Research Incentive Award (RIAGS)

Purpose: This initiative is meant to create an incentive for Graduate School students to apply for substantial external funding to support their scholarly and research activities.  Such external funding benefits the student both by directly supporting the student's research, and by providing experience in the crucial skills of grant-writing.  External funding also contributes to Loyola's research profile and productivity.  This program will allow the Graduate School to track external funding applications and awards and student research activities, facilitating strategic planning and possible student support services. 

Eligibility and Guidelines: This program is designed for Graduate School students who are applying for substantial external funding.  Such funding opportunities may take the form of dissertation year funding available as an individual award or discipline or topic-specific awards to support research in a particular field or area, but must meet the following requirements:

• The applicant must be a current lakeside Graduate School student (that is, in a program housed on either the Water Tower or the Rogers Park campus) in good academic standing.
• Proposals must meet all of the requirements of the funding agency, and all Loyola guidelines and regulations, including those regulating research with human and animal subjects. 
• The proposal must be a new proposal; incentive funds are not available to already-funded students/projects.
• Proposals must be for student-directed research; graduate students working as staff on faculty-led grants are not eligible for these awards. 
• Proposals must be for total funding of $10,000 or more.  Incentive funds are not intended to subsidize internal Loyola awards, such as merit awards or the Schmitt Fellowship.
• To be eligible for incentive funds, proposals must have been routed through the Lakeside Office of Research Services, even if this step is not a requirement of the funder.  Proposals submitted through the Maywood Research Services Office are not eligible. 
• Only one award is available per student per academic year. 
• Awards will be made on a first-come, first-served basis as long as funds last.

Assistance for Applicants: In addition to the incentive funds, the Graduate School and the Office of Research Services are offering students some help in preparing their grant applications.  The main objective of this help is to provide students with the skills and experience that they will need to submit grant proposals independently throughout their scholarly and research careers.  Some basic guidelines follow:

• Help is available in using the tools to locate funding opportunities and in preparing a proposal document.  However, students are responsible for developing and describing a fundable research project which meets the standards of their discipline.  Applicants should have a mature, well-articulated research project in mind before seeking assistance from the Graduate School or ORS staff.
• Nothing can replace the discipline-specific help and mentoring available from your program faculty.  Students should think of the GS and ORS staff help as supplementary, and are urged to keep their faculty research advisors up-to-date about their research and their plans for seeking external funding.  For this reason, the application form requires the signature of the student's research advisor. 
• GS and ORS staff members are available to assist students in learning to use databases and search engines such as the Community of Science (http://www.luc.edu/ors/COS_Services.shtml), and to help them evaluate possible funding opportunities for fit with their projects.  The Graduate School maintains a listing of funding opportunities, specifically for graduate students, at http://www.luc.edu/gradschool/external_funding.shtml.  Students are expected to use this site to aid in doing their own funding searches.  Students should also seek advice and mentoring from their program faculty and research advisors, particularly for information about topic-specific funding opportunities. 
• Students wishing to bring a grant proposal draft to the GS and ORS staff for assistance should allow ample time (at least two weeks) before the funding agency's submission deadline. 

For assistance with general proposal writing, such as how to describe a project to different audiences, how to evaluate a fit between a research project and a funding agency's priorities, how to meet length limits and emphasize key points, and how to reorganize a draft to meet a funder's requirements, please contact Dr. Jessica Horowitz, (jhorow@luc.edu) to set up an appointment.

For assistance with grant submission requirements (e.g. special formatting, on-line submissions), Loyola forms and requirements (such as the administration of disbursed funds), or the preparation of a grant project budget, please contact Tracy Foxworth (foxwor@luc.edu) for an appointment. 

Applicants should fill out the application form (with required additional materials) and submit these to Dr. Jessica Horowitz, Assistant Dean in Granada
Center, Suite 400, Lake Shore Campus to apply for the program.