Purpose

The Center for Communication, Culture, and Change funds interdisciplinary pilot projects that are designed to provide data needed to compete successfully for external funding from private, foundation, and government sources.

Eligibility

  • Interdisciplinary teams led by School of Communication full-time faculty members on continuing appointments are eligible to apply for this award.

  • Team must be led by a member of the Center for Communication, Culture, and Change.

  • At least two School of Communication departments must be represented on the project team.

  • Interdisciplinary teams can also consist of at least one SoC faculty member and other University of Miami full-time faculty members. Such teams are eligible to apply as long as the SoC faculty member is: a. Principal Investigator and b. member of the Center for Communication, Culture and Change.

Award Amount

A total of $30,000 is available for this award with an expected range of $1,000-$5,000. In truly exceptional cases, an award in excess of $5,000 can be made. The funding will become available immediately after award decisions are made and must be spent within the award cycle funding period.

Criteria

Evaluation of proposals will be based on the following criteria:

  • Lead applicant is an SoC faculty member of the Center and at least two SOC departments or two University of Miami disciplines are meaningfully represented.

  • Proposed project represents a significant collaboration across disciplines. In other words, project could not be accomplished without the participation of faculty from at least two disciplines.

  • Potential of the research to lead to a viable external funding application.

  • Purpose of the pilot project (or the larger project that will be proposed for external support) is to create positive social or behavioral change.

  • Specific external funding mechanism for future project is identified.

  • Strong evaluation component must be present.

  • Research methodology used is appropriate for the research questions or hypotheses advanced.

  • Writing of the proposal is clear.

  • Timeline for project is feasible.

  • Budget is clearly justified.

Additional Criteria

Proposals that include the following criteria will be evaluated more favorably:

  • Project focuses on populations within Miami, the Caribbean, Central America, and/or South America.

  • Meaningful involvement by one or more graduate or undergraduate students or classes.

  • Strong likelihood that the project will yield data that can be used to strengthen a future external grant proposal.

Evaluation

  • All proposals will be evaluated by the internal advisory board of the Center for Communication, Culture, and Change, based on the criteria outlined above.

  • Applicants who serve on the advisory board will recuse themselves from the evaluation of grant applications in the current round.

Conditions

By accepting this award, the 4C member agrees to the following:

  • The award recipient will submit a written report of the results and make an oral presentation of the work resulting from the 4C award at the Research Forum following the conclusion of the funding period. If the work is not complete by that date, the recipient will make this presentation at the Research Forum in the following year.

  • Faculty members not fulfilling the obligations of the award will be ineligible for future awards for a period of 3 years beyond the deliverables due date.

  • 4C members can be the lead applicant/Principal Investigator for one project per year. There are no limits on the number of application teams 4C members can be a part of, however.

Budget

  • All direct research costs are eligible for support (travel, consultants/contracts, and other direct costs such as supplies and equipment). Salary is not eligible for support.

  • Where requested funding is for travel, equipment, or supplies, a statement is required to the effect that the requested budget items are either not available or that no other outside support is available.

  • Equipment purchased with the 4C Award funds becomes University property and is to be housed in the SoC.