Background
The Ministry of Education (MOE) Tertiary Education Research Fund (TRF) was launched on 30 Apr. TRF was set up to promote innovation and research into teaching and learning at a higher education level.
The Tertiary Education Research Fund (TRF) funds applied educational research projects on a competitive basis across Singapore's publicly-funded universities, polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education (ITE).
Through the TRF, the MOE empowers Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to actively and continuously improve teaching and learning (T&L) practices based on reliable research and data. The TRF promotes effective and innovative T&L practices which have the potential to improve the quality of T&L across all IHLs in Singapore.
The total project value (TPV) and duration of project will depend on the project category:
| Project Category | Total Project Value | Duration of project |
| Individual | $40, 000 - $250, 000 | Up to 2 years |
| Programmatic | Up to $1M | Up to 3 years |
TRF projects may take on one of four forms:
1. Ideation or Proof of Concept Projects
2. Translation Projects
3. Scaling Projects
4. Evaluation Studies
Internal deadlines for MOE TRF
5 Jun : Submission of proposal for evaluation (Mandatory)
- a single PDF file containing all documents
19 Jun : Return of reviewers feedback to PI for refinement
25 Jun : Softcopy submission to RSO for checks
29 Jun : Hardcopy submission to RSO for endorsement
Evaluation panel
During the 30 Apr briefing, MOE has shared that some of the abstracts or tentative titles collated from PIs were not on applied education research. In their recent email, MOE has reiterated their request for all institutions to take ownership of the quality of proposals prior to submission. Hence an evaluation panel has been set up to ensure submissions are aligned with the TRF funding scheme as well as provide feedback to help PIs improve their proposals prior to submission.
Points to note
· The TRF scheme funds only applied educational research
· A proposal can consist of one or combination of the forms: a) Ideation or Proof of Concept Projects, b) Translation Projects, c) Scaling Projects or d) Evaluation Projects
· PIs with overlapping areas of interest are encourage to work together to submit a joint proposal for greater impact. MOE encourages collaboration across faculties/divisions/schools within the institutions, as well as across institutions.
For further clarification, please contact Dr Ong Tan Ching at tcong@ntu.edu.sg or tel: 6790 5637
