Call For Proposals: Departmental Grants Available for Anthropology Graduate Students
The Anthropology Department has funds available to support graduate student research and other professional activities. We have two funding cycles: Round 1 in fall, Round 2 in spring. Round 1 funds are to be used during the academic year, and don't typically involve human subjects (e.g., as conference support for students who are presenting). Round 2 is for projects to be conducted during the summer.
2023-24 Round 1 Deadline: Friday, October 13, 2023. Recommended — submit draft to your advisor by October 6, get feedback and revise. Submit final proposal (already vetted/approved by your advisor) via email by end of day on 10/13/2023 to Laurel Carpenter and Barbara Strauss.
Post-Fieldwork Report and Checklist. To be submitted by those who receive Anthropology Department research funds. Must be submitted within a month of completing fieldwork.
Instructions for reimbursement.
Selection Criteria and Procedure
The faculty will review the proposals and determine both the number of grants and the stipend size. Approval of the proposal by the student’s advisor is a pre-requisite for submission.Applications will be evaluated in light of contribution of the project to the applicant’s degree program, the feasibility of the project, and the clarity of the proposal.
Department funds have been used in the past to cover the following projects or expenses:
- Master's paper research project (students must apply to GSAS/GSA and other relevant sources first);
- Travel to academic conferences at which the student is presenting a research paper or poster. (Please note: Students must first apply to GSAS/GSA for conference travel funds. The department will consider support for conference travel not covered by GSAS.)
- Pre-dissertation research visits to the field (to develop the basis for full research and grant proposals);
- Travel for use of collections or data acquisition;
- Language training necessary for the completion of graduate research (note: the department expects that students will utilize course opportunities through Brandeis and our consortium when possible).
- Equipment such as cameras, phones, computers, voice recorders. Students should make use of the university borrowing resources for these items.
- Food/per diem expenses (special cases will be considered)
- Any items prohibited by Brandeis University travel and business expense policies
In the event of heavy demand, consideration will be given to those who have not previously received funds. If a student has an outstanding incomplete, this may be taken into consideration.
In most cases, funds will be provided on a reimbursement basis, following the university travel and business expenses policies. Original receipts are required, and expense reports must be submitted within 30 days of return from travel (see above for policies relating to any university travel restrictions).
Proposal Format
Applications must be in Word and Excel. PDFs will not be accepted (except the IRB materials). Submit your final proposal via email to Laurel Carpenter and Barbara Strauss.
Applications need to include the following (please number your responses).
- Project title
- A one sentence description of what you will do. For instance, "I am applying for funding in order to..."
- A description of the project or activity.
- For research projects: describe your research objectives, potential links with existing scholarship, what evidence you hope to collect, how you will do it and a timeline. Please also indicate that you had a discussion with your advisor about whether IRB approval is necessary. This description should be no more than 700 words.
- For conference presentations: include the name of the conference, the conference location, the conference date, your role (panel presenter, discussant, etc) and paper title. Proposals to attend conferences will be much shorter than research proposals.
- Explain how this activity will contribute towards your MA project or PhD dissertation or professional development (150 words).
- Include a list of other sources of funding you have applied to or plan on applying to. Proposals that show effort has been made to find other sources of funding will be ranked higher than those that don't show that effort. If you are applying for conference funds, you are required to also apply to GSAS conference funding prior to applying to departmental funding. Please look at the links to grants, including the GSAS conference travel grant, provided below.
- An itemized budget in excel. Your budget should include (if necessary): accommodation, travel, conference registration costs, etc. Equipment and food/per diem are not covered.
- Your proposal must be in Word (for the description and other details) and Excel (for the budget).
Submit your final proposal via email to Laurel Carpenter and Barbara Strauss.
Your advisor's approval of the proposal is required.