Notes from an ICEI fellow
The ICEI Fellow scheme is designed to support collaborations between researchers and EdTech companies. The scheme provides funding to mobilize and enhance these partnerships. It operates on a model where researchers engage in short-term fellowships, working directly with EdTech companies on specific projects. Our Centre got inspired to follow a Fellow model based on a similar initiative funded by the Jacobs Foundation and MIT Solve (the LEAP project). At the Centre, we only started piloting this scheme and the first round of Fellows was sponsored by Lyse in Stavanger.
The focus is particularly on companies that develop technology for young children and lack the resources to finance critical research on their own. The scheme aims to foster learning and collaboration for both senior and junior researchers and EdTech companies from the Global South. The Fellowship funded by Lyse is specifically dedicated to connecting participants from the University of Stavanger together with international researchers from the ICEI network.
This initiative seeks to nurture the next generation of Edtech researchers by engaging them with valuable industry-academic partnerships. The first Fellow sponsored by Lyse in 2024 was Gunnar Navestad, a former Master-student at the University of Stavanger. He was working on an “Get evidence ready” project with the brilliant team at eKitabu in Kenya, in collaboration with ICEI colleagues David Patterson and Lisa Radden.
During my work with eKitabu, I have been able to apply my knowledge in collaboration with other researchers. Through this process, I have gained valuable insights and experiences on how people from multiple continents can work together to create solutions in EdTech.
As someone whose daily work is focused on the practical side of education—directly involved with children, other teachers, and pedagogues—it has been both insightful and rewarding to collaborate with those who strive to provide opportunities and tools to enhance educational practices.
My experience with eKitabu has also highlighted the complexities and challenges of improving curricula, which can vary significantly depending on the region of the world.
It has truly been a pleasure to work with the expert team brought together by the International Centre for EdTech Impact!
- The Fellowship has been very insightful and rewarding
Gunnar Navestad, Stavanger, Norway
Would you like to be involved as a research Fellow in our next project? Please email your interest to: info@foreduimpact.org