2012 Call for Proposals for Research Grants: Now Closed
The first Call for Proposals (CFP) for the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security, and Society (TSAS) is now closed. In this round $240,000 was made available for research projects. As implied in the title of TSAS, projects are considered only if they target the areas of (a) radicalization and terrorism, (b) security responses, or (c) the societal context in which issues of radicalism and securitization operate (including the impact of securitization on communities). Priority is given to proposals that address the stated research needs of TSAS’s partner organizations. Applicants are invited to review the following documents to become better informed of these needs:
Applicants who wish to demonstrate the utility of their projects for policy are invited to submit, along with their application, a letter of support from a relevant institution.
The principal investigator identified in the application must hold a faculty position at a Canadian university that has an MOU with SSHRC, and must be formally affiliated with TSAS. Co-investigators may be faculty members inside or outside Canada and must be affiliated with TSAS. Research Assistants may include graduate students, while Partners are generally governmental or non-governmental institutions.
Affiliation with TSAS requires an email to the Project Coordinator, Vicky Baker, a recent CV and a brief (1/2 page) statement of how one’s research agenda has connected with, or will connect with, TSAS. To be eligible for applying to this Call, the deadline for submitting a request for affiliation is 9am on December 3, 2012.
Funding Details
The period of funding for the 2012 CFP is April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014. Only proposals that could be realistically completed within this time frame were considered.
Our “standard” grant amount is $15,000, though we accept proposals for less than this amount.
Adjudication system and expectations
Our adjudication committee is comprised of two ‘teams’ that operate independently in the first instance, one which evaluates scholarly merit (comprised of academics) and one which evaluates importance for policy and practice (comprised of non-academics). TSAS provides funds only for projects that are judged positively by both teams on the adjudication committee. Scholarly merit will then be the main factor in funding decisions for those proposals that have been judged positively by teams in the first instance. Those proposals judged positively by both teams. Academic researchers who have not had experience working with policy analysts in government are encouraged to review the priorities of our partner organizations and, if possible, to contact a policy official from one of these organizations and discuss their proposal.
To be considered for funding, applications must be made on our special form and must include one signed hard-copy and one unsigned electronic copy. These must be received at the office of the UBC Project Coordinator by 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on Monday, December 3, 2012. In addition, all principal and co-investigators must submit an electronic copy of a 2-page abbreviated CV as an attachment to their application. CV’s longer than 2 pages will not be considered. It is TSAS’s practice to consider only one application from any of our research affiliates, as Principal Investigator, during any given grant competition. Proposals must be written in plain language and must clearly speak to both the scholarly merit and to the usefulness to policy and/or practice of the research proposed. Applicants are not permitted to apply on behalf of other researchers (with one exception: Principal Investigators may submit a proposal that will provide research funding for a graduate student under their supervision). Applicants must be candid about the division of labour in a project. We expect that a minimum of 50 percent of funds in a research project will be dedicated to support for graduate students through research assistantships. Although this is not a requirement, proposals that fund students will be given priority over those that fund non-student research assistants or non-academic researchers.
Additional information
Transfer of funds and TSAS spending rules are explained in our Grant Guidelines.
All funded researchers working with NGO’s must comply with the principles set forth in our Charter of Community Research Principles.
Other obligations of funded researchers:
Each project must generate at least one TSAS Working Paper, which must be submitted to the Managing Editor of our series in a timely fashion (i.e. deadline is March 31, 2014 for this Call).
Each working paper must include an associated Policy Briefing Note. Policy Briefing Notes are 1-page documents written in plain language in standard formats with 4 boxed topics: Research Question, Importance, Research Findings, and Implications for Policy and Practice. To see an example, please visit the Working Paper section of the TSAS website.
Each funded project must have at least one associated non-university dissemination activity. These may include: participation in TSAS-sponsored policy workshops and roundtables, participation in a public forum, or a presentation for a stakeholder group such as a governmental or non-governmental organization. Researchers are encouraged to use their imagination to improve our reach outside the university setting.
All TSAS affiliated researchers are required to submit an annual report of activities. Principal Investigators of funded projects will be required to include a report on the progress of their project along with their general report.
It is vital for TSAS to demonstrate that our resources are used to build capacity for graduate training. Therefore we require Principal and Co-Investigators of TSAS grants to provide us with the names of students conducting TSAS-related research under their supervision, and the titles of their research projects. Titles of all theses produced by students emanating from TSAS-funded research should be forwarded to TSAS.
Where to send your proposal
All submissions, both electronic and hard copy, should be sent by 9am on Monday, December 3, 2012 to:
Vicky Baker, Project Coordinator, TSAS
Department of Geography, University of British Columbia
1984 West Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Email: vicky (dot) baker (at) ubc.ca