IDEA Research Grants support innovative, high-impact scholarly work that advances understanding of democratic principles, institutions and challenges. The program supports Ohio State researchers in developing work that contributes to academic knowledge and creates opportunities for future externally funded research.

Purpose

IDEA Research Grants are designed to support research addressing important questions within democratic governance. The goal is to foster scholarly work that advances understanding of democratic principles, institutions and challenges while helping researchers develop projects that can lead to future external funding. Research may be quantitative, qualitative, normative or philosophical, provided that the methodology is appropriate to the project and its intended contribution.

Eligibility

Ohio State faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students are eligible to apply. Graduate students and untenured faculty are a primary audience for support. Postdoctoral fellows and graduate students must identify a faculty advisor on the application form, and graduate student applicants must also include a brief, one-paragraph endorsement from their faculty advisor.

Grant Types

IDEA offers two types of research grants. Pilot Grants provide up to $8,000 to support new projects that will generate the preliminary data or theory needed to compete for external funding and are reviewed once annually. Matching Grants provide up to $10,000 to supplement an external award a researcher has already received when those funds alone are insufficient to carry out the project. Matching Grant applications are accepted on a rolling basis and must include a copy of the external award notice and a brief explanation of the funding gap. Matching Grant decisions are expected within approximately four weeks.

Allowable Expenses

Grant funds may support research-related expenses including compensation for experimental or survey participants, monetary or other incentives used in experiments, research materials or equipment, and data sets. IDEA generally does not fund conference registration or travel expenses. Personnel costs, including undergraduate wages and graduate student support, are also generally not funded.

Proposal Evaluation

Reviewers will use a rubric to rank applications. Proposals should clearly explain the research question, the project’s contribution to existing scholarship, its relationship to IDEA’s mission and its potential to lead to future external funding. Applicants are also encouraged to describe how they would conduct the research in the absence of IDEA funding. Proposals will be evaluated using the following considerations:

• Research question and significance: Clearly articulate the central research question and explain why it is important.
• Contribution to existing literature: Explain how the proposed work builds upon and improves on existing research.
• Connection to IDEA’s mission: Demonstrate how the project contributes to IDEA’s goals.
• Potential for external funding: Show the potential for and a clear commitment to developing and submitting a subsequent proposal for external funding.

Application Requirements

Applications must include a completed application form and a project description of no more than three pages. The project description should explain the project’s purpose, how it addresses and improves on earlier work, how it relates to IDEA’s mission and the anticipated products, including published papers or chapters in books. Applicants must also provide a budget and budget justification explaining all anticipated costs, a current CV for each researcher involved in the project and, for graduate student applicants, a brief one-paragraph endorsement from their faculty advisor.

Applicants must also report current and pending support for the proposed research, including funds currently allocated to the project and funds that have been or will be requested from other sources.

Funding Process and Expectations

Pilot Grant applications are considered through the annual grant cycle, while Matching Grant applications are accepted on a rolling basis. All IDEA award funds must be used within 15 months of the award date. As a condition of accepting an award, the principal investigator or another member of the research team must present the research at an IDEA Lab Workshop or another agreed-upon time. Presentations should follow a standard one-hour workshop format, with written materials circulated at least one week in advance.

Award recipients must acknowledge IDEA funding in relevant presentations and papers, respond to requests for information about academic products resulting from the grant, including peer-reviewed papers and external grants received, and share grant-related data, documents and publications with the IDEA team.

Final Report

A written report of two to five pages is required at the end of the grant period and must be submitted no later than 16 months after the award date. The report serves as a record of the project’s activities, outcomes and use of grant resources and should include:

• Executive Summary
• Project Outcomes and Overview
• Actual Expenses Report
• Plans for Future Work from the Grant
• Confirmation that grant-related data, code repositories, vendor invoices and receipts are organized and stored in the designated IDEA directory

Questions?

Please contact a member of IDEA’s Leadership Team.