Frequently Asked Questions in the Social Studies

If you are applying for an NEH, Guggenheim, or ACLS fellowship, contact your appropriate associate dean (2-1044) in advance of the fall competition deadline.

Who should I call if I have questions about my application?

General questions: Rebecca Patterson (2-8387) or Steve Schwoegler (2-8386)
Computer or web related questions: Calvin Chan (5-9772)
Questions specifically on content of application: Sharon Dunwoody (2-1044)  

Who provides the funds for the Research Committee Fall Competition?

The Research Competition is funded largely by a gift from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF).  Since its founding in 1925, WARF has served the UW-Madison scientific community by patenting research discoveries at the UW-Madison and licensing such technologies to leading companies in Wisconsin, the United States, and worldwide. WARF distributes the income from these commercial licenses in an appropriate manner among the UW-Madison Graduate School, the inventors, and their departments  (http://www.warf.ws/).  The Research Committee Fall Competition is one means by which the Graduate School distributes its gift to faculty and permanent PI’s on campus.  Some state funds are also used in the fall competition.

What are the components of an application?

The application process begins with an online application form, including short abstract, budget, project description, and other information.  After the application deadline, your file will be assigned to a member of the Social Studies Research Committee, who will contact you or your department secretary about setting up an appointment for an interview.  At the interview, your interviewer will seek more detail about you and your proposal.

In the case of junior faculty, the interviewer also speaks with the chair of your department.

At a Research Committee meeting, the interviewer then presents your proposal and answers questions from other committee members.  She/he will act as your representative rather than as your advocate, and you should be sure that he/she understands your project as well as possible.   Decisions about funding are made by the committee as a whole.  You will be informed of the results of the competition by the middle of December.

How large is the average award in the fall competition?

Awards vary greatly.  For the 2008-2009 competition, the average award was $23,000, which included amounts for fringe benefits and tuition remission.  Among those applications that were funded, the committee provided the full request to some and partial amounts to others. Multidisciplinary awards usually follow the same pattern.  

For what items can I legitimately seek support?

In the social studies, applicants often ask for a suite of resources that may include summer salary, a project assistant, an hourly worker, or flexible funds for research-related travel, supplies, etc.  It is possible to ask for a semester's research leave, if your eligibility allows (see eligibility explanation below).  Note that a semester leave is an award substantially above the average, and the committee will need to decide how best to allocate its resources.  Be sure to talk with your interviewer about your budget priorities.

What is a multidisciplinary project?

Multidisciplinary projects involve more than one PI from more than one discipline and feature both collaboration across and integration of those disciplines in service to answering a research question.  When you indicate “multidisciplinary” on the application form, you will be asked to list all PIs and to explain how your proposal fulfills the “multidisciplinary” designation.  Your interviewer will want to speak to all the PIs during the interview.

What is considered “research” for the purposes of this competition?

Since WARF explicitly supports the research mission of the university rather than teaching or service missions, the Research Committee must distinguish among these activities as part of its evaluation process. Scholarly work comes in many guises and varies by discipline, so we cannot offer a simple operational definition here. But it is probably fair to say that systematic knowledge generation will trump knowledge synthesis, reproduction, or application. If you have questions about the appropriateness of your project, please contact your Associate Dean (2-1044).

Is the writing of textbooks included in “research”?  What about translating?  Editing?

Textbooks are usually efforts at knowledge synthesis and application, so the Research Committee has traditionally said no. The legitimacy of translating or editing support requests depends on the linkage of these actions to knowledge generation. For example, seeking funds to support translation of documents important to a PI's analysis may be legitimate while a request for help to prepare a manuscript for submission to a journal published in another language may not.

What types of travel constitute legitimate fall competition requests?

Travel in service to accomplishing the proposed research is legitimate.  The PI should make clear the role of travel in the project both in the application (for example, in the budget justification section) and in the interview.  Please note that travel to report out research findings at meetings or other venues will not be considered a legitimate request.  The Graduate School maintains a separate program to support conference travel; please see the Graduate School web site for further details.

What if I want to branch out from my regular research and propose a project in a completely new area?

The Research Committee encourages new research areas.  You must, however, convince the committee that you are qualified to engage the new area. 

At what stage of my research project should I enter the competition?

Projects are funded at many different stages.  If you are uncertain about the suitability of your project stage, contact the Associate Dean.  Note that, in general, the Research Committee is reluctant to fund the same project over a series of years.

How important is it to be seeking external funding for this project at the time of my application?

A major goal of the fall competition is to help “leverage” outside research dollars. Thus, Research Committee members are heartened by an applicant’s efforts to seek external funds, particularly if the applicant proposes to use fall competition funds as insurance for those funds (see the “insurance” question below) or in a way supplemental to external dollars. Additionally, the modest nature of the typical fall competition award makes additional dollars welcome to most scholars. That said, the Research Committee understands that outside funding is more readily available in some disciplines than in others

What are my chances of winning my full request?

Highly ranked applications may secure most to all of the resources they request. Other awardees are more likely to receive a portion of their request. The Research Committee member who will interview you will seek to evaluate the goodness of fit between resources requested and those needed for the proposed project.

What does it mean when someone refers to one's "eligibility" or says that funds are “prejudicial”?

Faculty members and permanent PIs on a 9-month pay cycle are eligible for a maximum four months of salary (4.5 months, if taken as a semester rather than summer funding) every three years.  (If you are on a 12-month appointment, speak with Steve Schwoegler to clarify your eligibility.)  Departments sometimes refer to start-up or retention funds that count toward this maximum as “prejudicial.”  Your eligibility rolls over each year, so you should count your awards over the past two years to calculate your eligibility.  Only salary is considered in eligibility totals.

Can I enter the competition if I have a previous Graduate School award that I have not yet spent (start-up, retention, Romnes/Kellett Mid-Career/Named Prof)?

Unless specifically designated as counting against your eligibility, previous awards are not prejudicial.  Because Research Committee funds are limited, however, our assumption is that you will use the funds currently available to you; they cannot be used as insurance against another Research Committee award.  Start-up funds for summer salary, in particular, should be expended before requesting new summer salary.  However, if you are saving those funds for a clearly specified project that will take place in the near future, state your intentions to your interviewer, and explain how your application fits into or differs from that future project.  

The application asks for “Extramural and Intramural Support.”  What should I put in this section?

Your interviewer will have information about your previous Research Committee awards, including Fall Competition, Start-up, Retention, and others.  However, the committee will also want to know about other current sources of funding, including other UW and departmental resources, and your interviewer will ask about your plans for their expenditure.  The application asks for active, pending, and “to be submitted” awards.  If you are planning to submit an application to a funding source during the upcoming year, you should list this.  If you forgot to include an item in the application, be prepared to let your interviewer know about it at your interview.

I heard that preference is given to junior faculty.  Is it worth my while to submit an application if I am already tenured?

The Research Committee recognizes that tenured faculty have important funding needs and does its best to fund continuing, as well as new, faculty.  The Research Committee is also responsible for the Romnes/Kellett Mid-Career/Named Professorship awards, as well as for Vilas Associate awards when appropriate.  All of these reward tenured professors for their research activity.  Applications to the fall competition from tenured faculty that are submitted as full or partial insurance for an external grant will be seen as more consonant with the goals of the Research Committee than will applications with no insurance role to play.

What does it mean to seek a Research Committee award as full or partial insurance for another grant?

Let’s say you have applied or will apply for extramural support for the same project for which you seek Research Committee funding.  If there is 100% overlap in support (the extramural funds will cover ALL items articulated in your Research Committee request), then you are seeking Research Committee funds as insurance for your extramural request.  If there is less than 100% overlap (the extramural award will cover some—but not all—of your Research Committee items), then the Research Committee funds are partially insuring your extramural request.

Although the Research Committee prefers full or partial insurance proposals, be aware of the repercussions: If your extramural funds are awarded, the Research Committee expects you to return the overlap to the Graduate School.  That is, securing your external grant in a full insurance setting means you will receive NO funds from the Graduate School; the partial insurance setting will provide you with the portion of your Research Committee award not covered by the extramural grant.

If your extramural efforts are unsuccessful, you must provide formal proof of that to the Graduate School in order to activate your Research Committee award.

If I intend to leave UW-Madison for another job beginning in a fall semester, can I still accept a Research Committee summer salary award for the prior summer?

No. If you receive summer stipend from the Research Committee you may activate those summer funds only if you will be in residence at the UW-Madison the following fall. That means accepting another job beginning in, say, fall 2009, will inactivate a summer salary commitment made for summer 2009.

How important is the human subjects box on the application?

It is very important, and you must indicate if your proposed project will require human subjects approval.  If you receive a Research Committee award, activating that award will be contingent on your obtaining such approval.

The application asks for an explanation of how I have used recent Research Committee awards.  What should I put in this section?

The Committee will want to know whether you accomplished the tasks for which previous awards were given and what outcomes have ensued (i.e., publications).

How can I best present my proposed work in the limited space available on the application?

The same advice holds as for all competitions: State up front what you are requesting; make a case for the value of your research in the context of your field; state your qualifications for this particular project; and explain your project with a minimum of jargon.  Remember that your proposal will be judged by scholars in the broad discipline of the social sciences, but not necessarily by anyone with expertise in your particular area.  Note also that the interview is an important part of the application process, and you will have a chance to expand on your written application at that time.

How can I prepare for the interview itself?

Make a current CV available to your interviewer before the scheduled date of the interview, so that he or she can adequately prepare for your meeting.  Share any publications or other materials that might help explain your project.  If you have submitted a proposal for external funds for which the Research Committee proposal is full or partial insurance, provide your interviewer with a copy of that application.  And remember that your interviewer’s job is not so much to serve as your advocate on the committee as to accurately summarize your project for other committee members.  Equip your interviewer with the information she or he will need to present your proposal as clearly as possible.

With whom should I talk if I have questions about the outcome of the competition?

You should call your Associate Dean in the Graduate School (2-1044).