Research Grants
PAGs Research Grant Deadlines:
- Friday October 19th, 2012 by 11:59PM
- Friday, March 15, 2013 by 11:59PM
PAGs Research Grants
This grant provides up to $1000 in funding for graduate and professional students to conduct qualitative or quantitative research with the aim of increasing their knowledge of or contributing to current scholarship in their particular field(s) of study.
To be considered for funding, applicants must both demonstrate that the project represents a legitimate subject of scholarly research and explain the methods to be employed in researching this topic. Proposals to create works of artistic expression are not eligible for this award. Furthermore, applicants should be able to explain why this research is important both to their own development as a scholar and to their field as a whole. Students conducting Doctoral Dissertation or Master’s Thesis work are especially encouraged to apply; however, any graduate or professional student with an original research proposal is eligible.
How to Apply
To apply for a PAGs research grant, fill out a new application on the ECGPS page on OrgSync.
As part of the application, you will be required to obtain two letters of recommendation from supervising faculty. These faculty should be familiar with your academic background and personal strengths and weaknesses as well as the details of the proposed project. Faculty members providing letters of recommendation on behalf of research grant applicants must upload their letters using the OrgSync form.
Please Note: You may need to sign in or register with OrgSync (if new user) to submit this application.
Scoring Process
Each submitted application will be handed off to two peer reviewers who are chosen by the Chair based on nomination or previous receipt of a PAGs research award. Reviewers shall be chosen from University departments other than the applicant’s own and shall possess adequate background to evaluate the substantive merit of the application.
Reviewers will rate applications according to an established rubric, including subscores for (in no particular order) funding priority (MA or PhD Thesis), the relationship between the proposed project and applicant’s career goals, the review of scholarly literature / contextualization of project, potential contribution of research to original knowledge, research design and methodology, feasibility of proposed research timeline, sensibility of proposed budget, formatting of application, letters of recommendation, project abstract, and overall project quality. For each application, reviewers’ scores will be averaged in order to arrive at the application score. In the event of a significant discrepancy between scores, a third reviewer will be consulted and a new average calculated to arrive at the score.
For additional information on the scoring process, please view this scoring rubric.
Additional Instructions and Directions
The Executive Council of Graduate and Professional Students (ECGPS) is committed to helping allstudents at the University and is dedicated to making this process as objective as possible. The Committee reserves the right to reject any grant that is not submitted correctly using the followingcriteria.
Eligibility
This grant provides up to $1000 in funding for graduate and professional students to conduct qualitative or quantitative research with the aim of increasing their knowledge of or contributing to current scholarship in their particular field(s) of study. To be considered for funding, applicants must both demonstrate that the project represents a legitimate subject of scholarly research and explain the methods to be employed in researching this topic. Proposals to create works of artistic expression are not eligible for this award. Furthermore, applicants should be able to explain why this research is important both totheir own development as a scholar and to their field as a whole.
Any student applying must be continuously enrolled as a graduate or professional student at the University of Iowa during the time in which the applicant is conducting research. If research will be conducted in the summer months, the applicant must return to school in the fall semester immediately following the summer in which the research was completed. The proposed research should be independent of any UI faculty research projects.
Proposals are given equal consideration based on the following priorities:
1. Ph.D. dissertation research, master’s thesis research (this includes only projects which,upon completion, directly qualify a student for a degree)
2. Research projects relating to course work or necessary to advance the applicant in his or her degree program
3. Research projects not related to thesis or course work
Only one application per research project per funding period will be considered. Additional applications for the same research project may be funded at a lower level or not at all when the application seeks additional funding in subsequent funding periods. If recipient is receiving financial aid from OSFA, this grant may impact their fanancial aid.
Application Process
It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the proposal and all letters of recommendation for the proposal aresubmitted electronically by 11:59 p.m. on the date of the application deadline. The links for the grant proposal and letters of recommendation online submission pages can be found at http://ecgps.uiowa.edu/grants.
Submission Requirements: Late applications will not be considered. There are no exceptions to this rule. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all materials are received by the deadline.
Instructions
Please note: Failure to adhere to the instructions may result in the deduction of points, an unfavorable review, and/or rejection of your application. Applications that exceed the character limits will automatically be rejected without further review.
Applicants should not use numerous or unexplained abbreviations and acronyms. The Committee is composed of graduate and professional students from various departments who are likely not familiar with your field of study. Thus, the application must be written in lay language and all technical terms should be explicitly defined. If the Committee cannot understand your application, it likely will not receive funding.
The online grant application must consist of the following:
1. Abstract: Describe the proposed research. In your summary, describe the aim of your research project, and briefly discuss the methods you will be using. Limit 2,000 characters including spaces (~ 300 words).
2. Career Goals: Describe your overall career/academic goals and explain how the research grant will enable you to reach these goals. Identify the skills, theories, conceptual approaches, etc. to be learned or enhanced during the award. Limit 2,000 characters including spaces (~ 300 words).
3.Research Proposal: Limit 14,500 characters including spaces (~ 2,500 words).
a. Background and Specific Aims: Briefly sketch the background leading up to the present application, critically evaluate existing knowledge, and specifically identify the gaps that the project is intended to fill. State what you intend to achieve with your proposed research. Link the specific aims of this particular research project to broader, long-term objectives.
b. Research Design and Methods: Describe the research design, conceptual or clinical framework, procedures, and analyses to be used to accomplish the specific aims of the project. Include how the information will be collected, analyzed, and interpreted.
c. Timeline: (provide a tentative sequence or timetable for the project). All allocated funds must be used within one year of award receipt.
d. Significance: State the importance of the research to your field of study and/or society.
e. Budget: Provide a fully itemized budget of all expenses related to the project and give appropriate explanation for all items on budget that are not self-explanatory. List all other funds that have been sought and/or awarded for this research). The funds requested should not exceed $1,000 for graduate student applications. (See Funding and Budget Standards below)
f. References (should be limited to cited resources).
Two letters of project recommendation:
The letters should come from your faculty advisor and aprofessor in your field or a related field. The letters should confirm the purpose of the project (i.e., is it for a master’s thesis, doctoral dissertation, or a project related to a class or professional development). In order for your application to be considered complete, the recommendation letters must be submitted electronically by the faculty members before the deadline. The length of each letter must not exceed two pages.
Both letters must briefly answer the following questions:
(1) Besides being eligible by the aforementioned criteria, how is the applicant equipped to do the research?
(2) What is the purpose of the project (i.e., is it for a master’s thesis, doctoral dissertation, or a project related to a class or professional development)?
(3) How and why is this research project important to your discipline or department?
(4) How will this research benefit people other than the applicant?
Funding and Budget Standards
The level at which you are funded will vary based on the amount of money earmarked for these awards and the number of eligible applicants being considered. Each applicant must clearly state in the budget the specific expenses that he or she is requesting ECGPS to fund.
Please consider the following when itemizing your budget requests:
1) The Professional Advancement Grants Committee will not fund any expenses relating to dissertation/thesis defense and will not fund the means to distribute a dissertation/thesis or results of any other research project.
2) The Committee will not fund researcher/assistant salaries.
3) The Committee may fund participant compensation. In order for an applicant to be funded for participant compensation, a mandatory letter from the related department chair must be completed and submitted as an attachment with the online grantapplication and must state that it is understood that:
a. The Student Organizations Business Office will provide the total sum of the participant compensation funding to the applicant’s department.
b. The department will be responsible for receiving and processing individual participantrenumeration requests. The letter should include the name or position of the individual(s) responsible for processing these requests.
c. The department will keep records of individual participant renumeration requests, and, upon completion of the study, will submit all requests to the Student Organizations Business Office.
4) The Committee will not fund food for any purpose, and therefore per diem line items should not be included in itemized budgets.
5) When requesting postage, the applicant must use bulk mail pricing if the mailing is substantial enough (200 pieces of outgoing mail) to utilize bulk mail. Contact University Mail Services, 384-3802 for any questions.
6) The Committee will not fund phone expenses.
7) The Committee will not fund travel to present research at conferences. Apply for Travel Grants funding for travel related to presenting work.
8) Only equipment specifically and instrumentally related to the proposed research project may be funded. Requests for general equipment (e.g., desktop computers) are not eligible for funding. All requests are subject to review by the chair of the Office of Student Life or his/her appointed delegate. Any equipment (i.e. transcribing machines, lab material, computer software) funded by this grant must either remain in the applicant's department or become the property of the Professional Advancement Grants Committee. In order for an applicant to be funded for any equipment, a mandatory letter from the related department chair must be completed and submitted as an attachment with the online grant application and must state the following:
a. It is understood that the equipment must remain in that department.
b.How the equipment will be used in the department.
c. Who will use the equipment.
d. How the equipment used by the applicant for research will be used in the department for other students’ academic work.
Notification
You will be notified by electronic mail regarding your grant application as soon as the Committee recommendations have been approved by ECGPS. This process usually takes approximately four to six weeks after the application deadline. If you have not been notified of your award by the end of the semester in which you applied, please contact the PAGs Co-Chair for Research Grants (Emily Nguyen, e-mail: ecgps-pags-research@uiowa.edu).
Obligations of Award Recipients
In order to use your grant, you must sign an agreement which specifies your obligations as a grant recipient. The Committee will often detail which line items from your itemized budget for which you are being awarded funds. Reimbursement for expenses incurred prior to receiving the grant may be possible if the proper receipts have been retained. The agreement also sets a deadline for using award funds and explains the policy for extensions.
You will also be required to submit a project summary of your research to the Professional and Advancement Grants (PAGs) Committee upon the deadline for using award funds.
Any questions not addressed by this form may be directed to Matt Andersson, PAGs Co-Chair for Research Grants by email: ecgps-pags-research@uiowa.edu.
Revised 9/2011
Research Grants Coordinator: Emily Nguyen
