Application deadline: Saturday, October 31 midnight

The GVU Center and the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT), with additional support from GTRI, announce the call for proposals for Seed Grants for Spring 2021.

Seed Grants will provide seed funding to catalyze and support interdisciplinary research activities involving faculty and students from the many disciplines represented in GVU and IPaT. We seek bold new work that by its preliminary nature would be difficult to fund through ordinary channels.

Given the one-semester time frame, this seed grant program will encourage collaborative projects, across academic and research faculty, that help build out new research capabilities, kick start new collaborations, and help our community address the challenges raised to the forefront during this unprecedented year.

Some ideas to consider are:

• Support for prototyping new interactive experiences including projects that may take advantage of (or add capacity to) a new planned textiles/soft circuits maker space
• Surveying research needs, conducting research interviews and surveys to inform a new collaboration
• Creating new methods for research, design, and training in response to COVID restrictions for safe distancing

For the first time, this program calls out specifically the importance of research to Advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

“The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich, and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities while tackling climate change and environmental protection. More important than ever, the goals provide a critical framework for COVID-19 recovery.”

Research proposals may request funding for items such as:

• A GRA between ⅓ and ½ time for the spring semester
• Research faculty time, in these cases, is highly encouraged but not required to collaborate with academic faculty
• Materials and supplies

Proposals cannot include academic faculty salary support. Also given the anticipated limitations on research activities, proposals cannot request support for travel or in-person events.

Preference will be given to early-stage research with a high probability of continued collaboration and future extramural funding, and with a strong interdisciplinary component. Funds are limited so proposed budgets should be modest, ranging from under $1000 to purchase supplies to $25K for a dedicated research activity beginning Jan 4. All funds must be spent by the end of the spring semester.

GRANTEE RESPONSIBILITIES

If you receive a Seed Grant, you must:

• Present your planned work at the spring IPaT Town Hall in January, and at an April GVU brown bag panel, and produce a brief final report.
• Acknowledge GVU, IPaT, and potentially GTRI support for the project in any talks, papers, proposals, or other outreach based on the project.
• Aim to acquire additional funding for parallel and subsequent research activities and notify us about these efforts. 
• All funds must be spent by the end of the spring semester.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

The proposal should be submitted as a single PDF document no more than three pages in length, and should describe: (1) the ideas motivating the proposed research activity, (2) methods or overall approach, (3) benefits anticipated from the proposed work, (4) a clear description of how the grant will enable subsequent collaborative research, and (5) an outline of the required budget

Please do not include overhead or tuition remission in your budget. Please let us know in your proposal if you require administrative staff time or other resources from GVU, IPaT, or GTRI.

If the student who will be involved in the project has already been determined, then the student and his/her academic unit should be identified in the proposal.

Proposals must be submitted to gvu@cc.gatech.edu by October 31. Awards will be announced in early November. Late submissions cannot be considered.

PROPOSAL REVIEW CRITERIA AND AWARD

Submissions will be reviewed on the basis of merit, originality, plans for furthering the collaboration, and synergy with GVU, IPaT, and GTRI themes and activities.

Preference will be given to proposals that span at least two different academic units (e.g., computer science/psychology, or digital media/music) and/or academic and applied units, and which set the stage for new collaborations in the GVU/IPaT community.

If you have questions about process, review criteria, or program goals, please address them to GVU Center Director Keith Edwards (keith@cc.gatech.edu), IPaT Executive Director Beth Mynatt (mynatt@gatech.edu), or IPaT Deputy Director Leigh McCook (leigh.mccook@gtri.gatech.edu).