Online Labs

Calling all innovators and educators in Africa! Join our call for proposals to create online labs and help bridge the digital divide. Let’s bring technology education to the students and empower the next generation!

To support scientific research throughout the African continent, University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) in Morocco and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) launched the Excellence in Africa (EXAF) initiative. One of the three pillars of this initiative focuses on digital education, building on EPFL’s proven track record in this area.

The goal is to provide STEM students across Africa with access to quality educational material and tools found in cutting-edge universities around the world, yet relevant to education and research programmes offered in Africa.

About University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P)

UM6P is a hub of education, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Its goal is to forge links between Morocco, Africa, and the world. UM6P has implemented an innovative model of teaching and research focused on experimentation. The university’s sites are equipped with ‘living laboratories’ such as experimental farms or mines, applying the principle of ‘learning by doing’, which is dear to the university. These large-scale work platforms are designed to enable researchers to achieve their full potential

About EPFL

EPFL is one of the world’s leading institutes of science and technology. It brings together students, professors and staff members from over 120 countries. EPFL is a public institution endowed with three missions: teaching, research and innovation. It collaborates with a wide array of partners, including other universities, middle and high schools, companies, political actors and the general public, with the aim of having a real impact on society at both national and global levels.

EXAF Online Labs

Online laboratories, whether physical or virtual, are part of the educational tools EXAF aims to develop in Africa and make available to universities throughout the continent.

This call for proposals is open to lecturers and faculty members from African academic institutions, wishing to contribute to the development of digital education by means of creating online labs of relevance to the STEM education programmes.

An online lab, also known as a virtual lab or remote lab, is a digital simulation of a laboratory experiment that can be accessed and performed over the internet. Online labs allow students and researchers to conduct experiments and collect data from anywhere with internet access, rather than being physically present in a laboratory. They are designed to mimic the experience of working in a traditional laboratory and may include simulations, interactive tutorials, and other educational resources. They are commonly used in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as in other fields. They can be used as an alternative or supplement to traditional labs.

Objectives

• To provide students with online and remote access to physical or simulated labs in various STEM fields.
• To empower motivated instructors in participating universities to incorporate these online labs into their courses.

Eligibility criteria

• Affiliated with an African university;
• Taught the subject for at least 3 years;
• Proven experience in the development of STEM laboratories
• The subject taught must be STEM-related

Funding

Eligible costs are limited to:

• The amount of funding, which can be up to 40,000 CHF, varies based on the type of laboratory.
• Hardware, IT and electronic equipment, and software. The amount granted to this purpose cannot be less than 60% of the total funds granted.
• Up to one-year funding of personnel for the development and implementation of the online lab project.
• Training of lecturers at participating universities to onboarding students on the online lab platform.

Non-eligible costs

• Institutional overheads
• Currency fluctuations: Granted amounts are set in Swiss francs. In case of any currency fluctuations, the budget awarded to participating institutions in Swiss francs remains unchanged.

How to Apply

Please read the application guidelines carefully before submitting the documents required for stage 1 (declaration of interest) by clicking on the button below.

APPLY

Submission Deadline

Applicants must submit their initial application (Stage 1) via the on-line submission form before the submission deadline of 15th February 2024 (23:59 GMT+1).

Selection Process

Stage 1

During Stage 1 of the application process, projects will be evaluated on a scale of 0-5 based on 5 criteria:

• Institutional commitment to support and host the project.
• Relevance of the project to the needs of STEM education.
• Integration of the online lab into a sound pedagogical project. 
• Openness of the project and potential for usage by other instructors.
• Existing infrastructure, as well as technical and pedagogical expertise

Stage 2

The best projects will then proceed to Stage 2, the additional documents they will need to be provided will be evaluated using the same criteria. To be considered for evaluation, an application must be submitted on time with the required documents and meet the eligibility and format requirements.