Competition

* Unless explicitly noted, all times indicated for deadlines are for the appropriate NL timezone (NST or NDT)

The Spencer Foundation invests in research to improve education, broadly conceived. We know that rigorous research can play a critical role in identifying systemic inequities, evaluating what actually works, and guiding evidence-based changes that make education systems fairer and more inclusive.  The Vision Grant program provides scholars and collaborators with the time, space, resources, and support to plan a large-scale study or program of research: geared toward real-world impact to make education systems more equitable; drawing on research across disciplines and methods; and developed through meaningful and equitable collaboration with practitioners, policymakers, communities, and other partners; and focused on transforming educational systems.

The Spencer Foundation invests in research to improve education, broadly conceived. We know that rigorous research can play a critical role in identifying systemic inequities, evaluating what actually works, and guiding evidence-based changes that make education systems fairer and more inclusive.  The Vision Grant program provides scholars and collaborators with the time, space, resources, and support to plan a large-scale study or program of research: geared toward real-world impact to make education systems more equitable; drawing on research across disciplines and methods; and developed through meaningful and equitable collaboration with practitioners, policymakers, communities, and other partners; and focused on transforming educational systems.

Vision Grants are research planning grants to bring together a team, for 12 to 18 months, to collaboratively develop ambitious, large-scale research projects focused on transforming educational systems toward greater equity. This program takes as core that the development of these kinds of research projects require time, space, and thoughtfulness to incubate and plan. Vision Grants are $75,000 total.

The Vision Grants allow teams to generate ideas for collaborative scholarship that develops a new vision of what equitable educational systems can look like, consider which disciplines have taken up these issues previously (and why they have fallen short or encountered limitations), and foreground important ideas that will allow new and ambitious research to emerge. For example, previously funded Vision Grants have proposed research projects that:

• Develop a new policy, pedagogical approach, practice, or intervention, (e.g. implementing a competency-based assessment system across distinct district contexts)

• Work with communities, practitioners, and policymakers to co-design approaches that improve educational equity (e.g., building a coalition of legal and policy scholars, families, and district leaders to change school enrollment policies to address racial segregation).

• Build upon educational approaches or policies that have worked well in one setting, with the goal of studying them in a range of settings to better understand how, where, and with whom they work and why (e.g., developing a national network of community-based curriculum development projects in collaboration with community organizations, school districts, and educators to understand and build capacity for teaching about local history)

This application’s Letter of Intent (LOI/EOI/NOI) does not require review by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) or Research Initiatives and Services (RIS). If you are invited to develop a full proposal and a Departmental, HSS Dean's Office and/or Memorial University signature and/or institutional letter of support is requested, in addition to the external funding agency’s submission procedures, you will also be required to submit the proposal through Memorial's Researcher Portal (RP). In these instances, in order to facilitate the HSS Faculty’s administrative review, please ensure "Heather C. O'Brien (Grants Facilitator)" and “Matthew Milner (Grants Facilitator)” are added as "Team Members" on your RP file.

In accordance with University-wide approval protocols, all tabs of the RP file must be completed, the completed application must be uploaded to the “Attachments” tab, all supporting documentation including support for cash and in-kind commitments and/or letters of support must also be uploaded, and “Submit” must be pressed prior to the HSS internal deadline listed below. HSS cannot guarantee completion of an administrative review for application files that are incomplete and/or are submitted after the HSS deadline. For more detailed submission instructions and information, please consult the HSS Research Support Services website.

If you plan to apply to this competition or other research funding opportunities (as either PI or CI), e-mail an HSS Grants Facilitator, Heather C. O’Brien (HSSResearchAdmin@mun.ca or 864-8603) or Matthew Milner (HSSResearchGrants@mun.ca or 864-8050), to notify the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of your intent to apply. E-mailing the intent to apply as early as possible will help to facilitate an efficient review. A Grants Facilitator can answer any questions you may have about internal or external submission procedures and may also be able to help with proposal development.