Letter of Intent: Due 12/9/16

Student teams interested in submitting a proposal must submit a 1-page letter of intent to mackert@utexas.edu by December 9. The letter of intent should include:

1. The name and academic department of the Principal Investigator
2. The name and academic department of Co-Investigator(s)
3. The name and academic department of a faculty mentor
4. A 1-paragraph description of the proposed project

Application: Due 1/20/17

Applications for the 2016-17 academic year are due by January 20, 2017. The application document is available on the Documents page.

Eligibility

Principal Investigator: The PI for each submission must be a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin or the Austin Regional Campus of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health. The PI should be planning on being a student for the 2017-18 academic year, to ensure the PI is a UT student over the course of the 1-year project.

Research Team: The research team must include at least one graduate student in the UT College of Communication and one graduate student from outside the College of Communication. Research teams may include more than two investigators. All members of the research team should fully contribute to the development and implementation of the study and interpretation of findings.

Faculty Mentor: All reseach proposals must include a faculty mentor who will provide guidance and support as needed by the research team.

NOTE: Graduate students may only be included on one proposal.

Grant Stipulations

The amount of funding available is up to $2,000 per research team. All budget items should be justified by demonstrating their necessity for completion of the research. Additional information about allowed expenses are provided below.

NOTE: HCSP funds may not be used to support dissertation research. The purpose of the HSCP is to foster and support new interdisciplinary collaboration among graduate students.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be evaluated based on merit. The research team should present the proposal in a clear, logical fasion to show the significance of the work and provide sufficient detail so that an adequate evaluation can be made. Review of proposals will be conducted by a panel of faculty.

Included in the consideration of merit are:

1. Scientific significance and innovation of the work
2. Soundness of the proposed methods
3. Feasibility of accomplishing the stated goals of the project
4. An interdisciplinary team that can achieve the goals of the project
5. Potential for contributing to further research

Expenses and Funds

The HCSP can only fund certain kinds of expenses.

Examples of expenses that HCSP funds may be used on include:

1. Paying the participants of research projects an incentive: gift cards for individuals, as an incentive for a drawing, etc.
2. Paying to use a participant pool
3. Travel to a research site (beyond the Austin area)
4. Salary for undergraduate research assistants, translators, or transcribers

Examples of expenses that HCSP funds cannot be used on include:

1. Computer software
2. Technology (laptops, tablets, etc.)
3. Grad student team members' salary or fringe benefits
4. Fellowships, scholarships, tuition, or fees
5. Books, journal subscriptions, CDs, or DVDs
6. Professional membership fees
7. Travel or registration costs for professional conferences, meetings, etc.
8. Entertainment expenses (e.g., refreshments)

If you have any questions about what may or may not be an acceptable expense, e-mail mackert@utexas.edu.

HCSP awards are not cash awards. Funds will be made available to student teams, and all regulations governing expenses of State funds must be observed. Funds will not be made available until after required IRB approval (if applicable) is provided. Travel expenses paid from HCSP funds are subject to the same regulations as travel expenses paid from State-funded departmental travel accounts. Employment of research assistants must be in accordance with established university regulations.