Metropolis British Columbia: Call for Proposals
Introduction - April 2008 Call For Proposals
Application Deadline: June 6, 2008
This is the second Call for Proposals (CFP) for Metropolis British Columbia (MBC), previously known as Research on Immigration and Integration in the Metropolis (RIIM). In this round we expect to provide funding for approximately 10 new research or dissemination projects. Applicants are invited to review the following documents to become better informed of the policy priorities of MBC:
- Questions set out in the Memorandum of Understanding that defines the 2007-2012 phase of Metropolis (Specifically targeting issues of importance to the federal government) view
- Questions that arose in our 2007 MBC research retreat view
- Questions of particular interest to the BC government's Welcoming Communities Initiative view
- Questions of importance to our partner organization, the Asia Pacific Foundation view
We invite applications in all the general areas of MBC's mandate: immigration and ethnic diversity. However, we will give priority to projects in the following order in this particular CFP:
- Projects dealing with the field of Justice, Policing and Security
- Projects dealing with the priorities as outlined in the four policy documents listed above
- Projects on other areas of immigration and diversity.
Applicants who wish to make the case that their research is policy relevant are urged to provide a letter of support from the government department, NGO, or other organization that they hope will benefit from their research.
As in previous years, the principal investigator must be a faculty member at a Canadian university, and must be formally affiliated with Metropolis British Columbia. Co-investigators may be faculty members inside or outside Canada. Collaborators/Partners may include graduate students (who intend to use the funding through research assistantships), and persons in governmental or non-governmental organisations. Affiliation with MBC requires an email to the SFU Project Coordinator, Linda Sheldon, a recent CV and a brief (1/2 page) statement of how one's research agenda has connected with, or will connect with, MBC. To be eligible for applying in this Call, the deadline for submitting a request for affiliation is May 20, 2008.
Where to send your proposal
All submissions, both electronic and hard copy, should be sent to Linda Sheldon, Project Coordinator, Metropolis BC, Simon Fraser University, Dept. of Economics, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6. Email: Linda_Sheldon@sfu.ca
Application Form in word format
Application Form in pdf format
Specific characteristics of this CFP
All projects will be funded for September 1, 2008 to March 31, 2010, i.e., for an 18 month period that spans two fiscal years. Due to SSHRC regulations we require that applicants specify the amount of funds they request specifically for each fiscal year (separately for Sept 2008-March 2009, and April 2009-March 2010).
Our "standard" grant amount is $15,000, though we will of course accept projects for less than this amount. Researchers who have never held Metropolis grants before (at either MBC or RIIM) will be limited to a standard grant. Those who have held Metropolis funds before, and who have successfully completed their projects, are eligible to apply for up to $30,000.
Since different projects will have budgets of different sizes, MBC will evaluate them relative to their budgets. Consequently, a project with a total budget of $30,000 will only be funded if the 'value' of its research output is expected to be significantly greater than any $15,000 project. Thus researchers should be careful to propose projects with higher budgets only if they also have greater expected research outputs. Also, for proposals over $15,000 we require that researchers explain what they would do if they were only provided $15,000 and what they would do with the additional money.
The Asia Pacific Foundation (APF) is matching funds for 2 specific research questions. We will consider applications in these areas for up to $60,000.
MBC is interested in providing support for both research projects and dissemination projects. The latter could include literature reviews, assessments of best practices, meta-analyses, special workshops, master classes, DVD training and knowledge dissemination videos aimed at NGO or other workers, and other practices designed to make the results of research as widely available as possible. The same application form will be used for both research and dissemination projects. We would expect that, for dissemination projects, applicants would identify the target audience of their initiative and obtain a letter of support from the relevant organization(s). When the targeted audience is government, applications that include matching funding for dissemination projects will be particularly attractive to the adjudication committee. There is a specific need for greater dissemination with federal government regional offices, and to interact more seriously with provincial government initiatives such as Work BC, Act Now, the Asia Pacific Initiative and Welcome BC. Dissemination grants are limited to $15,000 or less (and can only be larger if there are matching funds available).
Adjudication system and expectations
Our adjudication committee will be comprised of two 'teams', an academic team which evaluates scholarly merit and a policy (or practice) team which evaluates importance for policy and practice. Metropolis British Columbia will typically require that a funded project be judged positively by both teams on the adjudication committee.
To be considered for funding, applications must be made on our special form and must include one signed hard-copy and one unsigned electronic copy. The application must be received at the office of the SFU Project Coordinator by 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Friday, June 6, 2008. In addition, all principal- and co-investigators must submit an electronic copy of a 2-page abbreviated CV as an attachment to their application. CV's longer than 2 pages will not be considered. It is MBC's practice to consider only one application from any of our research affiliates during any given grant competition. Researchers who have been awarded funds in a previous Metropolis competition must show good progress for a new application in this competition to succeed.
Proposals must be written in plain language and must clearly speak to both the scholarly merit and to the usefulness to policy and/or practice of the research proposed. Applicants are not permitted to apply on behalf of other researchers. Applicants must be candid about the division of labour in a project. We expect that approximately 50 percent of funds in a research project will be dedicated to support for graduate students through research assistantships. This is not a requirement, however.
Additional information
Transfer of funds and MBC spending rules are explained in our grant guidelines.
All funded researchers working with NGO's must comply with the principles set forth in our Charter of Community Research Principles.
Other obligations of funded researchers:
Each project must generate at least one MBC Working Paper, which must be submitted to the Managing Editor of our series, Linda Sheldon, in a timely fashion (e.g., within three months of the completion of a project).
Each submitted working paper must be accompanied by a Policy Briefing Note. Policy Briefing Notes are 1 page documents written in plain language in standard formats with 4 boxed topics: Research Question, Importance, Research Findings, and Implications for Policy and Practice. To see an example, please visit the Working Paper section of the MBC website.
Each funded project must have at least one associated non-university dissemination activity. These may include: participation in Metropolis-sponsored policy workshops and roundtables, participation in a public forum, or a presentation for a stakeholder group such as a governmental or non-governmental organization. Researchers are encouraged to use their imaginations to improve our reach outside the university setting.
All MBC affiliated researchers are required to submit an annual report of activities. Principal Investigators of funded projects will be required to include a report on the progress of their project along with their general report.
Copies of all theses produced by students emanating from MBC-funded research should be forwarded to MBC (electronic or unbound copies are preferred, in order to duplicate and forward them to the Metropolis Project Team in Ottawa). Distribution will be subject to embargos arising from university thesis regulations and copyrights.