2018 OIA-BOSP Companion Grants

This call for proposals is for faculty who will be spending a quarter teaching at one of the Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) locations during Academic Year 2019-20. It is intended to provide funds for faculty to pursue new or existing research goals at or in connection with the BOSP location. The funds are sponsored by the Office of International Affairs, "Steve and Roberta Denning International Research Exploration Fund".

Since 2013, the International Research Exploration Fund has enabled faculty to address numerous international research challenges, such as the lack of external funds to bring international research collaborators to Stanford, the need to travel to the field to establish and accelerate partnerships with global research partners, and the lack of funding to bring graduate students into the field to assist with and expand research goals. In short, the fund intends to facilitate collaborations among faculty and students and to foster new relationships at Stanford and with research partners all over the world.

What we'll ask reviewers to score highly

Proposals will be reviewed by Stanford faculty members representing at least three schools. In line with the scope of the fund, following is a list of the types of activities they will prioritize in the selection of the winners. A proposal might include one or more of these but there is no expectation that a proposal should include all or as many as possible. They will also prioritize quality over quantity.  

• a way to advance one or several of your research goals in the BOSP location (this could be to expand research you are doing elsewhere on or off-campus to the BOSP location and nearby area, for example)
• an impactful way to advance your international research goal
• a new and innovative approach to addressing a research challenge
• a new research collaboration that brings together researchers who have not previously worked together (any combination of faculty, fellows, postdocs, students and staff)
• opportunities for graduate students to participate in your international research project through a mentored activity.

Note: your proposal does not have to have all of the above. In fact, it would be very hard to come up with a quality proposal that would accomplish all of this considering the maximum amount of funding available per award! 

For examples of proposals that the Office of International Affairs has awarded in previous rounds, click here. If you are not familiar with the Office of International Affairs, here's where you can learn about services we have for faculty who do international research. 

What the funds can be used for

Travel including transportation, living expenses (lodging, food, incidentals), both inbound and outbound. Funds can be used prior to the BOSP quarter, during or shortly after. 

The funds may not be used for teaching or administrative salaries, tuition, insurance or health/welfare benefits but could be used to pay for an honorarium for non-Stanford research collaborators.

For proposals of comparable merit, priority will be given to those faculty that have updated their Stanford Profile with their international research. If you are not sure what that is, feel free to reach out and we'll help you get started with a Stanford Profiles before you apply for this opportunity.

If you are a BOSP faculty in residence 2019-20, you should definitely consider applying. We plan to award up to three proposals. We’ll seek to support all applicants, regardless of whether they receive an award, to accomplish their international research goals through the various services of our office.

Awards will be announced early Fall Quarter.