ARS Research Proposal Application
Submission guidelines
Deadline for submitted applications is October 15th of each year
Who is eligible to submit proposals?
Any United States resident conducting research on Rhododendron, regardless of career status, immigration status, or institutional affiliation, is
eligible to submit proposals to The Research Foundation of the American Rhododendron Society (hereafter, The Foundation).
Due to US regulations on international funds transfers, proposals from non-US residents or proposals which include international funds disbursement in the budget must be submitted through an institutional affiliation, and the institution must be approved prior to proposal submission. International proposals received from individuals, or from institutions that are not pre-approved, will be returned without review.
For US and international proposals, prior to submitting a proposal, submitters should contact relevant representatives at their
own institution to confirm:
1) the submitter is allowed to submit proposals from their institution,
2) the institution allows no-overhead grants,
3) the institution will accept the terms of The Foundation Standard Memorandum of Agreement,
as is, or with only minor changes, and
4) the institution can receive payment in the form of a paper check (US) or a wire transfer (US and International).
If your institution would require alterations to The Foundation Standard Memorandum of Agreement to accept awarded funds, then you must gain pre-approval for these changes prior to submitting your proposal. Signed agreements are sent via electronic mail, if your institution requires a hard copy of the finalized Memorandum of Agreement, then the submitter and/or their institution will be responsible for all document shipping charges.
The Foundation reserves the right to reject without review or rescind funding for selected proposals if the submitter has failed to make the appropriate arrangements with their own institution, if The Foundation, the submitter and/or their institution cannot come to a Memorandum of Agreement acceptable to The Foundation, or, if the funds transfer cannot be completed by The Foundation using standard banking procedures.
Questions about eligibility and/or to get pre-approved for international submissions? Please contact the Chair of the Research Committee of the American Rhododendron Society, Dr. Juliana S. Medeiros, jmedeiros@holdenfg.org 9500 Sperry Rd. Kirtland Ohio 44094.
What documents should be submitted?
Section 1. Proposal Text (Max 5 pages)
Title of proposed project
Principal investigator(s) name(s), address(s), email(s), and phone number(s)
Proposed duration of project
Project background and justification
Project objectives
Preliminary results, if any
Potential problems that may be encountered and how they will be addressed
Expected outcome and significance
Work plan for coming year; outline of subsequent activities, if any
Section 2. Timeline and Budget (Max 2 pages)
Timeline, including milestones each year and an estimated completion date
Line-item budget with estimated costs
Justification for each budget line item
Section 3. Brief biography of the Principal Investigator(s) (Max 1 page)
Section 4. Confirmation of eligibility. All proposals should be accompanied by a statement confirming that the submitter is eligible based on the guidelines shown on this webpage, and that the submitter has cleared the submission and Memorandum of Agreement terms with their institution. This section should include the signatures of the Principal Investigator and any other relevant signatories of the institution (e.g., Department Chair or other entity providing approval for the submission).
What can be included in the budget?
The budget shall only include direct costs for the proposed activities. Budget requests made to The Foundation should not exceed $5000 US. Partial funding is allowed, but proposals should clearly identify interim outcomes/products that will be expected based solely on an award of $5000 or less, made by The Foundation.
Permissible items: small equipment (e.g., pH meter, vacuum pump), consumables (e.g., chemical reagents, sample tubes, gloves), travel (e.g., flights, vehicle rental, lodging), permitting fees, sample processing services (e.g., DNA sequencing, nutrient analysis), core facility fees (e.g., beam time, bench fees), plants and horticultural supplies, greenhouse fees, conference travel and registration fees, publication fees and salary for students, lab assistants or field technicians, plants.
Requests for conference travel, registration fees and/or publication fees should be balanced with other budget items and provide clear justification for how the fees drive a scientific advance (e.g., supports publication of review paper collating smaller datasets, disseminates findings to a key audience). Budgets consisting entirely of conference or publication fees are strongly discouraged but will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Salaries for researchers and support staff are allowed. Requests for Principal Investigator (lead researcher) should have a clear justification and be balanced with other budget items.
Overhead costs (also known as indirect) are not covered by The Foundation. Grantees (and/or their employers) shall supply all the necessary infrastructure needed to complete the proposed project, e.g., major equipment, office space, computing resources, salary and benefits of staff members not listed in the budget.
Computer workstations, desktops, laptops, and cell phones are considered overhead costs and thus should not be included in the budget. Requests for funds to cover supercomputing services, computer applications, or computing resources that accomplish measurement tasks should be clearly justified as necessary to complete proposed research activities.
This list is not exhaustive, and questions concerning budget items should be directed to the Research Chair.
Where do I submit my proposal?
All proposal documents should be submitted to the Chair of the Research Committee of the American Rhododendron Society, Dr. Juliana S. Medeiros, jmedeiros@holdenfg.org, 9500 Sperry Rd. Kirtland Ohio 44094.
What is the review process?
Proposals are reviewed by a panel of experts in Rhododendron, with other expertise in horticulture, plant breeding, physiology, genetics, chemistry, conservation, ecology and evolutionary biology. Reviewers provide written assessments on proposal contents, and the Trustees of The Foundation select proposals based on these reviewer's comments, and their own criteria.
What happens if my proposal is selected for funding?
Typically, award letters are sent beginning in early June, and funds are disbursed shortly thereafter, depending on timely receipt of the signed agreement and bank information from awardees. While The Foundation strives to make awards as quickly as possible, delays in the review, selection and award process are not uncommon, so proposals should consider their timelines accordingly with sufficient time for administration of the proposal process.
What documentation will be required to disburse the funds?
Grantees will be asked to submit:
a signed Memorandum of Agreement
relevant banking information to affect funds transfer
a layman's summary of the project along with one to three relevant photographs to be used for marketing and promotion
What are the funding terms and conditions?
Grantees are required to submit Annual Progress Reports and a Final Report. The Foundation disburses 80% of the requested funds upon receipt
of the signed MOA. To obtain the final 20% of the research grant funding the grantee is required to submit annual reports and a final report consisting of:
1) accounting of funds and products,
2) a technical report of the findings, and
3) a layman's article deemed acceptable by the editor of the Journal American Rhododendron Society (JARS) for publication in JARS
Grantees are strongly encouraged, but not required, to submit scholarly publications on work funded by The Foundation to indexed, peer reviewed scientific journals.
No-cost extensions are typically granted but will be considered by The Foundation on a case-by-case basis.
Details of the required reporting are shown below.
Reporting requirements for funded proposals
Overview
The signed Memorandum of Agreement lays out reporting requirements. This information is meant as a supplement and in the event of inconsistencies, the signed MOA takes precedence. As per the terms of funding, grantees will receive 80% of the awarded funds upon receipt of the signed MOA. Grantees are required to submit Annual Progress Reports and a Final Report to receive the remaining 20% of the requested funds. Grantees desiring a no-cost extension to the timeline of the project should contact Dr. Medeiros with an extension request for approval by The Foundation, prior to the end date stated in the funded proposal.
In addition, Grantees are also strongly encouraged, but not required, to submit scholarly publications on work funded by The Foundation to indexed, peer reviewed scientific journals.
Details about the contents of the required final report, guidelines on Scholarly Publications and the consequences of Failure to Report, are given below.
Required Annual Progress Report
The Grantee shall submit progress reports annually by December 1 of each year for as long as the project continues. Grantees will receive an electronic form by email requesting that the Grantee either 1) check a box confirming that the project is on track as proposed, or 2) provide information about changes to the project plan or timeline.
Required Final Report
A final report consisting of 1) accounting of funds and products, 2) a technical report of the findings, and 3) a layman' article deemed acceptable for publication in the Journal American Rhododendron Society (JARS) is required to obtain the final 20% funds distribution.
This required report should be sent to the Chair of the Research Committee of the American Rhododendron Society (Dr. Juliana S. Medeiros, jmedeiros@holdenfg.org, 9500 Sperry Rd. Kirtland Ohio 44094). The Chair will distribute reports to the appropriate parties within American Rhododendron Society (ARS) and to The Foundation.
Timing of Final Report versus scientific publication
The Foundation recognizes the need for researchers to publish in indexed, peer-reviewed scientific journals. Generally, the Final Report is submitted prior to publication in a scientific journal, and in this case the layman’s article should be careful to avoid overly specific descriptions of the data, describing the findings qualitatively rather than quantitatively, in order for researchers to maintain full rights to publish the data in an indexed journal. If the Final Report is submitted after publication of the work in a scientific journal, then the Grantee will work with the Editor of JARS and the journal to ensure appropriate content rights and citations.
Accounting of funds and products
The Grantee shall submit a final accounting of how the funds provided by The Foundation were used, the products produced (e.g. published articles, databases, tissue collections), and information on how to access those products (e.g. a link to a paper, contact information for collections). If the primary product is a scientific publication still in progress, accounting should provide a tentative title, author list, intended journal, and expected date of article submission.
Technical Report
The Grantee shall submit a Technical Report detailing what was accomplished and the results of the study. Technical Reports are kept in
confidence only as a matter of record to inform future funding decisions and the layman’s article, and The Foundation agrees to obtain Grantee approval
before sharing Technical Report contents outside the context of grant administration. The Technical report should be written for a scientific audience and
include the following:
Brief restatement of the original premise of the project and expected benefit to American Rhododendron Society. (1-2 paragraphs).
Brief restatement of experimental design, statistical approaches, plus methods challenges, changes or problems, and how these were resolved. (1-3 paragraphs).
Completion status of the stated work plan, including a new work plan for any remaining work to be completed or justification for change of plans.
Results section that addresses each of the original objectives/hypotheses stated in the submitted grant. Outcomes should include relevant figures, data tables and statistical results. (there is no length limit for this section)
Brief discussion that addresses
Relevance of major findings for: 1) the specific scientific subject area, 2) plant science in general, 3) Rhododendron research, 4) American Rhododendron Society membership. (2-4 paragraphs).
Unresolved questions and future work suggested by this study (1-2 paragraphs).
Layman's article for JARS
The Grantee shall submit a layman's article for publication in JARS as part of the final report. The Chair will work collaboratively with the Grantee to ensure that the scientific findings presented in their Technical Report have been translated into an appropriate Layman's article, following the "JARS Style Guide" shown below. Given acceptable style, the article is then reviewed by the Editor of JARS, who will determine any further style and content revisions. Final approval of the article by the Editor for publication in JARS is necessary to fulfill this requirement. Should Grantee decline to make sufficient style or content revisions, the Editor of JARS reserves the right to reject the report, potentially impacting the final payout of the grant funds.
JARS Style Guide
Craft a short, informative report (4000 words) highlighting the problem that was addressed, the major findings, how the general public might use or benefit from the study results, along with the next steps suggested by this work.
Use language accessible to a general, high school educated, public audience: avoid technical jargon, mathematical formulas, and acronyms.
Follow a standard scientific format of introduction, methods, results, discussion. Methods should be brief, focusing on experimental design, rather than describing technical protocols.Simplify results to address fewer ideas with more detailed, textbook, explanation of each result. It is not necessary to cover all the findings of the research in the JARS report but rather highlight interesting findings that apply to the lives of everyday people.
Submit your report in .docx or .doc format.Provide headshots of all authors, to appear with the author line.
Include research photos wherever possible and avoid the use of highly technical data representations (e.g. no grouped bar charts, error bars, nested tables). Graphical depictions and data tables may be acceptable if simplified and intuitive.
Include images as separate files, not embedded in a word document or PDF. All images/figures should be high resolution (800 dpi for half-page images (20 x 20 cm), 600 dpi for smaller images).
Cite literature references where appropriate:
Cite any published scientific articles that provide technical results of the work
Cite literature in standard scientific format and include an alphabetical reference list
Scholarly publications
In addition to the required reports described above, The Foundation strongly encourages publication of funded work in indexed, peer reviewed
scientific journals.
All published works should acknowledge funding by "The Research Foundation of the American Rhododendron Society".
A copy of published articles arising from the funded research should be sent to the Chair upon publication, with reference to the original grant title. Published journal articles may be shared by The Foundation as allowed by publisher sharing policies.
Failure to report
Reminders will be sent to complete the required Annual Progress Report Form. Reminders will not be sent for final reporting; it is the responsibility of the Grantee to submit required reports in a timely manner. Failure to submit annual progress report forms, provide an acceptable Final Report or request an Extension within three years of the stated end date are both considered sufficient grounds for action by The Foundation, up to and including: withholding of the final 20% disbursement, request for refund of the full award amount, and/or dismissal without review of future proposals submitted to The Foundation that include the Grantee or lead investigator(s) in any capacity (i.e. as lead or collaborator).