HUSEC Seed Fund For Interdisciplinary Science
Purpose
The HUSEC Seed Fund for Interdisciplinary Science (HSFIS) has been established to support collaborative interactions between faculty that will promote research or educational activities at the interface of two or more scientific disciplines. Such cross-faculty collaborations could include, but are not limited to, time-delimited research projects, courses, small-scale conferences, and working groups.
To be eligible for support, the designated leader and faculty involved with the proposal must hold primary Harvard faculty appointments at the rank of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor. Grants of up to $75,000/yr are available. These grants should be considered seed money rather than continuing support. We anticipate the majority of these awards will be for one year of support and will not typically cover salaries of any of the faculty involved. However, a limited number of grants will be available for up to two years if progress is demonstrated and there are compelling reasons for continued support. (See below for larger proposals.) HUSEC anticipates granting 10-20 of these grants per year. Ordinarily, the funds should be expended within a year of the award; if not, a request for extension must be submitted to HUSEC.
Application Process
Applications will be accepted throughout the year, but awarded on a quarterly basis. The proposal should contain a description of the activity (less than two pages), a detailed budget (including categories of expense and specific planned expenditures, e.g., travel, food, honoraria, facilities rentals, student assistance, etc.), expected impact/outcomes, and letters of commitment to the project (one from the designated faculty leader assuming fiscal, administrative, and intellectual responsibility for the program and one from each participating faculty specifying the level of involvement to which they are prepared to commit). The application should indicate why this activity cannot be funded through other sources.
A report, at the conclusion of the activities, will be expected from each group, detailing what activities the group has engaged in, who has participated, the substance of the issues explored, and any resulting products, including publications and additional sponsored funding resulting from the work.
Applications should be submitted by email to Mark Gehret:
Office of the Provost
Holyoke Center, 870
Selection criteria
Proposals will be evaluated by the following criteria:
Scientific import: The activity/research should help balance and enhance the portfolio of research activities across Harvard and expand the boundaries of current science and engineering.
Linkages: This funding is specifically targeted at enhancing linkages and collaborations across disciplines, Departments and Schools. Examples of proposals we solicit include planning workshops and collaborative work between individual faculty in the physical and life sciences.
Benefits to the University: The activity/research facilitates collaboration in areas that are difficult to address in the current Harvard structure.
A concrete implementation plan, including space, FTE and funding requirements.
Compelling educational vision: The idea strengthens existing educational programs and/or creates new learning opportunities.
Practicality: The Harvard community has the necessary resources, including expertise, facilities and funds to support the research after the initial period of seed funding; ongoing support from external funding agencies is expected to be available.
Larger proposals
HUSEC will also consider proposals for larger initiatives. Successful HSFIS-funded projects may be strong candidates for additional, larger-scale HUSEC funding. The goal of HUSEC support at this level will be to propel the nascent effort onto a course in which it can become largely, if not completely, financially self-sufficient, either via extramural grant funding or philanthropic support; thus the proposal must describe a plan for attracting additional funds. HUSEC support of these larger efforts will be tied to achievement of agreed-upon milestones, and HUSEC will closely monitor progress to that end. Faculty interested in applying for HUSEC support beyond the scope of the HSFIS grants are encouraged to talk to Kathleen Buckley or Russ Porter for further information.
