What is a Seed Grant Good For? What does “seed

Transcript:What is a Seed Grant Good For? What does “seed:
What is a Seed Grant Good For? What does “seed grant” mean? SEED GRANTS are: competitive awards that are focused on the feasibility of a concept, assembly of compelling, qualified interdisciplinary investigator teams, identification of appropriate extramural funding targets, the quality of a proposal development plan and concrete activities and milestones that have high likelihood to result in advancing research, scholarship, and creative activity*. * we suggest using the language around research, scholarship, and creative activity in order to include disciplines that traditionally do not think of their work as “research” Typically this means… A modest investment that is generally funded through internal sources to help develop a project to the point where external funding can be obtained. What is a seed grant program good for?: Return On Investment Opportunities Traditional ROI: additional external funding, stimulated by seed grant activities Tracking, amounts, follow-through, There is some published and anecdotal evidence that seed grants do… Increase the likelihood that the grantees will submit an additional request for external sponsorship on the seed grant topic Increase the success rate of those application, compared to similar faculty who do not receive a seed grant Explanations for success Accountability Timing/preparation Reciprocity Risks/Concerns Self-selection bias: traditional normative approach that systemically advantages the majority Most analyses explicitly acknowledge that financial metrics do not fully capture the benefit of seed grants… So… What else can a seed grant program be good for? Bridge funding (between programs) Incentivize mentorship (Professors Helping Professors) Incentivize campus team formation Facilitate topic, focus, or funder switch Facilitate leadership training Incentivize and/or develop external team formation, research partnerships and relationships Other ideas… Return on Investment Bridge Funding Incentivize Mentorship Topic Switch External Research Partnerships Leadership Training New Ideas! Stand Your Ground Exercise: Choose your raison d’etre Outline opportunities and risks/concerns Share out (if you choose New Ideas… list what other things Seed Grants can be good for) What a seed grant program can be good for: Bridge Funding “Institutional support for a researcher or research team in between externally-funded research periods” Opportunities Retain productive researchers Encourage researchers to take risks May be paradoxically critical during times of macro-economic financial stress Risks/Concerns Unproductively extend a career, deplete internal resources Bridge funding programs are particularly vulnerable to reinforcing existing systems that exclude researchers Many use Cost-Benefit Analyses to allocate funds (Benefit side of the ledger can reinforce existing systemic bias) Potential Mitigation May include fairness,