Disability Determination Small Grant Program

The grant isn’t really that small; it’s $10,000.

Policy Research, Inc (PRI) is pleased to announce a new, federally-funded stipend program for graduate-level research – the Disability Determination Process (DDP) Small Grant Program. This one-year stipend program will allow graduate students to conduct supervised independent research on improving disability determination processes. The program is directed by Policy Research, Inc. (PRI) of Delmar, NY, and is 100% funded through a $300,000 grant from the Social Security Administration (SSA) (#IDD11000001). See SSA Commissioner Astrue’s Press Release that mentions this program here: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/ss-expands-compassionate-allowances.html.

This grant program will award $10,000 stipends to graduate students to conduct research on improving disability determination processes. For example, the disability determination process used for SSA’s two disability programs – Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) – is extensive and complex, and members of the public with health problems and economic hardships often find it difficult to navigate this process. PRI hopes to improve the efficiency and reduce the complexity of disability determination processes by facilitating innovative research through stipends to a broad spectrum of graduate students and by allowing those students to access technical information on SSA disability program operations from disability experts. In exchange, PRI expects students to produce a thesis or written project relevant to disability programs by December 31, 2012.

PRI will accept applications for the first cycle of stipends until November 15, 2011. PRI will award stipends on or about December 15, 2011, and the stipends will cover the period January 2012 – December 2012. Please see attached Application materials and for more information visit http://www.policyresearchinc.org/projects/ddp_grant.shtml.

You can also contact PRI at ddp AT policyresearchinc DOT org with any questions. Thank you!

DDP_Reference_Form_101311

DDP_RFA_and_Instructions_101311

DDP_Student_Application_101311

Endangered Languages Documentation Program

The 2012 grant application round for the Endangered Languages
Documentation Programme (ELDP) of the Hans Rausing Endangered
Languages project opens on 17th October 2011. The closing date for
receipt of applications is 16th January 2012.

ELDP provides grants for:

PhD Scholarships (3 years),
Postdoctoral Fellowships (2 years),
Major documentation projects (up to 3 years)
Small grants (up to 1 year and 10,000 GBP).

For further information, visit www.hrelp.org/grants/apply or email
eldp AT soas DOT ac DOT uk.

NIH Loan Repayment Program (for those who have already graduated)

If you have your Ph.D. but have some student loans that you’d love to have the NIH repay for you, you might want to look into this:

_NIH LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAMS — APPLY NOW FOR UP TO $35,000 OF ANNUAL EDUCATIONAL DEBT REPAYMENT_

The NIH is accepting applications for its extramural Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) now through 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on November 15, 2011.

These programs often allow scientific investigators to remain in the
research workforce, achieve research independence and focus their
efforts on advancing the health of the nation. Opportunities are
available in clinical research, pediatric research, health disparities
research, contraception and infertility research, and clinical research
for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Each year, some 1,600
research scientists benefit from the more than $70 million NIH invests
in their careers through the extramural LRPs.

_PLEASE SHARE THIS E-MAIL WITH RESEARCHERS IN YOUR ORGANIZATION WHO MAY
BENEFIT FROM THE LRPS. WITH THE NOVEMBER 15 DEADLINE QUICKLY
APPROACHING, HEALTH PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE STARTED AN ONLINE
APPLICATION
SHOULD COMPLETE IT NOW. THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET STARTED SHOULD VISIT
__HTTP://WWW.LRP.NIH.GOV_ [1]_ TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAMS AND
APPLY._

BENEFITS: New LRP contracts are awarded for a two-year period and help
repay up to $35,000 of qualified educational debt each year. Tax
offsets
also are provided as additional benefits. Participants may apply for
competitive renewals, which are issued for one or two years.
Undergraduate, graduate, medical school, and other health professional
school loans qualify for repayment. _An NIH grant or other NIH funding
is not required to apply for or participate in the LRPs._

ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must possess a doctoral-level degree (with the
exception of the contraception and infertility research LRP); be a U.S.
citizen, national, or permanent resident; devote 20 hours or more per
week to conducting qualified research funded by a domestic nonprofit,
university, or government entity; and have qualified educational loan
debt equal to or exceeding 20 percent of their institutional base
salary.

APPLICATION TIPS: For guidance on the application process and NIH
Institute and Center (IC) research priorities, potential applicants
should watch this webinar [2], review Tips for Completing a
Competitive
Application [3] and contact an IC LRP liaison [4].

QUESTIONS? Visit the LRP website at http://www.lrp.nih.gov [5] for
more
information and to access the online application. For additional
assistance, call or e-mail the LRP Information Center at (866) 849-4047
or lrp@nih.gov [6]. Also, receive application cycle updates through
Twitter @NIH_LRP [7] and Facebook [8].

Grant to attend symposium on crime in eastern Europe & Eurasia

I’ve received this announcement:

Grant Opportunity for Graduate/PhD Students
Pre-Tenure Faculty, Scholars, and Professionals

2012 IREX/WWC Regional Policy Symposium:
TRANSNATIONAL CRIME AND CORRUPTION IN EASTERN EUROPE AND EURASIA

Application Deadline: December 9, 2011

IREX, in collaboration with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Kennan Institute (WWC), is pleased to announce its 2012 Regional Policy Symposium, “Transnational Crime and Corruption in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.”

The research symposium, supported by the United States Department of State (Title VIII Program), will bring American junior and senior scholars and members of the policy community together to examine and discuss transnational crime and corruption in Eastern Europe and Eurasia from multi-disciplinary perspectives. Topics may include: organized crime, corruption, human trafficking, drug trafficking, illicit trade, terrorism, cyber crime, financial crime and environmental crime, among others.

Junior scholars will be chosen based on a national competition to present their current research on the topic of the Symposium. Grants will be awarded to approximately ten junior scholars.

The Symposium is scheduled to take place April 18-20, 2012 in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area and will involve two full days of reviews of current research projects, roundtable discussions, and the dissemination of research results to the policy community through a networking event.

Technical Eligibility Requirements:
*Applicants must be US citizens

*Applicants must either be currently enrolled in an MA, MS, MFA, MBA, MPA, MLIS, MPH, JD, MD or PhD program or have held a graduate degree for 10 years or less. Applicants who hold an academic post must be pre-tenure.

Grant Provisions:
*Round-trip airfare (provided by IREX through its travel office) and/or surface transportation from anywhere in the United States to the symposium site.

*Meals and accommodations for the duration of the symposium.

To learn more about the 2012 Regional Policy Symposium, please send e-mail inquiries to symposium@irex.org or visit the program webpage: http://www.irex.org/project/regional-policy-symposium

Application materials are available on the IREX website at: http://www.irex.org/application/regional-policy-symposium-application

New Summer Whitaker International Fellows Program

Back in August, I posted about the general Whitaker International Fellows and Scholars Program. Now they’ve announced a new summer program for biomedical engineers and bioengineers.

Application deadline: February 6, 2012

Here’s the announcement I received:

Contact: Sabeen Altaf (212) 984-5442; saltaf AT iie DOT org

Whitaker International Program Establishes New Summer Grants Program

NEW YORK, NY, October 5, 2011—The Whitaker International Program, administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE), is launching the Whitaker International Summer Grants Program for young U.S. citizen or permanent resident biomedical engineers . Applications are now available online for the first round of grants which will be for July 1 to August 30, 2012.

With support from the former Whitaker Foundation, IIE will provide bioengineers and biomedical engineers funding for eight (8) weeks to pursue, in an international setting, a high-quality activity relevant to their field of focus in biomedical engineering (BME). Grants can support research, or course work in BME, or an internship in industry. By providing young bioengineers and biomedical engineers the opportunity to go abroad, the Whitaker Summer Grants Program will achieve the following objectives:
• Improve the expertise of the participants as scientists,
• Build individual and institutional partnerships, and
• Establish dialogues between the scientific community in the U.S. and rest of the world.
There will be one competition each year for the summer program. The awards will include a fellowship award, living costs, round-trip international airfare, and health insurance.

To be eligible for the award an applicant must:
• have U.S. citizenship or permanent residence in the U.S. ;
• be a current Master’s or Ph.D. student at a U.S. University in bioengineering or biomedical engineering.
Any overseas academic institution, research lab, or corporation may host a grantee if it can offer an outstanding professional experience in biomedical engineering. Grant applicants must obtain their own placements, but the suitability of these placements will be reviewed as part of the application. The experience must lead to a substantial enhancement of the student’s professional experience in biomedical engineering.

The competition is now open, with an application deadline of February 6, 2012. Award winners will be selected by a review committee, which will evaluate applications in spring of 2012 for awards to run from July 1, 2012 and end with a final program debriefing at the end of August, 2012. For more details and application guidelines, please visit www.whitaker.org.

The Whitaker Foundation was created in 1975. Throughout its history, the Foundation primarily supported interdisciplinary medical research, with a focus on biomedical engineering. Most of the Foundation’s efforts were directed toward the establishment and enhancement of formal educational programs and the support of especially talented students and faculty. In 2006, the Foundation ceased operations, and committed its remaining funds to a grant program focused on strengthening international collaborative links between young leaders in BME worldwide. Under the guidance of the Institute of International Education, the Whitaker International Program is designed to bring international experience and insight to the field of biomedical engineering.