Association Burkinabè de Fundraising

The Spencer Foundation is looking for applications for the Major Educational Research Grants programme to support educational research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education.

This programme is 'field-initiated' in the sense that proposal submissions do not respond to a specific demand for a particular research topic, discipline, design, method or location. Their aim for this programme is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research relevant to the most pressing questions and interesting opportunities in education.

They recognise that learning occurs throughout life and in all contexts - from the classroom to the workplace, to family and community contexts and even the playground - each of which can, in the right circumstances, provide the basis for rewarding study that makes important contributions to the field. They value work that fosters creative and open-minded scholarship, engages in deep enquiry and examines robust questions related to education. To this end, this programme supports proposals from a range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives, both nationally and internationally, from academics at different stages of their careers. They anticipate that proposals will cover a wide range of topics and disciplines that innovatively investigate issues central to education, including for example education, anthropology, philosophy,

Information on financing

Budgets ranging from 125,000 $ to 500,000 $ for projects lasting from one to five years. They plan to award grants with budgets covering each of the following funding levels: 125,000 $ to 250,000 $; 250,001 $ to 375,000 $; and 375,001 $ to 500,000 $.

Eligibility criteria

• Proposals to the Education Research Grants program must be for university-based research projects to study education. Proposals for non-research activities are not eligible (e.g., program evaluations, professional development, curriculum development, scholarships, capital projects). In addition, proposals for research studies in areas other than education are not eligible.
• Principal Investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs applying for a large educational research grant must have an earned doctorate in an academic discipline or professional field, or appropriate experience in a profession related to educational research. Although graduate students may be part of the research team, they cannot be named PI or Co-PI on the proposal.
• The PI must be affiliated with a non-profit organization or a public/governmental institution willing to serve as the administering organization if the grant is awarded. The Spencer Foundation does not make grants directly to individuals. Examples include nonprofit or public colleges, universities, school districts and research centres, as well as other nonprofit organizations with an IRS 501(c)(3) determination (or equivalent nonprofit status if the organization is outside the United States).
• Proposals from the United States and around the world are accepted, but all proposals must be submitted in English and budgets must be proposed in US dollars.

Restrictions

• The total budget for major research grants must be between 125,000 $ and 500,000 $, including up to 15 % of indirect costs. They anticipate funding proposals in the following funding levels: 125,000 $ to 250,000 $; 250,001 $ to 375,000 $; and 375,001 $ to 500,000 $. They will distribute their grants over these three levels. They strongly encourage applicants to think carefully about this when constructing their project budgets and not just aim for the highest budget category.
• Proposed projects may not last longer than 5 years.
• IPs and Co-PIs may only hold one active Spencer Foundation research grant at a time (this restriction does not apply to the administering organisation; organisations may submit as many proposals as they wish as long as they are for different projects and have different research teams).
• PIs and Co-PIs may not submit more than one research proposal to the Spencer Foundation at a time. This restriction applies to the Small Grants Programme, the Large Grants Programme and the Research-Practice Partnership Programme. If the PI or one of the Co-PIs currently has a research proposal under consideration in one of these programmes, they must wait until a final decision has been made on the pending proposal before they can submit a new proposal.

Note on funding levels They recognise that candidates are often encouraged to apply for the highest levels and amounts of funding. However, in the case of Spencer's large grants programme, they prefer budgets to be well matched to the design of the project. In previous rounds, the first tier was the most competitive bidding pool, with proposals submitted at lower tiers having a better chance of being funded. They encourage researchers to determine which level of funding makes the most sense for their project and design.

For more information, visit Spencer Foundation .