Timeline for Research Grant Application process
Most students underestimate the time UAR needs to review grant proposals and distribute funds. Even for a quarterly grant project, you may need to begin approaching faculty and drafting ideas several months before you intend to start the project.
See the following expanded example of a hypothetical timeline for a research project conducted over Spring Break.
Hypothetical Administrative Timeline
 A Winter Quarterly Grant for an Off-Campus Project Conducted over Spring Break |
|
|---|---|
| Fall Quarter | Approach faculty; start recommended background work; take course in fieldwork methods |
| End of Fall Quarter | Start drafting proposal; solicit faculty letter; finish pre-fieldwork course work |
| Early January | Apply for human subjects approval (if necessary) |
| Mid January | Submit all grant application materials |
| End of January | Receive Human Subjects approval and forward to UAR |
| Mid February | Receive UAR approval, sign online contract |
| End of February | UAR orders grant check through Student Financial Services |
| Early March | Receive grant check in the mail |
| Early March | Purchase plane tickets |
| End of March | Project begins |
As you can see, even when everything goes as planned, you must begin your application process quite early. For example, if you miss the January deadline for human subject protocols, you will not receive your human subject approval until the end of February. Therefore you won’t receive your check until late March at best. As a result, your plane tickets will be more expensive and UAR is unlikely to increase your budget to compensate for this. Similarly, if your proposal requires any sort of revision, your process will be delayed. If too many of these hurdles accumulate, you may not be able to carry out your research over Spring Break at all.
Starting the process in the previous quarter may seem excessive, but it is actually just barely sufficient!