Challenges of Education opens a new call with 9 educational challenges for UC researchers

This initiative, promoted by the educational innovation laboratory of the Catholic University (EduLab UC), in conjunction with various public and private institutions, arises with the purpose of providing funding to research teams to provide solutions to relevant educational problems in the country. Applications are open until April 29, 2022 through edulab.uc.cl.

With an in-person ceremony at the UC Anacleto Angelini Innovation Center, which was attended by the eleven partner entities linked to the program, university authorities and research teams, the 2022 call for proposals for the Challenges of Education Program EduLab UC.

In this space, the nine challenges presented by the partner entities of the program were officially announced, and which seek to summon researchers, academics and students to participate by financing for the development of proposals for solutions to these challenges.

Along with the launch of the new call, the event also held the recognition ceremony for the five institutions and research teams that worked together in the 2021 call, and who successfully developed innovative solutions to the challenges posed within the framework of the last edition of Education Challenges.

The event was also marked by a magisterial talk led by Javier González, Director of the Laboratory of Innovation in Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (SUMMA), entitled “Challenges of Innovation in Education in Chile: What? For whom? How?”

Contest details

Based on research challenges posed by entities in the educational world, the Educational Challenges program is a contest that seeks to convene interdisciplinary research teams to compete for funding for the development of evidence-based educational solutions.

In this call, there are nine challenges presented by Integra Foundation, the Municipality of La Cisterna, Mustakis Foundation, Súmate Foundation, Mis Talentos Foundation, the Municipality of Melipilla and the VOA Foundation, partner entities that will choose the best solution proposals according to their educational needs.

The selected teams will receive $4.000.000 pesos in financing to work throughout the year with the institutions in the development of the proposals, which are later delivered to the entities and implemented in real educational environments. With this, the aim is to generate a real impact on educational practices based on scientific research.

Applicants to the contest can come from any institution in the country, with the only requirement that they have at least one academic or academic UC present in the research team. Those teams or people who need to find more members or who do not have a UC researcher, may contact EduLab UC to see connection possibilities.

“In this third version of the contest, we have matured this model that allows research to serve the educational needs of society, not only with results that can be implemented, but also establishing a very enriching link between the academy and the actors of the educational world” said Diego Caro, head of EduLab UC.

Applications will be open between March 24 and April 29, 2022, while an explanatory webinar of the contest will be held on March 31 at 11.30:14 a.m. The announcement of the selected teams for each challenge will take place on May 2022, XNUMX.

Results of the 2021 version

The previous version of this program ended with the development of five solutions that are already in the final stage of development. These solutions, carried out by interdisciplinary teams, consist of:

• A technology incorporation model for blind people in an educational community;
• an evaluation instrument for an intervention program in older adults,
• a methodological proposal to reduce the school lag caused by the pandemic,
• a platform to promote remote self-training of school managers and teachers, and
• an adaptation of an intervention model for the National Service for Minors, to promote the development of skills in adolescents. These were the five results obtained in this call.

Explanatory talk of the contest

To help explain the bases of the program, as well as the application and details of each program, on Thursday, March 31 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. an explanatory webinar will be held with representatives of each social entity. To participate, those interested only have to register at this link.

Application and call details

All the information of the program, as well as the bases and details of each challenge are present on the website edulab.uc.cl