Research and Creative Activity Sara McLaughlin Mitchell Department of Political Science University of Iowa

Overview  Apply for grants! Benefits (overhead, grad funding, summer money, etc.) Overhead $$ helps UI too Strong component of tenure cases in many departments  Public vs. private sources Today I will focus on my experience with the National Science Foundation.

Outline of NSF Grant Review Process  Submission of grant proposal to a division of NSF (e.g. Political Science, part of SBE)  Proposal reviewed by external reviewers and panelists  Panel consists of 8-15 experts Discusses only top 1/3 of proposals Makes recommendations on funding  Program officer (e.g. Brian Humes) makes final recommendations

Outline of NSF Grant Review Process  Can submit to more than one division of NSF  CAREER Awards  Other programs: IGERT, REU, RAPID, special calls, etc.

Basic Elements of a Grant Proposal  Letter of interest  Abstract/Project Summary  Description of Team Members/PIs  Project Description Problem/Research Question Theory & Objectives Research Design & Methodology Results from Prior Funding References  Budget & Justification, Facilities  Biosketches, Current/Pending support  Human subjects approval  Internal routing form (UIRIS)

Grant Writing vs. Research Writing Similarities  Importance of ties to program officers/journal editors  Strength of theoretical ideas & research design  Clarity of proposals/research in written form  Significance/importance of research  Making data publicly accessible

Grant Writing vs. Research Writing Differences  Audience  Non-anonymity/Reputation  Stage of Research  Human Subjects Approval  Budgets, Justification, Paperwork  Recommendation letters/sponsors  Greater allocation to research design & feasibility in grants

Tips for Grant Writing  Get copies of successful proposals and emulate.  Have people that know your work and have successfully competed for grants read your proposals.  Talk to faculty that have served on NSF panels or panels for other agencies (e.g. NIH has study sections).  Talk to people in sponsored programs on campus

Tips for Grant Writing  Give your letter writers ample notice in advance.  You should be aware of funding agencies' agendas/biases.  You should think about grant writing as part of your research. You can convert some of the material in your grant applications into research articles and books.  Seek out funding from multiple agencies.

Tips for Grant Writing  Don't let rejection get you down because your chances of success increase with each iteration.  Success breeds success so getting first grant is important.  Contact program officers and tell them about your research. Bidders conferences Invite program officers to give talks

Tips for Grant Writing  Follow instructions/guidelines  Don’t ask for more money than you need, less is more  Spend time on your project summary because for many people this will be their only information Articulate the broader significance of the project clearly.  Start early because grant proposals take a lot of time to write & submit.

What Helps/Hurts a Grant Proposal  Helps Feasibility/Pilot study Solid theoretical argument and strong link to the proposed research design Reputation/past success Trendy topic?  Hurts Data collection proposed without theoretical justification No sense for how project fits into broader literature/data collection Poor organization/writing

Additional Resources Federal Grants:  University of Iowa:  Division of Sponsored Programs:  OVPR: fundinghttp://research.uiowa.edu/find- funding  International Programs: