Faculty of Arts Doctoral Research Fund

Applications for 1 March 2012

View the document below for a summary of application information.

• Doctoral Research Fund application form

The purpose of the Faculty of Arts Doctoral Research Fund is to facilitate high quality research at the doctoral level. The Faculty’s Research Committee aims to provide substantial grants-in-aid to enable students to support research costs over and above those provided by standard University PReSS accounts. This may include direct costs for research-related consumables, equipment, field work, literature/library searches, travel, accommodation and subsistence incurred by students. All applications will be considered on a contestable basis taking into account merit, research needs and total research funds available for the project.

The standard maximum grant is $5,000. If research funding has been demonstrably secured by the applicant from a department or external institution prior to submission of this application, the Faculty may match up to $1,500 of these additional funds.

Conference attendance will not be supported by the Doctoral Research Fund, as there is an expectation that standard PReSS account awards and departmental funds will provide financial support to enable doctoral students to attend conferences. Funding will not be provided for computers. Students are directed to seek loans of laptops, cameras, and video recorders through their supervisor using the Faculty loanpools managed by Arts IT and Multimedia.

Notes

1. Applications should be made by individual students with the support of their main supervisor and the approval of their Head of Department.
2. Applicants must be enroled for a PhD at The University of Auckland at the time the application is submitted, and may receive only one award during the course of their doctoral enrolment. PhD students who are funded from outside sources are eligible to apply to this Doctoral Research Fund.
3. Applications will be accepted from doctoral students who are still in their provisional year of registration; however, award and uplifting of funds will be made conditional on confirmation of continued enrolment by the Dean of Graduate Studies. A copy of this confirmation must be provided with the application form.
4. Doctoral students who are members of the academic staff and who meet the eligibility conditions to apply to the Faculty Research Development Fund are not eligible to apply to the Doctoral Research Fund. Academic staff (Senior Tutor, Lecturer and above) who are enrolled for higher degrees should apply to the Faculty Research Development Fund for research project funding.
5. Grants for research travel and expenses should include written quotations, exclusive of GST, that are current, realistic and submitted in NZ dollars.
6. Where a request is made for accommodation it is expected that university student hostel accommodation, youth hostels, or the equivalent are used if at all possible.
7. The Doctoral Research Fund will not consider payment of expenses incurred prior to the closing date for submission of applications.
8. Grants will be made to students jointly with their supervisor(s). Funds will be deposited in student PReSS accounts with these funds to be released only on a reimbursement basis. Supervisors must sign off on expenditures and ensure that there is no overspending or inappropriate use of funds. Tax invoice receipts must be presented when claiming for reimbursement of all travel, accommodation and subsistence costs. Expenditure of funds for purposes not specified in the research plan is only with the prior permission of the Associate Dean Research, and should only involve minor variations on the plan. Expenditure may be subject to audit.
9. The application form will be available online from 1 February 2012. Please note the checklist of requirements. The applicaiotn will be automatically sent to the supervisor and Head of Department for approval and comment before being assessed by Research Committee.
10. Research Grants are for a minimum of one and a maximum period of two years. Timelines related to expenditure must feature in the application. Any unspent balance is surrendered to the Faculty.
11. A brief report of no more than one page on the funded research project must be made in writing to Faculty’s Research Committee at the conclusion of the term of the grant. The report should be signed by the supervisor. Reporting guidelines and a template are provided to grantees once the offer of a grant has been accepted.
12. Non-consumables such as equipment and software purchased with research grants remain the property of The University of Auckland.
13. The University of Auckland has a policy of insurance that covers staff and students who are travelling overseas on authorised business. For this reason costs of travel insurance will not be funded.
14. Although not a strict requirement for PhD students, The University of Auckland, as a significant user of goods and services including air travel, has established preferred supplier agreements with APX (uoa@apx.co.nz). Costings of travel and related expenses for grant applications may be obtained from them, and air travel booked through the University¹s preferred supplier may be charged directly to the grant.

1. One application round per year is held with a 1 March closing date. Applications are considered and recommendations for awards are made at the April meeting of Faculty of Arts Research Committee with the Associate Dean Postgraduate in attendance.
2. Results will be sent to the Supervisor and the doctoral applicant within 20 working days of the April Research Committee meeting.
3. Successful applicants must return the signed acceptance form to the Faculty Office within one calendar month.

The following persons may be contacted for further information and advice:

Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Arts
Associate Dean Postgraduate, Faculty of Arts
Scholarships Adviser, Faculty of Arts
Secretary, Research Committee Faculty of Arts

The closing date for applications is 4pm Thursday 1 March 2012.
Late applications will not be accepted.
Applications wil be considered at the Apriil research Committee meeting.

The online application form will be available from 1 February 2012.

Checklist of requirements for the application:

• Description of the proposal including:
  • Title
  • Keywords related to the research discipline
  • Abstract (150 words)
  • Research context
  • Overall Aim
  • Project details (description of the hypotheses to be tested, methodology to be used or methods of data analysis)
  • Timeline
• Ethics approval (if required)
• Details of any scholarships already held
• Research progress to date
• Detailed budget (including quotes)
• Budget justification
• You will need to upload the following scanned documents (if applicable)
  • Ethics approval
  • Confirmation of continued enrolment
  • Quotes
  • Doctoral annual report