Faculty Research Grants Program

Faculty Research Grants Program

Purpose

C­LAS Fac­ulty Re­search Grants fund research projects ­on Latin America and/or the Caribbean by faculty members that ­will enhance the expertise and current knowledge of the faculty members and enrich the Latin American/Caribbean content of their courses.

Eligibility

The applicant must be a “Core” or “Related” faculty member of the Center for Latin Am­eri­can Studies at the Uni­versity of Pitts­burgh. Previous awardees who have not submitted brief reports and expenditure documentation from past grants are not eligible to apply.

Amount of Grant

Up to $4,000 will be made available for individual grants; however, not all proposals will necessarily be funded at the maximum amount.

Funding Priorities

In general, the grants are designated for: (1) the provision of “seed money” or supplemen­tary money for large proj­ects; (2) the provi­sion of limited funds required for smaller proj­ects or projects of short dura­tion; and (3) research that will result in the development of Latin American/Caribbean courses. Within the broad scope of these purposes, priority for funding is as follows:

  1. New Faculty (first two years)
  2. Junior Faculty (pre-tenure, with special emphasis on faculty with Junior Research leaves)
  3. Faculty from the humanities or disciplines for which external funding is less available
  4. Senior Faculty starting new projects/changing research foci
  5. Senior Faculty requiring start-up funds for research projects that have a high probability of being funded externally in the future

Consideration of these priorities in making awards is contingent upon the overall quality of the proposal.

Utilization of Funds

Grant funds may be used for: (1) trav­el; (2) maintenance; (3) data collec­tion/ana­lysis—in­clu­ding laboratory anal­y­sis, com­puter time, infor­mants' fees; and (4) release time/salary re­place­ment (only for re­search proj­ects by junior facul­ty in the ten­ure stream—who also are CLAS Core Faculty—when the re­search will result in publi­ca­tions that will en­hance the facul­ty mem­ber's attain­ment of tenure).

Grant funds cannot be used for: (1) the costs of publi­ca­tion­; (2) atten­dance at pro­fessional meet­ings; (3) the pur­chase of major ­equip­ment (e.g., cam­eras, com­put­ers, or any equipment costing more than $500); or (4) salary supplements/summer salary (except as indicated under #4 above).

Preferably, funds should be expended between April and August of the award year, although exceptions will be considered.  Arrangements for processing the funds awarded must be made by May 1, 2018.

Proposal Requirements
(Only electronic submissions will be accepted)
All proposals must include:
     (1) a completed CLAS Faculty Research Grants application form (see under application);

     (2) a full description of the project not to exceed five (5) double-spaced pages
          (Word or PDF format), which should include sections on—
          (a)  the Topic/Problem [and how the research relates to the purposes of the grant program as specified above],
          (b) Significance of/Need for the Research,
          (c) Methodology, and
          (d) a detailed budget (MS Word or PDF format); and

     (3) a curriculum vitae of the principal investigator (MS Word or PDF format).

• If the proposed research project is a continuation of one for which funding has previously been awarded by CLAS, please indicate that this is the case in the project description.\

Note: The full description of the project may be supplemented by appendices (such as examples of questionnaires, list of field contacts, more detailed information on any of the sections) that should be referred to in the basic text. However, appendices should be kept to a minimum. 

Application

Only electronic submissions will be accepted. One electronic copy (items 1 through 3 listed above) of the application should be sent by the deadline through the CLAS Faculty Research Grants Application form: http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/faculty_research_grant_form

Application deadline for research that will take place during 2018-2019 is TO BE ANNOUNCED.

Important Note:

  • All research involving interventions or interactions with individuals or the collection of identifiable private information concerning living individuals requires prospective Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval.
  • Even if the research may qualify as an exempt category, the researcher must obtain an exemption approval from the IRB.
  • Grantees are responsible for obtaining IRB approval when required, and must provide documentation of IRB approval before the funds can be disbursed. For further information, check the IRB web site at www.irb.pitt.edu.

Grant Recipient Requirements

Grant recipients must provide CLAS with a brief (two to four pages) written report within three weeks following the conclusion of the research.  The report should indicate: (1) how grant funds were expended; (2) if applicable, your travel schedule (where you went and how much time you spent in each locale); (3) what you accomplished; and (4) how you will utilize your research results.  Recipients must acknowledge the assistance of the Center for Latin American Studies, University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh, in any publication, film, or other product resulting from research supported by this grant.

Grant recipients also are responsible for fully completing the Travel and Business Expense Report form and providing all applicable documentation within two weeks after their return from the field.

Any questions about the grant, please contact: Karen Goldman, Assoc. Director (kgoldman@pitt.edu)

Funding for the Faculty Research Grants Competition is provided by the University Center for International Studies and the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh.

DUE TO THE CHANGES IN THE ACCOUNTING SYSTEM UNDER CONCUR, PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

  • You will have two weeks from your return to present the receipts for reimbursement:
    1. Make sure that you make me a delegate, as well as our Administrative Assist. Kelsey Trimm at ket82@pitt.edu in the Concur system. To do this, go to your profile settings.
    2. In addition, we require that you upload the receipts to the Concur system. If you do not know how to do this, please make an appointment with me, and I will guide you on how to get the apps, which will facilitate the uploading of the receipts.
    3. By uploading the receipts directly into the system, it speeds up your reimbursement. Receipts to upload:
      1. Invitation letter or registration to conference
      2. Airplane tickets (You are required to upload both the airplane ticket and boarding passes)
      3. Hotel receipts
      4. Transportation receipts
      5. Other non-food incidentals
      6. DO NOT upload food receipts—we will do per diem, if necessary
      7. As soon as you complete these requirements, send me an email. In the email, make sure you specified which receipts are the ones for us to refund. You might have receipts for other payments.
      8. Last, if you are getting funding from other sources for this trip, please let us know. It seems Pitt would like us to only do one transaction per trip. Therefore, we need to communicate with the person handling the other source of funding for the same trip. I would suggest if this is happening, it would be a good thing to get this process started or letting them know about you receiving funding from us.