Volume 13, number 3: September 6, 2006
FUNDING TIPS
Starting a Funding Search
Faculty, staff, and postdoctoral scholars looking for funding should start with Carolina 's GrantSource Library, part of the Office of Information and Communications. Electronic funding search tools such as COS, Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN), and other funding opportunities databases are linked from the library's web page. CD-ROMs, print directories, and guides to proposal writing are available at the library in 307 Bynum Hall. Library staff are available for consultations and instruction in the best use of these tools.
If you are interested in getting help on your funding search from the GrantSource Library, you can schedule an individual consultation in your office or a group demonstration for your department, center, or institute. To schedule an appointment, contact the GrantSource Library at 962-3463.
New Record Track Alert Feature in COS
Expanding the new Record Track feature in COS Funding Opportunities, COS now offers Record Track Alert, which enables COS users to receive email alerts with updated information about up to 100 tracked records. When you set up a Record Track Alert, you will receive an email the same day the record is updated by COS funding editors.
Record Track Alert will help you keep abreast of changes to opportunities you want to track. Rather than having to log into your COS Workbench to see if there are changes to your tracked records, you will simply receive an email alerting you that the record has been updated in COS Funding Opportunities.
To learn about COS Funding Opportunities and setting up COS Funding Alerts, click here. Contact the GrantSource Library at 962-3463 for additional help.
Did You Check Your Assembled NIH Application?
In applying for an NIH grant opportunity, you may have filled in all the application fields, included the required attachments, and forwarded your application package to your Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) in time to meet the receipt deadline. But your job does not stop there. Did you track the status in the eRA Commons? Did you check your assembled application?
According to NIH officials, well after the two-day viewing window has elapsed and the application has moved forward to the Division of Receipt and Referral, they continue to receive calls from panicked PIs who have just noticed serious issues with their applications. Unfortunately, after this point, Help Desk staff can no longer assist with changes to the application.
You care more about your grant application than anyone. Take advantage of the two-day viewing window to give your application that final check—then relax knowing your part of the submission process is complete.
Check out the new NIH Frequently Asked Questions on Checking Assembled Applications.
Funding Environmental Improvements Workshop in Pine Knoll Shores
The North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve's Coastal Training Program presents a workshop entitled Funding Environmental Improvements in Your Community: Funding Agencies and Grantwriting Basics. The workshop will take place October 3 and 4 at the North Carolina Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores. UNC-Chapel Hill investigators who work with community agencies, nonprofits, and non-governmental organizations in Eastern North Carolina are encouraged to share this announcement with their coastal collaborators.
This two-day workshop will introduce participants to various funding agencies that provide assistance to local communities to make environmental improvements to control storm water runoff, improve local water quality, and restore watersheds. Participants will also learn what these agencies look for in a grant application and how to find other sources of funding. Day two will be devoted to refining proposal-writing skills.
The workshop will include speakers from UNC-Chapel Hill, East Carolina University, Carteret Community College, and other agencies.
For details and to register, click here (pdf).
New Exchange Program Supporting Collaborations between Researchers in U.K. and Other Countries
The British Council has announced the Researcher Exchange Programme (RXP), a new initiative that aims to promote the development of scientific cooperation and contacts between the United Kingdom and other countries. The purpose of the RXP is to develop new research links between higher education institutions and research laboratories in the UK and other countries. It aims to encourage mobility and internationalism among early stage researchers for the exchange of information, ideas, and knowledge, and for relationship-building.
Research links can be in any area of science, engineering, and technology, including social sciences and humanities. However, priority will be given to those that fit within the UK 's current national research priorities for international collaboration:
- Biotechnology
- Nanotechnology
- Climate change
- Information communication technology
- Energy