Vanderbilt International Office Grants Program

 

Overview

The Vanderbilt International Office (VIO) Grants Program has three objectives:

 

Tenured or tenure-track faculty with a primary appointment in University Central are eligible to apply. Projects may involve faculty from any school as investigators, including the Medical Center, but the Principal Investigator must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member from A&S, Engineering, Peabody, Owen, Divinity, Law, the Graduate School or the equivalent at Blair.  Full-time, permanent staff and graduate/professional students from any school may also be included in a project.

 

If you are in doubt about your eligibility, please contact Melissa Smith at Melissa.p.smith@vanderbilt.edu or 322-3444. 

 

To compete successfully for an award, a project proposal must satisfy all of the following criteria:

 

Partnerships involving any peer university or center outside of the U.S. are eligible.  In order to encourage maximal institutional impact for Vanderbilt, the selection committee will give additional weight to projects involving those universities currently endorsed by the Advisory Council on International Affairs as core international partners: the University of Cape Town (http://www.uct.ac.za/ ), the University of Melbourne (http://www.unimelb.edu.au/ ), Fudan University (http://www.fudan.edu.cn/englishnew/),  the University of São Paulo (http://www2.usp.br/publishing/insite.cgi?template=index_en), and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (http://www.uc.cl/webpuc/site/edic/base/port/info_para_english.php).  Historically, roughly half of projects funded have involved core partner universities.

 

Vanderbilt faculty members are urged to build on existing research ties with colleagues at these institutions as well as to establish new scholarly relationships in areas of excellence that appear promising for their own scholarship and teaching.  VIO staff members are happy to facilitate contacts with faculty and administrators at these partner universities. 

 

Proposals are subject to the following restrictions:

 

Eligible Candidates: Tenured or tenure-track faculty from University Central

 

Maximum Award Amount: $8,000

 

Purpose: Exploratory grants are intended to support individuals or small groups of researchers to develop new research collaborations with foreign partners. Funds may be used to cover travel-related expenses (transportation, housing, and meals) for VU researchers to confer at a foreign institution or to bring partner researchers to Vanderbilt. While these grants are exploratory in nature, it is expected that applicants will have already had initial conversations with collaborators, and can demonstrate engagement and early planning on both sides. Preference will be given to applications that also demonstrate the potential for impact that spans specialties or disciplines. Group applicants may use the funds to organize planning workshops to identify shared research priorities and map out plans for joint collaboration. The funding amount will vary depending on the number of researchers involved—the maximum funding amount is intended for larger groups.

 

 

1. Cover Page.  Complete the cover page provided and indicate the category of grant sought.  The title of the proposed project should be concise but descriptive of the academic focus of the collaboration (e.g., intellectual property rights (Law), Spanish contemporary literature (Spanish and Portuguese), or bone biology (Medicine)).  Be sure to identify the project directors at VU and the partner institution.  Any faculty or graduate students involved in the project should be listed on the cover page, especially those involved in travel related to the project. Applications without a complete cover page will not be accepted. 

2. Project Summary & Rationale.  This section should be written for an individual who is not an expert in the field.  Explain how funding this proposal would satisfy the criteria detailed on page one of the guidelines. Demonstrate how it will stimulate the growth of the overall research and/or teaching programs of each applicant and academic unit.  Describe plans for the sustainability of this collaboration, including broad engagement at both universities, likelihood of external and internal funding and Dean approval. Tell us how you plan to evaluate the success of the project. This section must not exceed three pages of single-spaced text (12-point font). 

3. Statement from Partner Institution and VU Dean.  You should provide written verification that a partner colleague at the foreign institution shares your estimate of the potential of this research and that this project has the backing of that person’s Dean or Faculty Head. Documentation of such support by your VU Dean or Department Head is also required. Documentation need not be a formal letter—e-mail correspondence is sufficient, so long as the content clearly demonstrates a strong endorsement. Financial support from your Dean or department is not required for Category A applications, but does strengthen an application. A&S faculty should submit requests for letters of support to Associate Dean Martin Rapisarda (martin.rapisarda@vanderbilt.edu) at least one week prior to the deadline.  

4. Budget. Provide a brief budget with estimated expenses. Proposed budgets must include a breakdown of costs for airfare, lodging, and meals & incidentals, with an explanation of the costs in each of those categories, as well as the total requested amount. If projected expenses exceed the amount requested from VIO, please indicate the source of those additional funds. For guidance on estimating international lodging and incidental expenses, VIO suggests that you view the U.S. State Department per diem guidelines for the country to be visited: http://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp. For domestic per diem rates, visit http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentId=17943&contentType=GSA_BASIC. Please note, however, that Vanderbilt does not use per diem for reimbursement of expenses, and all expenses will need to be itemized as with any other work-related travel.

 

 

 See the table below for line item examples.

 

 

 
5. Curriculum Vitae. Provide a two-page (maximum) C.V. for each participating faculty/staff member listed on the cover page.  Each C.V. should include at least the following information: Name, degrees and institutions, record of professional employment, books published, the number (only) of peer-reviewed journal articles or book chapters published for the last five years, full citations for the five most recent publications, and record of grant support for the last five years (for each grant, provide: grant title; funding levels, including both direct costs and indirect costs, if applicable; funding agency; and grant period).  Each participating faculty member may use a third C.V. page to list his/her record of graduate-student and postdoctoral-fellow supervision, listing only those for whom the faculty member served as the principal thesis/dissertation advisor or mentor.

Deadlines: November 11, 2009 and January 20 and March 17, 2010. Proposals should be submitted by 5:00 pm to Melissa Smith via email at melissa.p.smith@vanderbilt.edu, via fax to 322-6070 or delivered to 201 Alumni Hall.

 

 

Category B: Project Development Grants

Eligible Candidates: Tenured or tenure-track faculty from University Central; VU Ph.D. or professional students (with a tenured or tenure-track faculty sponsor). A faculty member may sponsor a VU Ph.D. or professional student application under Category B and apply for a Category B grant in the same cycle and within the same proposal.

 

Maximum Award Amount: Up to $15,000 in funding for faculty.  Up to $5,000 in funding for a Ph.D. or professional student (from VU or partner institution).

 

 

Purpose: This grant is intended to lay the foundation for an ongoing and sustainable research partnership that includes mobility of faculty, staff, and students between the two institutions.  As such, successful candidates can demonstrate interest at both institutions that goes beyond the principal investigators and project outcomes should have long-term impact on the relationship between the institutions. Applicants should be able to propose a detailed research plan, including specific timelines and plans for long term funding to sustain the project. Projects should result in tangible research outcomes, like joint publications, joint workshops/symposium, patent application, co-edited anthologies, or other collaboratively produced projects.  

 

Proposals may request support for collaborators to come to Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt researchers to visit a partner institution, or both, and are intended to cover longer periods of exchange, up to one semester. While funding may be used to cover semester-long visits by VU or partner faculty/graduate students, visits back and forth between institutions that total in time up to fourteen weeks are an acceptable use of the funds.

 

Visiting faculty members, staff and students will be expected to be directly involved with research projects and participate in the intellectual life of the Vanderbilt community, including some public lectures for visiting faculty.  Faculty should make at least one public presentation, in addition to interacting with faculty members and students in the host department. 

 

 

1. Cover Page.  Complete the cover page provided and indicate the category of grant sought.  The title of the proposed project should be concise but descriptive of the academic focus of the collaboration (e.g., intellectual property rights (Law), Spanish contemporary literature (Spanish and Portuguese), or bone biology (Medicine)).  Be sure to identify the project directors at VU and the partner institution. All faculty or graduate students involved in the project should be listed on the cover page, especially those involved in travel related to the project. Applications without a complete cover page will not be accepted. 

2. Project Summary.  This section should be written for an individual who is not an expert in the field.  Outline the major goals of the proposed research collaboration and describe how they will be accomplished, as well as the overall significance of this research. Include information on how you plan to evaluate the success of the project. This section must not exceed three pages of single-spaced text (12-point font).  Additional pages may be used for images, tables, references or other non-text supporting materials.

3. Rationale. Explain how funding this proposal would stimulate the advancement of the overall research and/or teaching programs of each applicant and academic unit as well as contribute to the development of an institutional relationship between Vanderbilt and the partner university.  Describe plans for the sustainability of this collaboration, including engagement at both universities that goes beyond the principal investigators, likelihood of external and internal funding, and Dean approval.  It is important to argue convincingly that funding the proposed collaboration would do substantially more than maintain the status quo.  This section must not exceed two pages (12-point font).

4. Statements from Partner Institution and VU Dean.  You must provide written verification, preferably in the form of three letters: 1. From the project director at the partner institution, summarizing the importance of this project, its sustainability, and—if hosting a visiting Vanderbilt scholar—the names of the individuals and offices who will assume responsibility for the visitor’s academic arrangements, housing arrangements, and other logistical matters; 2. From the Dean or Director of the School or Faculty at the partner institution in question, verifying the details of the project directors’ letters and assuring his/her support of the endeavor, including funding or other specifics; 3. From the Vanderbilt Dean of the project director, indicating similar approval of the project proposal and a willingness to supply matching funds if applicable. If matching funds are involved, additional documentation must be submitted verifying the source. A&S faculty should submit requests for letters of support or financial commitment to Associate Dean Martin Rapisarda (martin.rapisarda@vanderbilt.edu) at least one week prior to the deadline. Though not required, a commitment of funding from the partner institution will strengthen a proposal.

5. Budget. Provide a budget with estimated expenses.  The proposed budget should include total project budget information, including any matching/supplemental funds. Proposed budgets must include a breakdown of costs for airfare, lodging, meals & incidentals and any other relevant expenses with an explanation of the costs in each of those categories, as well as the total requested amount. For guidance on estimating international lodging and incidental expenses, VIO suggests that you view the U.S. State Department per diem guidelines for the country to be visited: http://aoprals.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp. For domestic per diem rates, visit http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentId=17943&contentType=GSA_BASIC. Please note, however, that Vanderbilt does not use per diem for reimbursement of expenses, and all expenses will need to be itemized as with any other work-related travel.

 

See the table below for line item examples.

 

 

6. Curriculum Vitae.  Provide a two-page (maximum) C.V. for each participating investigator listed on the cover page.  Each C.V. should include at least the following information: Name, degrees and institutions, record of professional employment, books published, the number (only) of peer-reviewed journal articles or book chapters published for the last five years, full citations for the five most recent publications, and record of grant support for the last five years (for each grant, provide: grant title; funding levels, including both direct costs and indirect costs, if applicable; funding agency; and grant period).  Each participating faculty member may use a third C.V. page to list his/her record of graduate-student and postdoctoral-fellow supervision, listing only those for whom the faculty member served as the principal thesis/dissertation advisor or mentor.

 

Deadline: January 20, 2010. Proposals should be submitted by 5:00 pm to Melissa Smith via email at melissa.p.smith@vanderbilt.edu, via fax to 322-6070 or delivered to 201 Alumni Hall.

 

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