Call for Applications:
CLS Funding to Support Pilot Studies for Doctoral Dissertation Research & Doctoral Dissertation Grant Applications
Rolling deadline Sept 15, 2023 – March 15, 2024
Thanks to generous support from the College of the Liberal Arts, the Center for Language Science can contribute toward defraying research costs for pilot studies that will inform prospective doctoral dissertation research and external grant funding applications to support doctoral dissertation research.
These funds are meant to encourage and support graduate students and their advisors to seek external funding to support students’ doctoral dissertation research. Examples of external funding opportunities for doctoral dissertation research include, but are not restricted to, NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement grants, NIH Predoctoral awards, Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowships, and Dingwall Foundation dissertation fellowships.
Eligibility: Students are eligible for this award who are working towards the completion of their master’s thesis or have obtained their master’s degree, who are in good standing, and who are progressing and continuing their graduate training towards a doctoral degree.
Applications should be submitted by the graduate student and their primary advisor(s).
- Doctoral Dissertation funding proposals are up to $1,000 per project.
- A proposal is submitted by a graduate student (in good standing and active within the CLS) and their primary doctoral dissertation advisor(s).
- Deadline: rolling deadline from September 15, 2023 - March 15, 2024. • Proposals can be submitted to: Brittany Glunt, bdg11@psu.edu, copying Janet van Hell, jgv3@psu.edu.
- Funds need to be used within the fiscal year. This means that these funds must be spent and processed with Heather Mann by June 10, 2024.
- Funding is intended to provide support for pilot studies that will inform prospective doctoral dissertation research and increase the competitiveness of planned grant funding applications to support doctoral dissertation research.
- Funding can be used to pay participants, research expenses, or travel costs to domestic field research sites. (Allowable travel expenses to field research sites are airfare/mileage and lodging based on actual costs, so no per diem. Please note that Penn State regulations regarding traveling to national research sites are subject to change considering the COVID-19 pandemic, so please take this into account when preparing a proposal.)
- Funding is intended for research-related expenses and will not cover costs that are not directly related to research/data collection, such as: team meeting expenses, meals or snacks, conference travel, delivery of outreach programs or services, or publication costs.
Review:
- A committee consisting of faculty from different CLS-affiliated departments who together use a wide range of research approaches within language science will review the proposals and decisions announced as soon as possible after the submission.
- Criteria for review: All proposals must meet the points outlined above. Priority is given to proposals that articulate a planned external doctoral dissertation grant application and how the funding will increase its competitiveness. Proposals should present theoretically and empirically well-grounded research questions, a well-articulated plan of research activities, evidence for access to the research population of interest, a grant application plan, and a budget.
Structure and submission of proposals:
- Proposals must be submitted as one document via email to Brittany Glunt at bdg11@psu.edu, copying Janet van Hell at jgv3@psu.edu.
- The template of the proposal submission form can be found on the next page. • Note that, in case IRB approval has not yet been obtained, researchers are expected to prepare and submit the appropriate requests for IRB approval for the proposed research within 2 weeks after acceptance of their funding proposal.
Project reports:
Investigators are expected to provide a brief (one page) final report upon completion of the project by June 30, 2024. These reports allow us to track and report research outcomes as well as monitor the successfulness of the grant program. Please submit your report to the CLS administrative assistant Brittany Glunt, bdg11@psu.edu.
If you submit an external grant proposal or manuscript that has benefited from this funding opportunity (e.g., using data collected under this mechanism), please send that information to us (Janet van Hell, jgv3@psu.edu), so that we can add it to the CLS annual report we submit to the College.
If you need to make changes to the proposed research, project team, design, or budget, please send a request to budget manager Heather Mann, hmg108@psu.edu, with details of the change(s).
Template Application for CLS Funding to support Pilot Studies for Doctoral Dissertation Research & Doctoral Dissertation Grant Applications for Fiscal Year 2023/2024
Please complete all sections below and email the document to Brittany Glunt, bdg11@psu.edu, between September 15, 2023 – March 15, 2024, copying Janet van Hell at jgv3@psu.edu. Proposals must be single-spaced, in Times New Roman font size no smaller than 12-point, left-aligned with one-inch margins. The description for items 1-7 is maximally 2 pages.
Note that, in case IRB approval has not yet been obtained, researchers are expected to prepare and submit the appropriate requests for IRB approval for the proposed research within 2 weeks after acceptance of their seed funding proposal.
- Title of the proposal:
- Names of the Graduate Student PI and Faculty co-PI(s):
- If applicable, names and affiliations of other team members:
- Specific Aims/Purpose:
- Describe the specific aims of the proposal.
- Background/Significance:
- Describe the theoretical and empirical background and significance of the proposed pilot study.
- Research Methodology
- Describe the study methods (including target population, stimuli, procedure, planned statistical analysis).
- Grant application plan
- Describe the plan for external grant application(s), and how the proposed pilot study will enhance the quality of the grant application. Priority will be given to projects that convincingly motivate how the proposed pilot study will increase the quality and competitiveness of the planned external grant proposal(s) to support the student’s doctoral dissertation research.
- IRB approval number
- Provide the IRB that covers the proposed research. If the proposed research is not yet covered by an existing IRB, briefly describe plan to obtain IRB approval.
- Timeline
- Describe the anticipated timeline to accomplish the goals of the proposal.
- Budget and justification
- Provide an itemized budget and budget justification. Budget manager Heather Mann can assist with questions regarding the budget. Please give her at least a week’s notice before the deadline.
- References
- Attach NSF or NIH biosketches of the graduate student and faculty applicants.
- One-page letter from the student’s primary advisor confirming that 1) the student is working towards the completion of their master’s thesis or have obtained their master’s degree and will continue their graduate training towards a doctoral degree; 2) the student is in good standing; 3) there is a plan in place for seeking external funding to support the doctoral dissertation research and that they will support and mentor the student in writing this grant proposal.