The University at Albany Benevolent Association sponsors a research grant award competition to support graduate research activity. Award amounts, which do not exceed $500, are used to pursue research related to dissertation projects or master’s theses. The award supports direct cost of research. Our students have been very successful in obtaining grants.
There are some things you can do to increase your chances of success.
- Know the review process. Proposals are initially read and ranked by the Anthropology Department’s Awards and Nominations Committee, which is comprised of faculty of various sub-disciplines. A University-wide review committee will review the applications and departmental rankings and submit the final recommendations to the Vice President for Research.
- As you write your proposal, bear in mind that funding decisions are based on the following criteria:
- Quality and feasibility of the proposed research project and design;
- Preference given to applications for support of dissertation research;
- Clarity of the proposal to reviewers from other disciplines;
- Clarity, rationality and appropriateness of the budget; and
- Evidence of matching funds from other sources.
- Get your proposal to your advisor in time to receive feedback. This will help to improve your proposal. In addition, the advisor must write a statement evaluating your proposal; give your advisor time to do that. Statements that reflect on the specific strengths of the proposal tend to carry more weight than statements that simply speak to the quality of the student.
- Remember that your proposal is being read not only by those familiar with the subject matter,but by those outside of your own subfield and outside the field of anthropology. It is important that you clearly explain the significance of the proposed research and the methods you will utilize. Elaborations on theory may be less important than explaining how the methods you plan to use or the data you intend to collect will assist in moving forward the dissertation research and/or in obtaining future external funding.
- If you are collecting information on or about living human beings or animals, submit approval forms to the Research Compliance Office prior to submitting your Benevolent application. If you have questions about research compliance procedures you can call the Research Compliance Office at 437-4569.
- If you have questions contact your graduate advisor.
For information on student funding, and to download a Benevolent Application, go to http://www.albany.edu/research/GradStudentFunding.htm. Good luck!!
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