GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCH SUPPORT 2011-2012

REGULAR GRANTS

Deadline & Application Requirements

Applicants should use the 2011-2012 OSSR Research Support forms. Forms may be downloaded from OSSR's website. Applications must be emailed to sikorski@uic.edu by 4 p.m. on October 28, 2011. Please submit one electronic file.

Review Process & Selection Criteria

Applications will be evaluated by the OSSR Advisory Committee ( Richard Simpson, Political Science; Jon kassel, Psychology; Amie Schuck, Criminal Justice; John Monaghan, Anthropology; Houston Stokes, Economics; Zizi Papacharissi, Communication; and Maria Krysan, Sociology)

Awards will be made based on the proposal's scholarly merit and likelihood of success in obtaining outside funding. The frequency with which a recipient has received OSSR funding in the past will be considered. Priority will be given to newer scholars and persons who have not received OSSR support within the past three years.

Eligibility

OSSR financial support is available for social science (or social science-related humanities) research projects conducted by faculty (tenure or tenure-track) in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In general, projects are expected to involve activities leading to an external grant proposal. Collaborative proposals involving scholars from two or more disciplines are also welcome.

OSSR will not support the purchase of books, periodicals, or other items available in the University Library; travel to professional conventions; expenses related to the costs of publication, as opposed to research; or expenses involving the routine maintenance of a current project.

Please Note: Research projects must be in compliance with the Office for Protection of Research Subjects (OPRS) guidelines in order to receive funding. Please call OPRS at 312-996-1711 with questions regarding approval procedures.

Funding

Applicants may propose projects requiring up to $5000 (including both OSSR and departmental support). The Advisory Committee may decide to award less than the requested amount. The applicant's home department must agree to support at least 25% of the project's costs. (E.g., if a project costs $1,600, OSSR will contribute a maximum of $1,200, and the department must contribute at least $400.) Since the seed grant program uses state funds, the full award must be spent before June 30th to allow for proper accounting at the end of the fiscal year.

Terms and Conditions

Within six months after the project is completed, grant recipients must submit a one-page report describing the course of the project and noting all tangible results, such as external grant proposals and/or publications. Failure to submit reports in a timely fashion will jeopardize future seed grant funding opportunities. Report link: Seed Grant final report

When a project supported by OSSR leads to external funding that generates ICR for the recipient's home department, the department must reimburse OSSR for the amount of its original support. Reimbursement will not exceed ICR generated for the department by the external funding, and will be used to increase OSSR seed grants for the following year. If a $1,000 seed grant led to a $200,000 federal grant to a department, for example, the department would receive approximately $20,000 in ICR. The department would reimburse the $1,000 to OSSR, and OSSR would increase the following year's seed grant program by $1,000.

Equipment purchased with an OSSR grant will become the property of OSSR. At the completion of the project the equipment should be returned to OSSR for use by other faculty members.

For additional information, please contact OSSR at 312-996-4408.