Application Instructions    Guidelines for Chairs/Deans

Application Deadline

Applications for the Research Expense Grants Winter/Spring must be received by Susan Hynes, Office of the Provost, Waul House no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 7, 2011. Summer/Fall applications must be received by Friday, April 6, 2012.

Research Expense Grants are designed to help facilitate the conduct of faculty research. By their nature and size they help to defray the smaller expenses of doing scholarly research. Some examples of such expenses include, but are not limited to, payment for: library cards, travel to libraries, photocopying at libraries, help from a student research assistant, assistance in data collection and coding, reproducing and administering questionnaires, and purchase of expendable laboratory materials.

Except in rare instances, Research Expense Grants will not be awarded for expenses that ought to be borne by individual faculty or their departments, such as expenses for books or journals, telephone or postage, manuscript typing or editing, and local parking and transportation when conducting research. Research Expense Grants will also not be awarded for expenses related to the presentation of research findings at professional conferences or meetings.

Research Expense Grants may be used only for expenses related to research and may not be used as income.

Eligibility

All regular full-time tenure-track and tenured faculty of Boston College are eligible for Research Expense Grants.

Amount and Conditions of Awards

The maximum grant during any single award period is $2,000. There are two award periods each academic year Summer/Fall and Winter/Spring. An applicant may apply for funding during each period.

Two or more faculty may collaborate on an application.

Re-application is always possible and failure to gain support in one grant period does not prejudice an applicant’s chances for an award in subsequent grant periods. An applicant whose request is rejected must wait until the subsequent award period to reapply.

Funds will not be granted retroactively for research expenses already incurred prior to the application deadline.

Expenditure of Funds

Research Expense Grants funds for both the Winter/Spring and Summer/Fall awards must be expended, and receipts submitted for reimbursement, no later than May 18, 2012.

Application Review Process

The Committee on Research and Publication of the University Research Council will review the applications and make the awards. The Committee will judge applications by the following criteria:

• The promise of quality in the applicant’s research project, reflected in the clarity and persuasiveness with which the applicant outlines the proposed research.
• The likelihood that the proposed study will produce significant results, or assist in bringing an existing project of importance to a successful conclusion, or advance preliminary investigations that have potential for later obtaining extramural support.
• The likelihood that the applicant will complete the work proposed.
• The relationship of the proposed project to the applicant’s overall research goals.

The Committee’s decision on an application will be final.  Once the Committee’s decisions are made, applications will not be re-opened for reconsideration during any award period.

Applicants should understand that requests for funding always exceed the funds available. Inevitably some proposals will not be supported or funds awarded may be less than the amount requested.

Updated July 2011