Impact! New funding opportunity for student, faculty, and staff collaborations

Yale Planetary Solutions (YPS), in collaboration with Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, invite proposals for Impact!, an initiative aiming to build small, dynamic, student, faculty and staff teams to pursue projects that can impact planetary challenges.

Impact! projects will bring together learners from multiple levels and academic backgrounds to form interdisciplinary teams that work to address an identified challenge in a 9-12 month timeframe through new publications, curated exhibits, strategic solutions for community needs, and more. In addition to addressing the challenge identified in each proposal, these projects are meant to provide students with hands-on experience in linking academic expertise with a broader context by working collaboratively on a team to produce meaningful deliverables.

This RFP invites faculty and staff to propose team projects.  Once approved, faculty and staff leaders will be able to recruit undergraduate and graduate students to participate.  Project leaders will select team members through a centrally managed application process. We anticipate funding five projects.

·       Each project should include 6 members, typically two undergraduates, two graduate students, and two faculty or staff members. Team leaders may indicate that a project would benefit from a larger team, but projects should be designed to be executed by teams of six.  

·       Students are expected to devote five to seven hours per week to project work, and to work across one to two terms.  

·       Projects are eligible for up to $10, 000 in funding for non-stipend expenses.  Students will be provided with a $2,000 stipend per term of participation. Summer work is eligible for additional pro-rated stipend.  Additionally, one student on each team can be selected to coordinate the effort and receive a $2,500 stipend instead with an expected contribution of up to eight hours per week.

We look forward to supporting interdisciplinary teams from across the university. Questions about eligibility should be addressed to planetarysolutions@yale.edu.

Project Funding: Teams can seek up to $10,000 in support for non-stipend needs.  Requests may cover a range of activities including, but not limited to: data collection and analysis; supplies; software; dissemination of findings (e.g., symposia, publication fees, policy briefs, curricular materials). General office supplies, attendance at external conferences, and indirect costs will not be supported. Other costs will be considered based on project scope and need. 

Proposal Elements:

·       Title: Provide a descriptive project title.

·       Team Members: List all faculty and staff team members, and include their titles and affiliations. Teams must be composed of two or more Yale faculty or staff who have the freedom to pursue independent research or scholarship. Interdisciplinary teams will be prioritized. If team members are from the same unit, they should represent different disciplines with a clearly articulated justification for how the team is establishing new connections at Yale.

·       Objective: Define the planetary challenge being addressed, describe how the proposed team project will impact the challenge.

·       YPS Connection: Describe how the proposal relates to the work of YPS. Please reference the YPS website if needed.

·       Results and Positive Impact: Identify the expected outputs/outcomes and positive impacts of the project and provide a description of the strategy for measuring or assessing outcomes.

·       Budget and Budget Justification: Include a brief synopsis of how the funds will be spent and why they are needed.  

Submission: All submissions must be submitted as a single pdf document, addressing all required sections, and consisting of no more than 3 pages in length.  Submissions should be sent to planetarysolutions@yale.edu by April 5, 2024 at 11:59PM. Proposals will be reviewed by a committee of faculty and staff from a wide range of disciplines supporting YPS. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions in mid-April of 2024 for projects beginning on September 1, 2024. Funded proposals will be posted for student applications by the end of April. Instructions for recruiting student team member applications will be provided to the faculty leaders of the selected proposals. Up to five proposals will be funded.

Requirements for Selected Projects: Teams must submit a very brief update midway through the year (December 2024) to be used for news items and social media posts, and a two-page final report (June 2025) describing the project outcomes (a template will be provided).