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The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies invites proposals for Interdisciplinary Research Grants. These grants foster collaborative scholarship and creative work by offering recipients the time and space to exchange new ideas leading to invention, creation, and publication. The grant supports work at the Obermann Center during the summer of 2009. Eligible UI faculty and staff members may propose to work on a project with colleagues from the same department, from across the University, or other parts of the country or the world.

Projects must be designed to result in an important work of scholarship or creative work. Each collaborator will be awarded $6,000 for a four-week residency. Typically, three or four proposals are funded. These grants are supported by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Graduate College, and the Obermann Fund. Obermann staff provides administrative and technical support in order to make the grant period as fruitful as possible. Collaborating teams also will have the opportunity to become part of the Center’s larger intellectual community.

Deadline: Please complete the online application by Monday, November 11, 2008, 5:00 pm

Eligibility: The proposed project should involve two or three collaborators who will work together at the Obermann Center during a four-week interval from May 27-July 31, 2009. All UI tenured, tenure-track, and clinical faculty members are eligible. Also eligible are all UI Professional and Scientific full-time staff members who possess a terminal degree or equivalent experience, a record of scholarship or creative work in the proposed area, a regular (versus temporary) appointment, and a UI position that includes expectations for research or creative work. Visiting collaborators and their institutions should be of at least equal caliber to their UI collaborators. Individuals who received an Interdisciplinary Research Grant during the summer of 2008 are not eligible for consideration this year. An applicant may submit only one proposal for this competition.

Although we support projects in all stages of development, competitive proposals will have a detailed plan and timetable for the grant period and beyond for the publication or exhibition
of the work.

Please visit the Obermann Center website to see descriptions of past projects. Examples of eligible projects might include:

• A UI psychologist and UI engineer begin an article on disability accommodations.  

• A UI pediatrician and an education researcher from Germany write on play techniques in patient education and orientation.

• A UI English professor and a Pratt Institute professor of design collaborate on an interactive novel for the Web.  

• Two UI Communication Studies faculty, one a social scientist and the other a rhetorician, study domestic quarrels.

All grant recipients must make the Obermann Center, located on the Oakdale Research Campus, a major base of study during the grant period. Scholars will be provided office space, personal computers with Internet connections, library delivery service, and access to conference rooms, kitchen, and lounge. Parking is free, as is the bus service that connects the Obermann Center with the main campus.

 Interdisciplinary Research Grants—Application Instructions

University of Iowa reviewers from a variety of disciplines will review proposals. Applications should be written so that they engage the understanding and interest, not only of experts on the proposed topic, but of reviewers outside of the applicant's field. We welcome inquiries about proposal preparation.

In addition to meeting the eligibility requirements described on the reverse, applications will be judged on:

1. the importance of the project,
2. the distinctive disciplinary contribution of each collaborator,
3. the reasonableness of the procedures and summer timetable,
4. the qualifications and record of achievement of each collaborator, and
5. the likelihood that the project will culminate in an important scholarly publication or creative work, or in a proposal for a major external  grant,
6. if applicable, the results of any previous Interdisciplinary Research Grants.

Here is how to apply: 

• Complete the online cover sheet asking for contact information by going to: http://www.uiowa.edu/obermann/grants/IDRG/application.html
• Upload the proposal, which should contain the following:
  1. A narrative (maximum five pages, single-spaced) that answers all of the following questions:
     
     • what do you propose to do?
     • why is it an important undertaking?
     • what earlier work has been done on the project and related areas by the applicants individually or collaboratively?  What work has been done by others?
     • what is the value of the collaboration? Specify the distinctive contribution of each collaborator to the interdisciplinary effort.
     • how will the work proceed? Include a timetable that indicates how the work will proceed during the grant period and afterwards until completion. Describe what collaborators will be doing individually or collaboratively. If applicable, describe the methodology.
     • how would working and collaborating at the Obermann Center enhance your project?
     • what will be achieved by the end of the grant period? 
     • what will be the final research publication or creative result? When do you estimate it will be completed? Please specify the most likely publisher journal or venue and explain. (Edited collections and textbooks generally have not fared well in this competition but are not automatically excluded: the proposal should focus only on the collaborative original research involved.)
  2. Applicants who previously received an Interdisciplinary Research Grant should attach a sheet indicating the title and year of that grant and give full citations for resulting publications or external grants. 
  3. The curriculum vitae (maximum three singled-spaced pages for each CV) of each collaborator. Include current position, dates of appointment, degrees, relevantpublications, grants, courses.
     • Upload the application materials as a single document
     • Have your department chairs email their endorsements of the proposed project and four-week residency at the Obermann Center to neda-barrett@uiowa.edu.  

Please apply by Monday, November 11, 2008.  You will find the online application by clicking here. For further questions, please email Neda at neda-barrett@uiowa.edu or call 319-335-4034.