Impact Fund

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The EEUK Impact fund awards around Ā£40,000 on annual basis to support research and development in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education. The Impact fund, and itā€™s predecessor EERPF have resulted in the development of pedagogical tools, impactful research findings and many other great outcomes which have impacted on the work of Enterprise Educators worldwide.

Applications for 2026-27 have now closed. Applications for 2027-28 will open in Spring 2027.

If you experience any technical problems with the application form, please email your application and signatures in a document to sal@enterprise.ac.uk.

The key principles of the Impact Fund are to:

Support the creation and evaluation of enterprise education materials and resources for publication to all EEUK members.

OR

Facilitate exploratory and/or impactful research which adds to our knowledge and understanding of enterprise education and addresses the needs of the enterprise education community.

UK Members of EEUK are invited to bid for funding each year and a key principle is that projects should aim to be of benefit to the wider EEUK community as well as the member organisation that is awarded funding. EEUK are looking to award funding to members who demonstrate their understanding and commitment to the principles of the Impact Fund (see terms and conditions).

Applicants are invited to submit single organisation bids of any size up to Ā£7,500. Collaborative bids from no more than three member organisations are permissible and may request up to a maximum of Ā£10,000. Only one bid per organisation can be funded in any award year and the funding will be paid to the lead institution only.

Judging Criteria

Bids will be reviewed by a panel convened by the Chair of Enterprise Educators UK and judged against the following judging criteria: ā€“

  1. How will the project facilitate exploratory and/or impactful research which adds to our knowledge and understanding of enterprise education and addresses the needs of the enterprise education community?

  2. How will the project develop new areas of applied enterprise education which link with the national focus on the needs of students, graduates, employers and/or the economy?

  3. How novel is the approach being undertaken in relation to the approach to embedding enterprise education in the curriculum and/or co-/extra-curriculum?

  4. What will be the impact of the project be, in terms of increasing the scale, scope and effectiveness of enterprise education initiatives within the organisation?

  5. How will the project provide evidence of the effectiveness and impact of enterprise education?

  6. How beneficial/useful will the materials and resources that are produced be to EEUK members?

Successful applicants to the Impact Fund will be required produce the following:

  1. A report

  2. An output to be published on the ETC Toolkit

  3. Contribution to any blog/podcast announcement requested by EEUK

  4. Presentation at the Impact Fund Dissemination Event

  5. Award applicants may propose additional outputs, but any proposed will become requirements of the grant in reporting and should be delivered within the timescale of the grant. Therefore a note should be included about this ā€“ for instance, requirement that where a published journal output or conference submission is proposed, the applicant may want to stipulate a submission as the output, rather than the actual publication, as it is likely publication will be outside of the grant period.

  6. Any publication (blog, tool, journal article) produced as a deliverable of the grant should include an acknowledgement of funding from the Impact Fund in it.

Impact Fund T & Cs

2025/2026

EERPF-funded Projects

Kyiv National Economic University

Digital business clinic for Ukraineā€™s economic recovery The goal of the project is to develop a digital business clinic on the Innovation Ukraine (http://innovationukraine.com/) platform in scope of European Digital Innovation Hubs Network(EDIH) implementation (https://european-digital-innovation-hubs.ec.europa.eu/edih-catalogue), which will use autonomous generative artificial intelligence to help create a roadmap for the development of business ideas and projects. The tool will operate as an interactive system with real-time feedback. Users will be able to receive personalized recommendations, analytical support, examples of strategic planning, and step-by-step instructions on how to implement their idea using the platform in format of business plan.

Liverpool John Moores University

Enhancing Student Resilience in Enterprise Education: Addressing ā€˜Functional Freezeā€™ in VUCA Contexts This project addresses the growing recognition within enterprise and entrepreneurship education that students face significant psychological challenges when engaging with curricula designed around VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) principles. While VUCA-focused curricula aim to prepare students for modern business environments, they can inadvertently induce ā€œfunctional freeze,ā€ a psychological state characterised by cognitive overload leading students to default to familiar, risk-averse behaviours. This project will investigate how varying degrees and methods of exposure to VUCA conditions impact studentsā€™ resilience, adaptability, risk tolerance, and overall psychological wellbeing.

Solent University

The Creative Careers Handbook The Creative Careers Handbook project is a cross-platform initiative that empowers students and early-career creatives to explore and plan sustainable futures through freelancing, entrepreneurship, and portfolio work. Led by Dr. Allan Taylor, the project combines a forthcoming textbook (under contract with Bloomsbury), an e-learning resource series, and a coordinated digital campaign across major social media platforms. The central focus of the project is to demystify career planning in the creative industries, especially for students from non-traditional or underrepresented backgrounds.

University of the Arts London

Climate & Social Justice Toolkit for Fashion Creatives ā€“ Enterprise Education (Scale-Up) The project will scale and disseminate an interactive Climate & Social Justice Toolkit for Fashion Creatives to champion sustainable innovation among fashion students in UK higher education. Building on a successful pilot at University of the Arts London (UAL) with 6 initial and 25 follow-up participants, this project will adapt the toolkit for use across Enterprise Educators UK (EEUK) member institutions. It embeds climate and social justice principles into enterprise education through human-centered design exercises, case studies, and collaborative challenges.