact and scalability potential in Year 1 may be considered for continuation funding in Year 2 (2026-27).

• Access & Participation Plan
• Keele Evaluation Framework
• Keele Evaluation Framework ThingLink
• Theory of Change ThingLink

Contact information

If you have questions about the Innovation Fund or would like to discuss your project idea, please contact Si Price, Head of Student Participation and Success.