Terms of the Research Development Grants
Food Assistance Research

I. Terms & Conditions
II. Application Instructions
III. The Decision Process

I. Terms & Conditions

1. Applicants must hold a Ph.D.
2. The funding request cannot exceed $40,000. Funding may include:
   • Compensation for the PI's time;
   • Research assistance;
   • Travel;
   • Purchase of data, computers, or other research related items.
3. Applicants must include in their budgets a two-day trip to Washington, D.C. to attend the conference at which their results will be presented. The conference will be held in the fall of 2009.
4. Grant recipients will be expected to present their preliminary work at two workshops to be held in the winter of 2009 and late summer of 2009 in Chicago. Applicants should include in their budgets travel expenses for these single day workshops.
5. Funding will be issued through a subcontract from the University of Chicago with the researcher's institution.
6. Researchers are advised to consult with their institution's sponsored research office before submitting a budget. The total budget, including any indirect cost recovery to the institution, cannot exceed the maximum amount of $40,000. The indirect rate cannot exceed 10%. Researchers must provide a copy of their institution’s current negotiated indirect cost rate agreement.
7. Grant recipients will be asked to provide brief (one page or less) quarterly reports of their progress. Their final report will consist of a 2-page Executive Summary and the paper they present at the conference revised to respond to comments made at the conference.
8. Research papers will appear in the Harris School Working Paper Series at the discretion of the Harris School.

II. Application Instructions

Applications must be submitted by July 1, 2008.

Each application should include six (6) copies of the following:

1. A cover sheet with:
   • Title of the proposed research
   • Amount requested
   • Principal Investigator's name, title, institutional affiliation, mailing address, phone, fax and email address
   • •Additional authors’ name, title, institutional affiliation, mailing address, phone, fax and email address
   If more than one researcher is involved with the project, one Principal Investigator must be identified. All correspondence regarding the proposal will be with the Principal Investigator.
2. A one-page abstract, describing the purpose, data and methods.
3. Description of the proposed research not to exceed 12 double-spaced pages (excluding references).
   The proposal should carefully describe the question to be answered, the hypotheses to be evaluated, the proposed methodology and data sources, and the anticipated results of the research. The results should be explicitly related to policy issues.
4. A proposed budget describing the funding requested from the Harris School and funding available, or applied for, from other sources.
   The budget must be itemized to cover the major expense categories after "compensation for PI's time (percentage of salary and fringe charges)." List salary and fringe charges separately. Other categories include:
   • Research assistance;
   • Travel;
   • Purchase of data, computers, or other research related items.
5. The PI's curriculum vitae.
6. For proposals that involve human subjects, the appropriate human subject review documentation may be required.

III. The Decision Process

Applications will be evaluated independently by a panel of Harris School affiliated faculty and by staff members from USDA ERS. Decision-making criteria will include:

1. The clarity with which the question, methodology and the theory are described, including the background knowledge the researcher demonstrates in the proposal about the topic and the demonstrated ability of the researcher to undertake the research.
2. The extent to which the proposed research addresses an important or relevant research question, and/or the innovation and creativity of the research question or the methodology.
3. The reasonableness of the funding requested.
4. The appropriateness of the data source to the problem being studied.

Application Deadline: July 1, 2008

Applications should be addressed to:

Harris School of Public Policy Studies
University of Chicago
1155 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637
Attn: USDA Food Assistance and Nutrition Programs: RIDGE