2021-2022 GVU/IPaT Research & Engagement Grants

Request for Proposals

Application deadline: Wednesday, June 30, 5 pm
 

The GVU Center and the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT), with additional support from GTRI, announce the call for proposals for Research and Engagement Grants for 2021-2022. As in past years, we will support two separate types of grant proposals: Research Grants will provide seed funding for new research collaborations, and Engagement Grants will provide support for new forms of internal and external community engagement and collaboration.

RESEARCH GRANTS

Research Grants will provide seed funding to conduct interdisciplinary research. The objective of the Research Grant program is to promote research activities involving faculty and students from the many disciplines represented in GVU and IPaT. We seek bold new work that by its preliminary nature would be difficult to fund through ordinary channels. Preference will be given to early-stage research with a high probability of leading to extramural funding, and with a strong interdisciplinary component. All funds must be spent by the end of the spring semester.

Research Grant proposals can be either single-semester (fall or spring) or academic year (fall and spring) duration. We expect most research proposals will request funding for a GRA between ⅓ and ½ time for the proposal duration. Proposals can also request research faculty time; in these cases, it is highly encouraged but not required to collaborate with academic faculty. Proposals from academic faculty can request other critical resources, such as materials and supplies, but cannot include academic faculty salary support. 

ENGAGEMENT GRANTS

Engagement Grants are designed to foster new sorts of engagements and collaboration, whether internal or external to Georgia Tech. Examples of potential engagement grants could include:

• Support for an artist-in-residence (or X-in-residence) program
• Support for new sorts of community engagements, such as installation spaces or "pop up" displays of research
• Support for new faculty and student workshops, seminars, or social events
• Support for new undergraduate "hack fests" or laboratories

We do not expect most Engagement Grant proposals to include GRA support or other personnel time. In cases where such support is requested, please justify why such support is essential to the activity. Travel, and materials and supplies budgets (as required by the specific plans of the proposal) can be requested, but proposals cannot include academic faculty salary. Budget requests for travel and food should be modest and called out separately.

GRANTEE RESPONSIBILITIES

If you receive a Research or Engagement Grant, you must:

• Present your planned work at an introductory GVU brown bag panel in the fall, present your final results at a GVU brown bag panel the following spring, present at the fall or spring IPaT Townhall, and produce a brief final report.
• Produce an interim and final project video to be used for GVU and IPaT websites.
• Acknowledge GVU, IPaT, and potentially GTRI support for the project in any talks, papers, proposals, or other outreach based on the project.
• Aim to acquire additional funding for parallel and subsequent research activities and notify us about these efforts. 
• All funds must be spent by the end of the spring academic semester.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION 

The proposal should be submitted as a single PDF document no more than three pages in length and should describe: (1) the problems addressed by the proposed research or engagement, (2) methods or overall approach, (3) benefits anticipated from the research or engagement, (4) a clear description of how the grant will enable subsequent external funding (if appropriate), and (5) an outline of the required budget (please do not include overhead or tuition remission in your budget). Please let us know in your proposal if you require administrative staff time or other resources from GVU, IPaT, or GTRI.

If the student who will be involved in the project has already been determined, then the student and his/her academic unit should be identified in the proposal.

Proposals must be submitted to gvu@cc.gatech.edu by June 30. Awards will be announced in the summer. Late submissions cannot be considered.

PROPOSAL REVIEW CRITERIA AND AWARD

Submissions will be reviewed on the basis of merit, originality, plans for furthering the collaboration through external funding, synergy with GVU, IPaT, and GTRI themes and activities, and the degree of interaction between different disciplines and between the faculty members from the different academic units.

For both Research and Engagement Grants, preference will be given to proposals that span at least two different academic units (e.g., computer science/psychology, or digital media/music) and/or academic and applied units, and which set the stage for new collaborations in the GVU community. 

If you have questions about process, review criteria, or program goals, please address them to GVU Center Director Keith Edwards (keith@cc.gatech.edu), IPaT Executive Director Beth Mynatt (mynatt@gatech.edu), or IPaT Deputy Director Leigh McCook (leigh.mccook@gtri.gatech.edu).

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