ARIS Center Fellowship Program 2021
Purpose and Description
The ARIS fellowship program is for professionals, researchers, faculty, educators, graduate students and others working to advance research impact practice. The goal of the program is to increase the quality and availability of scholarship and resources about research impacts through two types of projects. We support projects that: 1) synthesize existing scholarly work to package evidence into easily applied and digestible tools for the research community to improve research-impacts design and practice; and/or 2) small-scale innovative scholarship that explores new horizons and advances knowledge about research impact practices. Both types of projects require recipients to create products such as guidance documents, white papers, scholarly articles, decision support tools, multimedia supports, instructive videos, or other creative or scholarly outputs. Fellows are provided three types of support over the course of approximately one year:
- Participation in a community of fellows working to advance research impacts;
- Peer-review and editing of products under development along with publishing/production and dissemination support;
- A small stipend to offset the cost of fellowship work and/or fellowship-related travel.
ARIS will recognize the work of fellows on the Center website, at the annual Summit, and with a letter to your organizational leadership.
2021 Fellowship Priorities
Applications that address one of the below priorities are encouraged; other areas of focus are also welcome. All applications must provide justification for their stated focus and be able to describe how their contribution will support the research community in designing and implementing research impact practices.
- Strategies for designing meaningful research-impact activities that explicitly serve persons with disabilities.
- Strategies and best practices for creating research impacts through workforce development programs such as career and technical training and advanced technical training centers and institutes.
- Development of evidence- and critical theory-based resources that support young scientists and engineers who are Black, Indigenous, and/or Persons of Color in their pursuit of STEM careers.
Please note applications that propose research impact activities for a specific research project will not be competitive. Applications that propose a research impact model based on a single case will not be competitive. Project outputs should be aimed at serving the research community broadly and be of multidisciplinary value and interest.
Eligibility
All professionals, researchers, faculty, educators, graduate students and others working to advance research impact practice are eligible to apply. A review panel will use the application materials to consider if applicants possess the skills and capacities to successfully complete the proposed project. No applicant may propose work that is already within the scope of work of any existing grant-funded or contracted project. Selected fellows will be required to certify that they are not already funded to conduct their proposed projects. Proposed projects may be complementary and add value to existing projects.
Program Requirements
The overall work is to advance scholarship and provide clear and concise synthesis or original products that will build capacity for the research community and their partners to enhance the social, economic, and environmental impacts of their research. Fellows will conduct small-scale individual or paired collaborative projects that result in useful tools that facilitate use of evidence-based impact practices throughout the research community. Fellows are to approach their work collaboratively with ARIS and other awarded fellows. Below are some of the specific requirements:
Participate in a video conferences with the community of fellows every other month through 2021 to discuss project status, share insights, and exchange feedback.
Complete projects and peer-reviews within the program timeline.
Maintain open communication with the ARIS scholarship team about project successes and challenges.
Comply with all policies of NSF and Institutional Review Board for research on human subjects (if applicable).
Conduct your work under norms of scholarly practice including using appropriate citations, sharing credit where applicable, and appropriately responding to reviewer comments.
Present project at the Spring 2022 ARIS Summit. (Note: Stipends can be used to cover travel to the Summit; additional travel funds may be available for fellows who cannot otherwise attend the Summit.)
Collaborate with ARIS to finalize, publish and disseminate project products.
Serve as a mentor to future ARIS Fellows.
Application Process
Applications are due September 30, 2020 by close of business your local time. Application text is limited to 1,400 words. Please include page numbers and the primary applicant’s last name in the footer of each page. Submit applications as a single .pdf document via this form. Please name the document using the last name of the primary applicant as follows
“Lastname_ARIS_2021_Fellowship_Application.pdf.”
Include the following sections using the provided HEADERS below.
TITLE
Brief, but descriptive.
OVERVIEW
This is a brief overview of the project. Indicate, in the first paragraph, a) if the project is individual or collaborative, b) identify if the project has a synthesis or new scholarship focus, and c) if the project addresses one of the three priority areas above. Include a project rationale that describes why the project is needed and relevant to the research community. You may include up to two relevant figures in this section. This section should answer the questions, who are you, what you are proposing to do, how you plan to approach your project, why is it important for advancing research impacts, and who is your intended audience?
TIMELINE
Include a basic project timeline aligned with important dates below.
CHALLENGES
Describe anticipated project challenges and plans for overcoming them.
APPLICANT(s)
Please include a brief narrative pointing to the specific qualifications of the applicant or team who will complete the proposed project.
OUTPUTS
Describe the planned project outputs and how they may be used and by whom. These may include one or more creative or scholarly outputs such as interactive web tools, digital documents, white papers, peer-reviewed publications, guidelines or guidebooks, etc. You may include a graphical sketch or diagram in this section if relevant.
BIOSKETCH(es)
Please include a two-page biosketch or resume for each applicant. Include these on separate pages at the end of the document.
Note: Biosketches, figure-embedded text, and references are not included in the 1,400 word count.
Review Selection of Fellowship Proposals
All applications will be subject to and initial review by a least three representatives of ARIS. Those applications that meet the criteria above will undergo further external peer reviewer. Selection criteria are 1) merit of project and capabilities of applicant(s) to be successful; 2) potential for project to broadly contribute to advancing research impacts scholarship and practice; and 3) degree to which the project descriptions meet the fellowship program priorities and/or provides a compelling rationale.
Timeline and Important DatesApplications due September 30, 2020
Fellows notified by December 1, 2020
Fellows announced, fellows officially begin January 14, 2021
Fellows meetings continue every other month March 2021 - March 2022
First draft of product due July 1, 2021
Internal feedback sessions complete by August 12, 2021
Revised products submitted for external peer review October 14, 2021
External review of products returned to fellows November 19, 2021
Revised products due January 8, 2022
Presentation of fellowship products at ARIS Summit April (TBD) 2022
Awards and Use of Funds
ARIS will distribute up to $40,000 in fellowship stipends through the 2021-2022 program. Single fellow awards are $5,000 and team projects are $7,500 split among named collaborators. Awards will be distributed as stipends directly to individual fellows in two installments. We will distribute half after fellows submit an initial and acceptable draft product (targeted for July 2021). We will distribute the second half after submission of a production-ready draft product (targeted for January 2022).
Additional Information
Interested applicants are encouraged to join one of two video conference information sessions prior to submission.
August 20, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. (Pacific), noon (Eastern)
August 31, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. (Pacific) 4:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Please RSVP for the session you'd like to attend(opens in new window). You'll receive an email with the Zoom link before the session date.
Applicants may contact ARIS with any questions.
Awarded fellows will sign an agreement with guidelines about product authorship, intellectual property, production and distribution of projects. The ARIS Center may copyright selected complete products through the University of Missouri; authors will be acknowledged for their leading role in product development, organizations may also be acknowledged in final products. Final fellowship products and resources will be posted on the ARIS website and may be used to update or enhance ARIS training modules or other capacity building initiatives. Fellows may also post their materials on their personal or institutional websites acknowledging ARIS and NSF support.
ARIS FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION FORM
