Call for Proposals
Click here to apply on InfoReady.
Update 1: Deadline extended until Tuesday March 5 at midnight.
Update 2:We are also providing an additional option for signaling support from your community partners. As part of your application, you will now have the choice to include either a community partner letter of support or a list with the name(s) and contact information for your community partner(s). If you opt for the second option and are a finalist, we will contact your partner(s) for a brief conversation.
This small grant program, Community-Engaged Research in Agroecology and Food Systems, will support a cohort of UVM faculty undertaking community-engaged research projects related to agroecology and sustainable food systems. Agroecology is increasingly recognized for its potential to address multiple crises in the food system, including those pertaining to climate change, biodiversity loss, rural livelihoods, nutrition declines, food insecurity, environmental degradation, and persistent racial and social inequities. According to the High Level Panel of Experts of the World Committee on Food Security (HLPE 2019), agroecology reflects,
Approaches that favor the use of natural processes, limit the use of purchased inputs, promote closed cycles with minimal negative externalities and stress the importance of local knowledge and participatory processes that develop knowledge and practice through experience, as well as more conventional scientific methods, and address social inequalities. Agroecological approaches recognize that agrifood systems are coupled social–ecological systems from food production to consumption and involve science, practice, and a social movement, as well as their holistic integration, to address food and nutritional security.
Agroecology thus takes a systems-change approach that necessitates bringing together multiple knowledges and ways of knowing and to tackle just transitions from different disciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives. To this end, community-based, participatory and transdisciplinary research is a hallmark of agroecological knowledge co-creation and will be at the center of this program.
We are offering this small grants program through funds made available from the Office of the Vice President for Research to support UVM Faculty through five $15,000 grants. Community-engaged research projects can be focused on any geography (locally, nationally, internationally) and will focus on better understanding and supporting an aspect of practice, policy, science, community process or other aspects of agroecology. Successful proposals will articulate strong collaboration with a community partners organization or network and will address issues of inequity in the food system. The five selected projects and researchers will also form a cohort for co-learning, and will come together at three points within the project timeline for mutual learning, support and sharing.
Eligibility
The principal investigator (PI) must be a UVM faculty member. Co-principal investigators and collaborators can include other faculty, staff and graduate students. An individual can only serve as PI for one active small grant award.
Timeline
- January 29 – Application portal opened
- February 28March 5 – Application deadline
- March2530 – Notice of awardees
- April 15 – Cohort inception meeting
- October 1 – Cohort check in and sharing of progress
- December 31 - Project funds must be spent
- February 1 – Cohort final meeting, sharing of outcomes and results
Allowable Expenses
- Direct research costs- materials, equipment, supplies, workshops, etc.
- Travel costs- airfare, mileage, meals, etc. (subject to UVM regulations)
- Salaries- faculty summer salary, temporary and student employees, staff
Application Process
Proposals will be submitted through the InfoReady portal, with a deadline of 11:59 pm, EDT February 15, 2024. Basic information will be entered online, and required proposal components, which should be uploaded as files into InfoReady, are listed below:
- Project proposal (maximum of 2500 words, excluding timeline and references), including:
- Abstract (200 words)
- Introduction and proposal objectives
- Approach and methods, including what makes this a community-engaged project
- Description of the research team
- Information on community partner(s) and relationship with research team
- Timeline
- References
- List of team members (download template from supporting docs)
- Letter(s) of support from community partner(s) or a list with the name(s) and contact information for your community partner(s). If you opt for the second option and are a finalist, we will contact your partner(s) for a brief conversation.
- 2-page CVs for PI, Co-PIs, and collaborators
- Budget table and narrative (download template from supporting docs)
- Completed signature page (download from supporting docs)
Funding Level and Duration
- Requests can range from $5,000 to $15,000
- The timeline to spend grant funds is calendar year 2024 (by December 31, 2024).
Expectations from Grantees
Grantees arerequired to participate as a cohort in 3 meetings that will include Institute for Agroecology (IfA) team members and the other grantees. Our intention is for these awards to go beyond receiving funds to co-learning spaces for agroecology and community-engaged research. Grantees will also be required to provide a report (up to 5 pages) that describes project activities, outcomes, challenges, opportunities, and a reflection on the process. In addition, we request that any publications or other outcomes from the grant acknowledge the IfA.
