BITC/Intro
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This is an element of the biodiversity informatics training curriculum
that's aimed at giving you some guidance on
preparing effective proposals for funding.
This has actually very little to do with biodiversity informatics for science at all
It's simply how do you get enough funding to be able to do the science that you want to do.
So like it or not we have to deal with proposals and requesting funding from institutions
I am going to try to keep this model quite general
so that it keeps applicable to many different types of proposals and types of funding
but essentially you can think of three broad categories
in some cases we have fellowships and scholarships
So this is essentially proposed that request funding to proposed studies for an individual
in many cases we are talking about research support
this is funding to support a particular study
and finally and biggest in scale is institutional support
since it is essentially funding to support a
a broad group or an institution
and in often times seen as an umbrella for many different projects
so you can kind of think those three kinds of proposals in general.
Funding sources are going to be varied as well.
Just to give you the spectrum in some examples..
in many cases you'll be looking in to some national source,
National science foundation of which ever country you are located in
there are international sources,
for example, very specific biodiversity, there are some funding opportunities from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility
and many of you would have access to international aid agencies as well
and the finally we have private foundations
I give two examples again
The JRS biodiversity foundation is actually the foundation that's funding this project
developing this curriculum
and then on a different front the Mac Arthur foundation which funds quite a bit of work in conservation world wide.
this list is not exhaustive, it's intended just to get you thinking on different scales and scopes of funding
and the examples I've given are only that their examples. There are many more sources that could be identified
so now I'm going to give you a series of suggestions
first how to prepare for your proposal
and then how to esseble your proposal
a very important first step is to find and read very very carefully the request for proposals or call for proposals or whatever it's called
something that states the exact dimensions of the program to which you are applying
so you need to see the primary official announcement
and avoid things that interpret or compact this information
you need to read it multiple times very carefully
if you don't you stand quite a risk of simply wasting your own time
because you will find yourself eleminated from competition because you missed some element of the proposal
or you ask for something that institution is not willing to fund
essentially don't try to fit around XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
if they say they are really looking for 'X' don't try to sell the 'Y'
because you will usually not be successful
on that note if you have questions at the end XXXX request for proposals you read
don't be afraid to email or phone the official in charge of the program
it's OK to ask
'you really want this' or 'how do I do that'
that can be very useful in avoiding those mistakes which basically waste your time.
So here's a list of key details that you need to look for in the request proposal
who is eligible to apply,
what format should the proposal take
how long is the text, is it pages, is it words
what's the limit on how long you can send something
what is the duration of the project
is it a one year funding or can go five years
what are the budget dimensions
which is to say what elements can be included in the budget
for example studentships able to be included, salaries, equipment to be purchased
all sorts of details like that
and perhaps most important, what are the deadlines.
when you have to be ready turning in your proposal
so I'm going to give you some examples
these are basically just funding sources and their requests for proposals and essentially how they work
this is not intended to guide you for these programs
rather it's just what to look for
so here' the Mac Arthur foundation which frequently is looking for proposals from across the tropical world
they have a very interactive website
learn about what we fund and they say
they make grants in a number of fields
they've developed a rather peculiar set of cycles which I think we are going to see more of in a moment
you can see they have current calls for proposals on housing matters
then accepting increase they have this conservation insisting into development
that's the category that most biodiversity XXXXXX projec ts are funded under Mac Arthur foundation
So what Mac Arthur does is that they have a rolling set of geographic locii
so at this moment geographical focus is on three regions
the great rift lakes of east-central Africa, the greater Nikon in ZSouth east Asia and the watersheds of the Andes.
again, I'm not giving a guide to Mac Arthur funding
I'm just helping you to look for these key details
they say they focus on four issues
which is to say that they are particularly interested in climate change XXXXX adaptation,
environmental and social considerations in XXXXX markets
and Over exploitation & illegal use of marine fisheries
so again, the idea is, learn to look for the details
If you come in to this program with a focus on say deforestation
this funding agency may not be so interested in that if it doesn't fit within these categories
So more on Mac Arthur foundation, this is just a clip from their web page
three year reccurring cycle, letters of increase submitted by below deadlines
and then you come down here and you see that the deadlines for three of the regions by invitation only
for the great lakes of Africa April fifth 2013
And so essentially these are the details that we need to seek out
so we are certain that we understand how this particular program works
Even further in, here's their conservation and sustainable development program
and names of areas where they work in
notice that it's not just the regions that I listed
but also the Carribean, Madagascar, Melanesia
but again you need to read the details and make sure you understand them
Let's go to a very very different funding agency now
This is the US national science foundation
these are often big grants
and again, may be you wont be using National Science Foundation funding
I just wanted to give you the example of the request for proposals
so these are very carefully formatted
you can see this is the newest solicitation that replaces the old one
we have our deadlines, 2013 deadline is April 1st
and after that, the first Monady of April
it tells you the changes that have been made for proposals in this program
itgoes into details, for example data management plan has to be provided
again I'm just trying to give you the idea of looking at these details
and not missing something that's required.
Award information, here we get to the budget for these same grants
A plans to give 10 to 15 grants
and a total amount of 15-20 million dollars
pending availability of funds, so they don't have to give that amount of money
but they may
the awards will be this first category, the awards will be one to two years of duration
but in this second category awards can go up to five years of duration
so essentially those are the details that you that you should be looking for
eligibility information (who could apply), universities, non-profits, independent museums
but again you want to make sure you are on that list
Dont fit a square peg in a round hole because it'll end up wasting your time
here's a very very different opportunity, this is a small funding opportunity at the University of Kansas where I work
and this opportunity is for seed grants and again you need to scan through here
the searching debris that bring together the sciences, arts and humanities
so you better be thinking about how to cross those boundaries
Outcome of this seed grant should be development and submission of a XXXXXX research grant proposal
so you are going to need to talk about your plans
to generate that sort of proposal
again read all these details
here's more information
upto $45000 available for one or more awards
so right there you can see a strategy decision
you can ask for the $45000 or you might ask for $15000 and think that way the agency can fund three grants
So you have to decide and maybe consult with a program officer
you have to decide what's the best strategy
All funds have to be spent by that date
so in your timeline you have to make sure that coincides with the end date
and the considered must include a pre-proposal and a full proposal
So these are the details
I am not going into all the details
but notice project cover page and all the elements, the abstract, the description
don't cruise by these things
these are important and if you ignore them
the people who will be judging your proposal will get upset in the end.