Blog post about the scale-up grant

src/posts/scaleup-grant/index.md

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+---
+title: 'Funding to Scale Up the VirtualShip Classroom to four other Universities'
+date: '2026-02-20'
+authors:
+  - name: Erik van Sebille
+    github: erikvansebille
+summary: 'VirtucalShip has received funding to support scaling up in courses at four other universities'
+---
+
+We are excited to announce that we have received 100k€ funding to scale up the VirtualShip project and implement and sustainably embed the VirtualShip Classroom platform at four other universities!
+
+The project **Virtual ocean fieldwork: the VirtualShip Classroom platform for
+interdisciplinary marine education** has been funded by the [Dutch National Education Institute (NKO)](https://www.nko.nl/en) and provides 30 months of support to work with coordinators, lecturers and teaching assistants to use the VirtualShip in courses ranging from undergraduate biology to graduate civil engineering.
+
+We will continue to make all VirtualShip Classroom material available online under a permissive open-access license through GitHub and the VirtualShip website. We will also make our material available as an e-course on [edusources](https://edusources.nl).
+
+The results of this project will also be relevant for educational professionals in other contexts where fieldwork is an important aspect of learning. We will therefore ensure that we disseminate our results also to the broader education innovation community, for example through scientific articles, the Centers for Academic Learning, Teaching and Education Support at the universities involved.
+
+See below the summary of the project, written by Erik van Sebille, Emma Daniels, Jamie Atkins, Tinka Murk, Jasper de Goeij, Renske Gelderloos, and Britas Klemens Eriksson:
+
+_Marine science relies on fieldwork on and in the ocean for data-collection. This means that marine science students need to be trained in sea-going fieldwork. However, such training is expensive, logistically challenging, and an environmental burden because ships emit significant amounts of CO2._
+
+_To provide students the opportunity to experience what working at sea is like, we have developed a platform for virtual oceanic fieldwork: the VirtualShip Classroom, which provides Python code and VR tools for different aspects of fieldwork such as expedition planning, sampling and data analysis. After four iterations at Utrecht University that were very positively evaluated by students, we now want to scale up the platform by embedding it in courses at other universities._
+
+_Collaborating with four universities (Technical University Delft, Wageningen University and Research, University of Amsterdam and University of Groningen), we will implement and sustainably embed the VirtualShip Classroom platform in different educational contexts, in courses on BSc and MSc level ranging from ecology to physics. As funding for continued development of the platform is already secured, lessons learned at the other universities can be directly implemented in the platform, and through our open access license be used by teachers and students around the world._
+
+Please get in [contact with Erik van Sebille](https://www.uu.nl/staff/EvanSebille) if you want to know more about this project!