HSI Planning Grant program, 2022-23

The Hanley Sustainability Institute aims to catalyze and support transdisciplinary and community-based research and scholarship that addresses root causes of, and guides action on local and global sustainability challenges. Beginning in 2023, the institute will field proposals for planning grants of up to $5,000 to support researchers looking to develop longer term sustainability projects. Funding is available for individual faculty, teams of faculty, and teams of faculty and community partners so that they can strengthen collaborations, build capacity and pursue outside grants that could sustain broader initiatives:

• Faculty can receive up to $1,000 for disciplinary or interdisciplinary research they conduct individually or without any formal collaborators.
• Interdisciplinary teams of faculty can receive up to $3,000 and should include in their proposal the details of how these funds should be distributed within the team. Ordinarily, interdisciplinary teams are comprised of faculty from different departments, or if faculty are from the same department, they hold different terminal degrees. 
• Transdisciplinary teams of faculty and community partners can receive up to $5,000 and should include in their proposal the details of how these funds should be distributed within the team. Our expectation is that partners will play a significant role in conceptualizing the research and will thus receive equitable compensation for their contributions. 

Compensation for faculty is subject to the 100% rule, as they cannot earn more than their nine-month salary prorated over 12 months. The planning grants are intended to compensate researchers for their time in designing their research and preparing larger grant proposals, and additional funding is available to support the costs of pilot projects if that research would better position researchers’ pursuit of those outside grants. The application form will invite you or your team to speak to the importance of the research topic, initial reflections on how you will investigate it, and outside opportunities to which you’d apply and for which a planning grant would increase your competitiveness. To be eligible to apply, at least one applicant must enroll in the Sustainability Scholars network, and all applicants who have received planning grants in the past must show that they submitted a proposal for outside funding during the term of that planning grant. Applications will be due each cycle on the final Friday of April.

Recipients are expected to participate in two or three grant writing workshops hosted by HSI and other partners at the university to support proposal development and submission. By August of the year following receipt of the planning grant, teams must submit to HSI a final report that includes (1) a list of all outside opportunities to which the team applied for additional support, (2) the current status of those applications, including details of any support so far received, and (3) a full copy of all proposals submitted. In the event that the team is yet to receive additional, outside support, they should also provide (4) an additional opportunity to which they plan to apply, including a brief overview of revisions they intend to make to improve their likelihood of success.