EVALUATION

The evaluation of the review subcommittees will govern the selection of Research Council Seed Grants, based on the information submitted by the deadline of Friday, October 26, 2012. Announcement of awards will be made in early January 2013. 

The Vice President for Research will make the final decision on the grants based upon the Research Council’s evaluations. The evaluative comments will be shared as constructive feedback, if requested. The criteria upon which the evaluation of proposals is based are: 

  1. Quality of the proposal’s presentation. (The terms and objectives should be clear and unambiguous to a general audience.)
  2. Significance of the research project and its objectives (How will it contribute to the body of knowledge?)
  3. Appropriateness of the proposed method (will the methodology produce the answers desired?)
  4. Evidence that efforts to secure external sponsorship/funding are planned and will be facilitated by this research project. The Council recognizes that outside funding is less available in some disciplines than in others but encourages applicants to investigate funding opportunities and to apply for external funding whenever possible. Evidence of these efforts is important to the evaluation of proposals by the review subcommittees. If outside funding is not relevant to the project, explain why.
  5. If the project is completed successfully, will the results satisfy the project objectives
  6. Proposal must be consistent with format outlined in application materials.

 
FORUM COMMITTEE ON THE CATHOLIC INTELLECTUAL TRADITION TODAY

Two additional research grants are available through the budget of the Forum for the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Today. Proposals for these grants should deal explicitly with some aspect of Catholicism, e.g., the Catholic Church or its members. Catholic thought, art or culture, etc. Proposals are welcome from scholars in all disciplines; interdisciplinary proposals are encouraged. Proposals to the Forum will be submitted to the Research Council. The Council will forward these proposals to the Forum Committee for their review and input. Proposals will then be returned to the Research Council for review and evaluation under its Research Council Seed Grants Guidelines. Members of the Forum are not eligible to apply for these grants. 

Proposals submitted to CITF that do not fit its requirements will be reviewed with other proposals in the category in which it is submitted.  Information about other sources of support may be obtained by consulting the Faculty Handbook.

Members of the Research Council are not eligible to apply for RCSG grants.

REPORTS


ALL awardees are required to file a final report to the Office for Research summarizing the RCSG project no later than September 30.  If you are applying for 2012-2013 RCSG funding you must attach a copy of this report with your proposal.


Forms for Reporting


The report submitted at the completion of the project should include plans to search for external funding.  If there is a proposal for a Seed Grant the following year by the same applicant, the final report on the previous year’s grant, including responses to the two questions A and B under VI, Funding, in Proposal Requirements are used as a basis for evaluation of the proposal.