Tips for Securing Funding as a Graduate Student Courtney Hillebrecht Asst. Professor Department of Political Science UNL October 12, 2010

Securing funding is like the lottery: You can’t win if you don’t play. What is funding for? – General graduate studies – Skill-building: methodological/language training – Fieldwork/data collection – Write-up Where to find funding? – At UNL – Private programs – Government programs

Examples of Private Funding For fieldwork/data collection: – International Researches & Exchanges Board (IREX) Grants – Social Science Research Council For write-up: – U.S.I.P. Jennings Randolph Peace Scholarship Dissertation Program – Belfer

Examples of Government Funding For general graduate studies: – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program For skill-building/training: – NSEP Boren – FLAS (administered through home university) For fieldwork/data collection: – NSF Dissertation Improvement Grants Political Science Law and Social Sciences – Fulbright Hayes

Websites for Finding Funding Sources APSA: – – MSU: – Yale: – Rochester: – p p

Conference Travel EVERY time you plan to attend APSA and/or ISA, you should apply for their travel grants.

Residential Fellowships: Stipendiary and Non-Stipendiary Consider traveling/being resident scholar at another institution. – New people, ideas, etc. – Funding equivalent to, or greater than, current grad stipends. Could free up time from teaching/RA work. Increasingly common: non-stipendiary fellowships.

Writing a Competitive Grant Proposal (1: Clarity) The first paragraph sentence must explain what the proposal is about. Your proposal is not the place for cliffhangers. Be clear and direct about: – Hypothesis you are testing – Methods you will use – Contributions

Writing a Competitive Grant Proposal (2: Significance) Use language that everyone can understand. – Readers are unlikely to be experts in your field, certainly not on your topic. Clearly and succinctly identify your contributions. Clearly and succinctly identify why you’re the right person for the “job.” Convince readers that your topic is important! – For your discipline – For society at large

Writing a Competitive Grant Proposal (3: The Budget) Be as specific as possible; know the funding source and their priorities. – E.g. NSF prefers to fund fieldwork over conference travel. Find the right price. – My experience: needed less for printing/copying/etc. than anticipated, but more for food/lodging and travel. – State Dept. has table of daily allowances. Use those figures in planning your budget. Get help: –

Writing a Competitive Grant Proposal (4: The Boring Bits) Tailor your proposal for each call for funding, but don’t reinvent the wheel. Edit, edit, edit! Proofread, proofread, proofread! Include the appropriate literature. – You never know who is reviewing your proposal. Address all of the required parts of the proposal. Follow all of the directions. – Especially important for NSF.

Writing a Competitive Grant Proposal (5: Persistence and Planning) Plan ahead. – Get feedback before submitting your proposals. – Get the necessary IRB approval before you submit your proposal. – Could take up to 1 yr to get funds after you’ve won the grant. – Unlikely to win major grant first time around. My experience with NSF: integrated comments from first try to win grant on second try. Be persistent. – Expect to get rejected...but apply anyways. (Remember the lottery.) – Integrate comments from rejected grants to write better ones.

Using Your Funding Wisely Have a plan. Be prepared. – What do you want to do with this money? How will you do it? This should be in your proposal. But...be flexible. – Conducting research is a dynamic process. – Work with program managers/grant agencies if something changes (and you can almost guarantee it will).

Final Thoughts and Miscellaneous Tips Be proactive. – It’s your responsibility to get funding. – It’s also your responsibility to get your proposals into the grant agencies on time. Be competitive. – Funds are tight. Your work is good. Convince the grant agencies. Be creative. – How could you piece together two or three grants to make your research possible? Be thick-skinned. – Don’t take it personally. Grants are competitive, but that is no reason not to apply.

Good Luck!