The newly created Incubator for Transdisciplinary Futures Cluster on Mindfulness Science and Practice at Washington University in St. Louis (https://transdisciplinaryfutures.wustl.edu/mindfulness-science ) is offering Small Grants of up to $5,000 to support activities related to the advancement and promotion of the Mindfulness Cluster. Our mission is to achieve a more systemic integration of mindfulness science and practice, to inform our understanding of how mindfulness can be best applied, taught, and implemented. Likewise, by developing a deeper respect for, and appreciation of, the historical, philosophical, and religious contexts in which mindfulness practices are situated, we hope to provide a more effective evaluation of their physiological and psychosocial mechanisms of action.
These grants will be reviewed on a rolling basis and awarded until the funds are exhausted. Small Grants are intended to encourage the Washington University in St. Louis research community to initiate and develop mindfulness-related projects that might not otherwise be eligible for funding support. The Mindfulness Small Grants program seeks to be responsive to typical resource needs that researchers and scholars might face while undertaking research, exhibitions, and other creative works on mindfulness-related projects. Examples include: support for data collection, research assistance, editing or publication costs, and travel for conference presentations reporting on mindfulness-related scholarship or research.
Requests for funding levels above the Small Grant program may also be available, to support broader-scale research projects and career development. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have an idea. Our Cluster includes a transdisciplinary team of researchers across Danforth and Medical campuses, with a key goal of encouraging conversations, innovation, and collaborations, both with us and among other units and departments. We have a variety of tools, equipment, and expertise that may help assist with your work — we encourage you to look at our profiles (https://mindfulness.wustl.edu/) and to reach out to us with your ideas.
Eligibility
New Washington University in St. Louis investigators, as well as more established faculty, are eligible to apply for grants under this program. Undergraduate and graduate students, post-docs, and fellows are also eligible and encouraged to apply, but need to have a faculty sponsor (if you do not already have a sponsor in mind, please contact the Cluster Executive Committee to inquire about sponsorship). Eligibility is limited to one Small Grant per year as principal investigator.
Proposal Format
The main proposal should be no longer than 500 words, and indicate the nature of the scholarly activity (e.g., experimental research, artistic work, manuscript preparation), description of the resources needed (e.g., participant payments, statistical software license, airfare, etc), the event or where the resource will be needed (e.g., annual ISCR conference), timing of the resource need (e.g., to secure a professional editor in the spring term), and the anticipated outcomes should the grant be provided (e.g., the dissemination of research, completion of final monograph draft). Proposals should also include a separate paragraph (250 words maximum) which indicates how the project supports and advances the mission of the Mindfulness Cluster (i.e., transdisciplinary work, focus on mindfulness). Additionally, in a second phase, successful applicants will be asked to give a brief oral presentation (10 minutes) at a scheduled meeting of the Mindfulness Cluster Research Subcommittee to provide an overview of the proposed work.
All Small Grant proposals that are approved for funding and involve the use of human subjects (e.g., payment or stipends to research participants) must obtain appropriate human subjects approval through the University’s Institutional Review Board before funds are disbursed.
COVID-19 Contingencies: If the proposal includes travel plans, we encourage applicants to include an alternative research plan that does not include travel.
Grant Submission, Notification, and Award Period
Proposal submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis; however, there are a finite number of these awards for each academic year. Applications will be accepted until funds are expended. Awards will be announced within two weeks of submission. Project funds must be used within 1-year. Requests for extensions will be granted only for unexpected circumstances.
There will be 4 funding cycles each year, or until the available budget is expended. Deadlines for submission will be December 31st, March 31st, June 30th and September 30th. Presentations will be at the first subcommittee meeting of the subsequent month (i.e., January, April, July, October), with funding decisions made within two weeks afterwards.
Budget Guidelines
The proposal should also include a brief itemized budget. Budget items may include support for data entry, interviews, data acquisition, access to restricted-use data, travel costs related to data collection, meetings with collaborators or conference presentations, creative materials, and other reasonable costs. The Center will not pay for computer equipment when that computing can reasonably be accomplished with the existing equipment on campus. Note that travel-related grants may require the submission of a travel report and reimbursement of the grantee’s airfare purchase after the conference is attended. Unspent funding at the end of the grant period will revert to the Small Grant pool unless a request for a time extension is submitted and leadership approves the request. Budget Rationales should include outside resources (if any) that will be used to achieve the aims of the project.
Review and Selection
The Research Subcommittee will evaluate all proposals based on the criteria outlined above to determine whether they advance the mission of the Cluster, and promote transdisciplinary collaboration.
Monitoring and Grantee Obligations
The Cluster Research Subcommittee will monitor progress on Small Grants. Grantees will provide an expense report upon request. Grantees will submit a final progress report and any products of the grant within one (1) month after the end date of their grant period and will notify the leadership team of any proposals and scholarly works subsequently submitted or awarded/accepted.
Potential grant products and scholarly works include publications; grant proposals; recordings; installations or exhibits; documentation of conferences, symposia, or residencies; and scholarly awards or honors. All products generated with the support of our Small Grant will acknowledge the program using the statement, “This work has been funded by the Arts & Sciences Incubator for Transdisciplinary Futures Cluster on Mindfulness Science and Practice at Washington University in St. Louis Small Grant program, but the views remain those of the authors.”
Contact and Questions
Please send an email to Cluster Executive Committee members for any questions or to discuss possibilities for consultation and collaboration:
Todd Braver (tbraver@wustl.edu)
Erik Dane (erikdane@wustl.edu)
Ron Mallon (rmallon@wustl.edu)
Diana Parra Perez (parrad@wustl.edu)