Purpose

The Center for Communication, Culture, and Change funds student led interdisciplinary research projects that address pressing social, environmental, and health issues with an emphasis in South Florida, the Caribbean, Central and South America regions.

Eligibility

Interdisciplinary teams led by School of Communication graduate students are eligible to apply for this award.

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

  • At least one faculty 4C member as Advisor or Co-PI

  • Thesis or dissertation projects are not eligible

Award Amount

A total of $5,000 is available for this award with an expected range of $500-$1,000. In truly exceptional cases, an award in excess of $1,000 can be made. The funding will become available immediately after award decisions are made and must be spent by the end of the academic year.

Criteria

Evaluation of proposals will be based on the following criteria:

  • Lead applicant is an SoC graduate student in good academic standing and at least two SOC departments are meaningfully represented.

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

  • Purpose of the project is to create positive social or behavioral change.

  • Purpose of the project is to create positive social or behavioral change.

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

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

  • 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.

  • 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. Recused members may be replaced by another faculty member from the same department.

Conditions

By accepting this award, the student fellow 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 during the next academic year.

  • Fellows not fulfilling the obligations of the award will be ineligible for future Center awards.

  • Student fellows can be the lead applicant/Principal Investigator for one project per year. There are no limits on the number of 4C application teams student fellows 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.