Call for 2024 Seed Grant Applications

The Center on Forced Displacement (CFD) is a platform for educators, students, researchers, activists, and policymakers to engage in interdisciplinary research, discussion, and education about forced displacement. Through interdisciplinary, international collaboration, we identify, research, and work to resolve the challenges of forced displacement, one of the major moral imperatives of our time. By connecting with local communities in Boston and the USA, as well as our partners in Uganda, Colombia, Lebanon, Western Balkans, and elsewhere, CFD learns directly from and with the communities grappling with the challenges of forced displacement and creates venues for new ways of thinking, research, and program and project design. 

The Center announces its second annual call for proposals for seed grants in the amount of $20,000 (led by a team of two or more faculty from different schools/colleges at BU) or $10,000 (for individual faculty researchers). CFD will award Spring 2024 seed grants to the applicants whose projects are related to forced displacement and broadly fall into one or more of the Center’s research areas of focus. 

Release Date: November 3rd, 2023

Application Deadline: December 5th, 2023

Award Announced: Mid December, 2023

Funds Available: January 2nd, 2024

 

Award Information:

The Center supports research and engagement with forced displacement and humanitarian emergencies that is truly interdisciplinary and of the highest scholarly and ethical standards. CFD is interested in new ideas, technologies, scholarship, awareness, and solution identification that will improve the human condition of vulnerable persons forced to leave their homes. The center identifies four intersecting, multi-disciplinary areas of focus: 

  1. Human environments and climates;
  2. Art, expression, identities; 
  3. Healthy lives and meaningful livelihoods; and 
  4. Training and ethical engagement

Once awarded, funds may be carried forward for at most one year and by approval only. This award is available to all BU faculty. Awarded research teams will present their work during a CFD work-in-progress meeting.

 

Eligibility:

  • Team seed grant proposals must have at least two faculty members (as PI and co-PI) who represent different schools or colleges on campus (with an exception for CAS where colleagues from humanities or social sciences may partner with colleagues from natural, physical, or computation sciences and vice versa). Individual researchers can be from any school or college at BU but must make the case in their proposal for the interdisciplinary nature of their project.
  • The PI (for the individual grant) and at least one of the PIs (for the team grant) must be a CFD Affiliate Faculty member. 
  • CFD would like to support projects with long-term plans, and we encourage all applicants to think beyond this seed grant and include plans for follow-up funding in their application.
  • The objective and aims of the research proposal must have a focus on forced displacement but the approach may originate from any of a broad range of disciplines. 
  • The research proposal must fall into at least one of the four research areas of focus as mentioned above.

 

Application Materials:

  • A short (2-page) research proposal which should include
    • The goals of the proposed research, its significance, its potential impact, and connection with one of the four themes of CFD
    • A description of the research team: collaborators and schools represented 
    • A description of the interdisciplinary nature of the project for individual researchers
    • Anticipated research outcomes
    • Plans for follow-on funding
    • Timeline of the proposed project
  • CV (2 page maximum) of PI and co-PI
  • Budget (funding may be used for student or post-doctoral scholar support and fringe benefits, travel, or supplies. Funds may not be used for faculty summer salary or course release). 

 

To Apply: Send all application material as one PDF document to cfd@bu.edu. 

 Where to Direct Inquiries:

Please direct any questions to CFD Director of Programs, Marina Lazetic at mlazetic@bu.edu.

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