Faculty Awards and Grants: Pilot Research and Scholarship Seed Grants

Projects can cover a wide range of activities such as, but not limited to:

• establishing new areas of inquiry and establishing proof of concept elements or preliminary data for external grant applications or other uses
• intensive training in new skills
• hosting larger convenings
• purchasing access to databases or necessary research software
• supporting undergraduate work or expenses on the project

Please see the FAQ’s on research funding expenditures for more details.

Eligibility:

• Faculty that are tenured, tenure-track, and CNTT are eligible to apply. 
• If faculty have external grant funding greater than $15,000 available to them at time of award, they must provide additional justification for making this request and justifying their available effort.
• If faculty have more than $10,000 in internal funding available, they must provide an additional justification for protecting those funds and making this request.
  • Internal funding includes start-ups, research funds, endowed chairs, for example. Service funds are excepted from this requirement
• Applicant cannot have a current, active internal grant at time of this award start.
• Must have completed all required elements related to any previous internal funding (such as submitting a final report)
• The Committee reserves the right to prioritize pre-tenure faculty and newly tenured faculty all other considerations being equal.

Project funding is up to $15,000 over 1-2 years. No extensions allowed beyond year 2.

Faculty are encouraged to only ask for what they need. Approximately eight awards in the $5,000-$15,000 range will be awarded and two at the $25,000 limit across the new research grant mechanisms. The Committee reserves the right to cut budgets.

Award acceptance requirements:

1. A final report submitted to OSR within one month of project completion.
2. Work with Communications on relevant stories or otherwise share with the community, as appropriate.
3. Acknowledge the support received from Bryn Mawr College, naming the appropriate fund, in the publication of the supported work or other public documents. Upon the publication of their research, they should notify the Director, OSR and provide a complete bibliographical reference
4. Faculty agree to meet with the Office of Sponsored Research within one semester of the grant end to discuss the possibility of submission of an application for external funding on the project supported by this grant.
   1. Faculty will be ineligible until they have met with OSR.

Submit your application via the online form (available soon). This form includes basic coversheet information and allows for upload of the application materials.

Required sections:

• Proposal narrative (3 pages max)
  • Recommended sections to include:
    • A statement of the research problem and/or goals of the project
    • The scholarly significance of the work
    • The specific tasks this grant will support, including a timeline
    • Brief explanation of outcomes of any previous FA&G funding received in the last four years and whether or not related to this project.
• Future plans (1-2 pages)
  • Next steps for the project
  • Plans for future external support and/or grant application(s) or explanation why this requirement is not applicable
• Budget (2 page max; 1 for form; 1 for justification))
  • Please use the provided budget form to list costs by line item
  • Budget justification – detailed explanation for each line item
• Biosketch (no more than 2 pages; funder forms (NEH, NSF, etc, accepted)
• Selectively required:
  • Bibliography/References (no page limit)
  • Justification related to exceeding thresholds described under eligilbity
  • Equipment documentation (1 page max; see budget section for details)

Applicants are reminded that the review committee will consist of tenured Faculty from across the College. Applications should be written to be understandable to those outside the applicant’s field.

All proposals should conform to the following format. Failure to adhere to the format and total maximal length of the proposal will result in Administrative Withdraw of the application without consideration by the Review Committee.

• Use one of the following fonts: Arial (font size 10 or more) or Times New Roman (font size 11 or more).
• Line spacing: Single spacing is acceptable
• Margins (all sides): ¾” or more.

All eligible expenses must be allowable per the College expense policies.  Please refer to the related FAQs on allowable expenses and reach out to OSR with any questions. The Committee expects budgets to be carefully detailed and to reflect a reasonable effort to minimize expenses.

Other budget notes for this mechanism:

• The Committee does not fund travel to conferences, per diem or meals, faculty salary, and/or retroactive payments. 
• The Provost Research Pool should be exhausted before membership fees or books are requested.
• Equipment acquisition: Applicants must certify that the equipment to be purchased is essential and not reasonably available and accessible to the project. As a rule, the Committee expects equipment required by on-going research and teaching needs to be funded through other sources. Please describe where the equipment would be located. Provide vendor quotes or catalog pricing if available.

Proposals for these grants will be evaluated by a Review Committee, which will be composed the FA&G Committee and may also include Ad Hoc faculty members if needed. The Review will be moderated by the Director, OSR.

Internal review criteria:

• Significance of the proposal
  • Does the project address an important problem(s) or goal(s)?
  • Does the project employ novel or creative approaches or methods?
  • Is the project in line with the aims of this mechanism (Seed Grant)?
• Impact
  • Is the proposal likely to advance the faculty’s work? Or does the proposal otherwise support the College’s mission?
  • Does the project include a plan for measuring engagement or impact, if applicable?
• Feasibility of project design and timeline
  • Are the concepts, design, methods, and analyses adequate and appropriate?
  • Are all the necessary expertise and/or resources included?
  • Is a timeline presented and is it appropriate and achievable?
• Clarity of the application
  • Well-defined goals, approach, and expected outcomes
• Reasonable and justified budget (not scored)