Figure 2. Action Research Spiral taken from Kemmis, McTaggart & Nixon p.19, 2014.
Kemmis, McTaggart & Nixon (2014) explain that “around the world, many people are now familiar with this ‘spiral of action research’. In reality, action research is rarely as neat as this spiral of self-contained cycles of planning, acting and observing, and reflecting suggests. The stages overlap, and initial plans quickly become obsolete in the light of learning from experience. In reality, the process is likely to be more fluid, open and responsive.” They argue that “for critical participatory action research, the criterion of success is not whether participants have followed the steps faithfully, but whether they have a strong and authentic sense of development and evolution in their practices, their understandings of their practices, and the situations in which they practice.”
TO DO LIST:
Before SIG (Plan)
The SIG (Act)
After the SIG (Observe and Reflect)
Proposed collab with EDI, Disability Services and ChangeMakers + EDI Small Grant Application Details
*(As of 29 September 2025) I reached out (Fig. 1) to the EDI and Disability Services and the LCC ChangeMakers to “explore whether there might be an opportunity to connect, collaborate, or share the project’s findings with them and their teams” and received a few replies of interest (Fig. 3).
I completed and sent the LCC EDI Small Grant Application form on 13th October 2025. Although the deadline for application is on the 20th of October, I was kindly confirmed that if successful, I should be able to get the funds on time to run the event on the 26th “If all is well and goes as planned (i.e.. you are successful with your application), it is very likely that you have the funds by mid-November.” Initially the event was planned for the 19th Nov. but due to the tight deadlines for funds I decided to postpone the proposed date of a week.
At first I thought of applying for the School-based Student Enhancement Fund and contacted the contact provided on the website. I was initially encouraged to apply but then told by my Programme Director that it was not the right fund. So I then contacted LCC fund but was told that decisions for the funds will be made around mid-Nov and was told that they were not sure whether “the proposal to pay students via Research Funding is acceptable” and there wee uncertainties “about the PG Cert support through the research funding pot”. Meanwhile I also enquried about the EDI Funds and received a reply encouraging me to apply for EDI Small Grants.
The funds would enable me to:
· Compensate students for the time (using £5 vouchers they can spend at Uni, perhaps?) – = Total of £150 voucher for students’ participation (£5 each).
· Offer coffees/teas/water and light snacks during the SIG – I asked the canteen for a cost estimation for coffee/teas/biscuits for around 30 people and the asked for around: £112.50 for Fairtrade & organic brewed coffee & selection of teas and herb infusion with biscuits (£3.75 each).
· Buy resources to run the SIG (i.e., paper, coloured pens, pencils, post-it notes and perhaps some sensory materials? – Play doh, threads, pins, cotton, glue, balloons, straws, wooden sticks, pipe cleaners, beads and buttons, bubble wrap, pom poms) – should be around £70/80 for resources
The total amount requested is of around £350/£400.
On the 14th November I received an initial response from the LCC EDI Small Grants Selection Panel confirming the grant was not successful. This was an unfortunate news because although well regarded the application didn’t fully meet the criteria because “local need was insufficient – no evidence that what I propose and what students needs has been explored” and “motivation is linked to personal development”. I replied to their email today explaing that “I’m disappointed that I have not emphasised enough the needs of students for carrying out such an event. It is unfortunate, given the current circumstances some of my last year students and I are in (which I cannot talk about) and the general experiences of some of my students since I joined UAL, that the event is being interpreted as primarily for my personal development. I noticed that I haven’t clearly articulated the students’ needs, but that is due to my personal circumstances.
I don’t need this event for my PGCert requirements, for the purpose of the PGCert I could only propose such an intervention and/or make something very small with a few colleagues and/or students, and it would be enough. Additionally, I already have a CHI 2025 publication on this topic (with another submission this year for a related meet-up), which is the highest-ranking venue to publish in my field, for which I got Research Funds last year. So, it’s frustrating that the student benefit hasn’t come through strongly enough.
Should I emphasis more the student’s needs for such an intervention, could I try submitting again?
This won’t be part of my PGCert – but motivated by current and past circumstance. However, I would appreciate your advice on how to go about motivating student’s needs based on recent student’s experiences that have now created a situation that cannot be discussed at the current moment – that’s why I’m finding it tricky to elaborate.”
I told them that any advice would be greatly appreciated, and I’m now waiting for a reply. Additionally on the 17th November, I contacted my PD whom I had a conversation about this already and asked him if he would be interested in providing the funds instead. This was something he offered already but when I mentioned that the EDI Small Grants could be an option, he suggested “I get one their radar” and so I applied for that instead. As of today I haven’t received a reply yet, but he was off/out of the country until yesterday so it might take a while for him to catch up with all the emails he might have received.
So, what now? Now, I’m a confused on how to proceed :S
Worst case scenario, for the purpose of the PgCert, I will make something smaller with a group of students I am more in contact with. I can then keep trying to get funds – while being able to provide more shareable evidence by perhaps sending our a pool to students asking if they would like such an event to happen – to then carry out the event later on in the year.
EDI Small Grant Application Update (25 November 2025): After having asked the panel to reconsider my proposal based on the provided evidence last week, I have received an email confirming the panel is now interested in providing the funds. I will meet with one of the EDI coordinators tomorrow at 4pm and then after with Kwame to refine details for the scope of the PGCert submission. I am glad that I managed to emphasise the importance of this intervention based on real students needs.