Current opportunities
UC DAVIS WILDLIFE
HEALTH CENTER
SEADOC SOCIETY
GUIDELINES for 2005 GRANT PROPOSALS
August 2004
These guidelines are to be used in preparing a proposal
and should not be included as part of the submitted proposal.
ELIGIBILITY : Senior scientists from college/university biology,
marine, wildlife and toxicology programs; federal, state and provincial
natural resource trustee agencies; Tribes and First Nations, wildlife
research institutes; marine conservation organizations; and commercial
fisheries and maritime groups.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : All university and college faculty;
officers or principal scientists at natural resource trustee agencies,
Tribes or First Nations; directors, investigators and senior staff persons
at wildlife research institutes, marine conservation organizations,
and commercial fisheries or maritime groups.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE : Submit your proposal electronically to
Lavonne Hull at the SeaDoc Society, Wildlife Health Center (lwhull@ucdavis.edu).
Do not alter the proposal format. Proposals which do not follow guidelines
will be returned without review. Proposals must be received no
later than 5:00 pm October
15, 2004 .
FOCUS OF GRANTS : The mission of the SeaDoc Society is to ensure
the health of marine wildlife and their ecosystems through science and
education. The program scope encompasses the health of all marine vertebrates
and the biotic and abiotic environments upon which they depend for survival.
The program focuses on the North American Pacific, with emphasis at
present given to issues facing the inland marine waters of Washington
State and British Columbia (Puget Sound/Northwest Straits/Georgia Basin).
All SeaDoc Society-funded projects, regardless of where they are
conducted, must have implications for understanding or enhancing the
health of this region and its wildlife. The SeaDoc Society provides
objective science on issues concerning wildlife and ecosystem health
in an effort to inform and guide effective policy and management. The
SeaDoc Society does not take policy positions nor does it serve in an
advocacy role. This year, the SeaDoc Society is especially interested
in proposals scientifically investigating the following two questions:
• Are harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina )
significant bottomfish predators in marine reserves designed to
recover rockfish ( Sebastes spp.), lingcod ( Ophiodon
elongatus ), and other bottomfish?
• Do adult urchin spine canopies provide important
refuge habitat for juvenile northern abalone ( Haliotis kamtschatkana
) in the Puget Sound/Georgia Basin region?
DURATION OF FUNDING : Funding is available for work performed
from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005 .
FUNDING MECHANISM : Funds will be reimbursed in
arrears upon receipt of invoice . Spending authority on
the grant starts as soon as a Research Agreement between UC Davis and
the grant recipients’ home institution is signed by all parties. Drafting
the Research Agreement is done by UC Davis and is forwarded to a grant
recipients’ home institution. The Principal Investigator and his/her
academic department or institution assume full financial responsibility
for conduct of the grant. Expenditures in excess of the amount of the
award will not be covered by the SeaDoc Society.
EVALUATION PROCESS: Proposals adhering to these guidelines are
reviewed by the SeaDoc Society Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC),
which is comprised of scientists from diverse disciplines representing
academia, governmental agencies and the non-governmental sector (see
http://www.seadocsociety.org). Each proposal is evaluated in detail
by three members of the SAC, who are assigned to review the proposal
based on their areas of expertise, and by one external reviewer (selected
from those suggested by the Principal Investigator). In the
event that a member of the SAC is a principal investigator, co-investigator,
or collaborator, he/she is excused from the review process for that
proposal. Each proposal is ranked according to the following
criteria: scientific merit; achievability (staff expertise and project
feasibility); potential of project to inform management and conservation
efforts aimed at insuring marine wildlife and ecosystem health; and
grantsmanship (how well the proposal is written). Numerical scores are
tabulated. A meeting of the SAC is then convened, and the numerical
scores are used as a point of reference for discussion of each proposal
by the entire committee. In the event that a member of the SAC
is a principal investigator, co-investigator, or collaborator, he/she
is excused from the room during discussion and review of his/her proposal.
The external reviewers’ comments on each proposal are shared
with the SAC at this time. Each non-collaborating SAC member then votes
as to whether the proposal is of high, medium or low priority for funding.
The SAC’s prioritization of proposals is conveyed to the SeaDoc Society
Advisory Board, which is comprised of eleven members representing marine
wildlife and ecosystem stakeholder groups (natural resource agencies,
non-governmental organizations, Tribes, and concerned citizens). The
Advisory Board makes the final decision on proposals to fund, based
on thoughtful consideration of the prioritization of proposals by the
SAC.
BUDGET LIMITATIONS : Proposals may range up to $35,000
to $40,000/year . Only single-year proposals will be
considered. Funds can be used to pay for
the following: laboratory fees; equipment; supplies; travel (for data
collection/project implementation only); salary for postdoctoral fellows/graduate
students and student and laboratory assistants; animals and animal care.
Funds cannot be used for office personnel, on-going
maintenance and operations , telephone charges and mail expenses.
Principal Investigators (PI) or technical staff that routinely receive
their regular salaries from federal, state (including universities),
or endowed sources, may not generally charge their services against
SeaDoc Society funds. Exceptions may be allowed for principal investigators
or technical staff to charge portions of their salaries when they are
not being paid by their institutions (e.g., on a leave of absence or
in cases where their position is less than full time or less than 12
months per year). Clear documentation must be provided with the estimated
budget for any request for PI or pre-existing technical staff salaries
that indicates their eligible status with their employer (on leave,
reductions in time base) and the specific tasks that they will perform
on the project. Indirect costs in excess of the University of California
overhead rate of 48.5% will be considered a significant detriment
to funding of a grant through this program; requests for indirect cost
rates exceeding 48.5% must be strongly justified.
PROGRESS & FINAL REPORTS : Progress reports will be due
December 1, 2005 , and will apprise the Wildlife Health Center Assistant
Director, Marine Programs of funds expended and work performed to date
towards achieving the specific aims of the project. A final report will
be due no later than April 1, 2006 . Final reports should include all
data and findings.
FUNDING EXTENSION REQUEST : It is expected that work as outlined
in this proposal will be accomplished within the time frame indicated.
However, should funding for a project need to be extended beyond December
31, 2005 , a request for extension of funding may be submitted to the
Wildlife Health Center Assistant Director, Marine Programs. This request
should present a compelling reason for extension of funding, and must
be accompanied by a progress report. The final report for a project
that has been granted an extension of funding is still due no later
than April 1, 2006 , unless the WHC Assistant Director chooses to extend
this deadline.
ANIMAL CARE AND USE PROTOCOL : Any proposal involving the use
of live animals under the jurisdiction of the Animal Welfare Act or
routinely covered under an institution’s Veterinary Care Plan must have
the approval of an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
The SeaDoc Society Scientific Advisory Committee will attempt to identify
an academic cooperator and appropriate IACUC for proposals from groups
without an IACUC. Proposals for projects involving the use of animals
(clinical or experimental) must submit a copy of an approved animal
care and use protocol. In lieu of an approved protocol, one copy of
an Animal Care and Use Protocol application should be submitted with
the proposal. Funding will not be allocated, and work on the project
cannot commence, until the application has been submitted and approved
by an Animal Care and Use Committee. Copies of all permits and documentation
must be received by the SeaDoc Society before funding will be awarded.
MISCELLANEOUS PERMITS AND PROTOCOL APPROVALS : Any permits,
licenses or approved protocols must be in place by January 1, 2005 in
order for funding to be awarded. This includes all necessary permits
from state, federal and provincial natural resource trustee agencies,
and approved protocols for the use of radioisotopes, certain chemicals
or recombinant DNA technology (required at some universities). The SeaDoc
Society will assume that such permits will be obtained and/or maintained
by the investigators for use at their facilities. Failure to obtain
or maintain such permits will be grounds for denial or revocation of
a SeaDoc grant, at the discretion of the Wildlife Health Center Assistant
Director, Marine Programs.
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS : It is important to the SeaDoc
Society that research findings are used to help guide and improve management
of living marine resources. Recipients of SeaDoc grants are strongly
encouraged to publish their findings in appropriate peer-reviewed journals.
Copies of publications resulting all or in part from SeaDoc grants must
be sent to the Wildlife Health Center . Submitted manuscripts,
manuscripts that are approved for publication and galley proofs may
be sent in lieu of a progress or final report, but not in lieu of a
copy of the final publication. Publications resulting, all or in part,
from SeaDoc Society grants must include the following acknowledgment:
“This project was supported (or supported in part) by the SeaDoc
Society through the Wildlife Health Center, School of Veterinary Medicine,
University of California, Davis.” In addition to publishing findings,
recipients of grants are strongly encouraged to present their findings
to managers, stakeholders, and other scientists who can use the information
to improve resource management. As part of the progress and final reports,
recipients of SeaDoc Society grants are expected to submit a list of
publications and presentations resulting from funded research.
Future funding is contingent upon compliance with these
guidelines and timely receipt of progress and final reports.
************************************************************************************
SUMMARY OF DEADLINES FOR 2005 SEADOC SOCIETYGRANTS
SEPTEMBER 1, 2004 REQUEST FOR
PROPOSALS DISTRIBUTED
OCTOBER 15, 2004 FULL PROPOSALS
DUE
JANUARY 1, 2005 FUNDS AWARDED
DECEMBER 1, 2005 PROGRESS
REPORT DUE
APRIL 1, 2006
FINAL REPORT DUE
************************************************************************************
Questions may be directed to:
Dr. Joe Gaydos, SeaDoc Society Scientist and Regional Director,
360-376-3910, jkgaydos@ucdavis.edu
- or -
Lavonne Hull, SeaDoc Society Administrative Assistant, 530-752-3854,
lwhull@ucdavis.edu
Proposal guidelines and forms are available for downloading
from the SeaDoc Society website: http://www.seadocsociety.org
SUBMIT PROPOSALS TO : lwhull@ucdavis.edu
|
