School of Social and Cultural Studies

Conditions Governing the Award of

Graduate Research Fund (GRF) Grants and Instructions for Completing the Application Form (2010)

ELIGIBILITY

The GRF supports graduate student research projects (including those of graduate assistants) of at least 30 credits. Application must be made by the student's supervisor/s in consultation with the student.

Application may be made for: small items of equipment; equipment hire; consumables; and travel. Consumables can include tapes, purchase of specialist materials (though not items that should be in the library), survey costs and other similar items. Travel may include fares, accommodation and subsistence.

The amount of money available varies, but to give you a ballpark figure, in previous years we have awarded $100 for research projects, $300-400 for Masters theses, and $700-800 for PhD students.

Casual/temporary assistance will not normally be funded, though a case for transcription costs or data entry charges will be considered. For PhD students, a contribution towards the cost of attending a conference will be considered where a paper or presentation is to be made.

The School provides a $30 photocopying budget and reasonable interlibrary loan costs for all postgraduate research students. There is generally no need to use the GRF to apply for these items, unless exceptional circumstances apply.

Costs of thesis or report production and binding will not be covered.

Payment is by reimbursement. Successful applicants should keep copies of receipts for presentation to the School Administratorwith the appropriate form. Students cannot be reimbursed for payments made prior to obtaining approval from the Postgraduate Committee.

The School Committee seeks to support research in whatever way it can and applicants may make a case for support outside the guidelines. Nevertheless the expectation is that the above statements broadly define the bounds, and awards outside of them will be uncommon. Applicants should be aware that the award of a grant will imply an undertaking on their part to report on progress as and when requested to do so by the School Postgraduate Committee.

HOW TO APPLY

THREE copies of the completed form are to be sent to the Administrator, School of Social and Cultural Studies by the closing dates of 20 April(all research students) and 16August (PhD students only). All applications must be typed or printed clearly; applications that are not clear may be returned and the submission date missed. Late applications will not be accepted. GRF applications will be assessed by the Postgraduate Committee.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETION OF THE GRF APPLICATION FORM

GENERAL:

Applications must be completed within the boxes on the form provided. Electronic versions of this form are available from the School website at Applications which are not clearly presented and do not conform to this requirement will be returned to applicants without being assessed. Shaded areas are for use by the School Committee only. The form will be copied and mailed to the applicant and Chief Supervisor as a record of the Committee’s decision once all applications have been evaluated.

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS:

1 - 7Details: Complete the required information for the student/project. Indicate total credit value. Paper number: MA theses generally are xxx.899; research exercises and essays 798 or 799.

8.Project Title: Project title should be brief (maximum 30 characters) but informative.

9. Project Description: Describe the project in terms of its objectives, research methodology and the propositions or hypotheses being explored. The description should be sufficiently detailed to allow the Committee to evaluate the quality of the research including appropriateness of design and methodology.

10. Ethics Application: It is important that you commence any application for ethical approval early in your year, and the Committee will be concerned to see that you have assessed the status of your project correctly. The options enable you to indicate if the Human Ethics Committee has asked you to revise your application (a not uncommon occurrence). The School Committee may, if it considers it necessary, make funding conditional on approval by the Ethics Committee.

11. Project Budget: Summarise the expected costs and proposed sources of funding by GRF, and other sources (insert names). Insert descriptors for ‘Items’ 1-5 as appropriate to the project. These items must be in priority order (1=highest priority) to guide the School Committee in the event that only partial funding is available. Indicate for non-GRF sources whether funding has been Requested or Approved.

12.Justification of Budget: Explain here your request for the (up to) 5 items listed in Box 11, in terms of both how estimated costs were derived and why these items are needed. The following notes are provided to assist with justifications. The Graduate Research Fund will not meet costs that might properly be recovered from contracts.

a)The maximum funding available for all projects is limited by the funds provided to us for distribution (about $10,000 in all). In distributing these funds, PhD and MA theses are given preference over smaller projects.

b)Support from other sources is not a prerequisite for GRF funding but, given the limited funding available, will assist your case. Staff are reminded that PhD candidates in the social sciences are eligible to apply to the Royal Society of New Zealand for support. Scholarship information is available from the Scholarships Office:

c)Travel: Applications for travel will be considered where it is necessary to visit research sites, libraries and other repositories of information, or where it is necessary to interview people in the course of the research. Provide a detailed travel budget, including budget fares, frequency and duration of travel, and per diem subsistence rates. Approved fares booked through Orbit Travel can be charged directly to the School.
Partial support for a PhD candidate to attend a significant international or New Zealand conference may be provided for students who intend to give a paper (or poster). If applying in this category you should provide the title and date of the conference and its relevance to your research project. If you are waiting for your abstract to be accepted by the conference organisers, the Committee may approve funds subject to receipt of such confirmation.

d)Consumables: Funds will be made available for the purchase of consumable items not normally available from the School, including items of equipment valued at less than $500. Tape recorders and transcribers are not funded, as these can be loaned from the School at no charge. Casual/temporary assistance will not normally be funded, other than for transcription costs or data entry. It is expected that students will normally undertake a significant portion of transcription of tapes.

13. Previous Massey Funding: List previous grants from Massey University and/or the School (including GRF) that have supported this project.

14. Supervisor’s Comment: Supervisor should comment on progress of, and prospects for, the project; priorities for funding, and any other matters that may assist the School Committee in its deliberations.

15. Summary: Summarise (from box11) in priority order the items for which support is requested from GRF and the sums involved. The ‘Recommendation’ column will be used by the School Committee to record the funding to be granted. If the box under ‘Subject to Approval of Committee’ is ticked, the research account will not be opened until the Graduate Studies Administrator of the School has been provided by the applicant with a copy of the written approval by that Committee (i.e. Human Ethics).

16. Student Signature:Student to sign to indicate they have prepared or sighted the entire application.

17. GRF Committee Recommendation: This box will be used by the School Committee to record the Account Number (if project is funded) and feedback comments if any to applicants.

POSTGRADUATE STUDY AWARDS

Postgraduate students can also apply to the government for a NZ Postgraduate Study Abroad Award. Awards are made up to a maximum of $10,000 for study of up to six months, to attend a workshop or seminar, or give a conference paper. Applications are due to Education New Zealand in January. For further information see