This page contains the various current funding opportunities coordinated by the Research and Scholarship Advisory Committee. This page is updated with offerings as they become available.
Download Application Instructions
Description and Purpose: Southern Connecticut State University recognizes the importance of student and faculty scholarship and creative activity in furthering its mission. The University is committed to expanding the array of support mechanisms for such scholarship and creative activity. The Conference Travel Grants for Students aims to provide graduate and undergraduate students with funds to support travel costs and/or registration fees for national or international conferences whether virtual or on ground for the purpose of presenting their scholarship. Proposals from students who wish to attend a conference without presenting their own work will not be considered for funding. Proposals from students who are presenting another person's work, i.e. the abstract submitted to the conference was written for another scholar's work will not be considered for funding. Proposals from students whose work demonstrates a high probability of producing, for example, a published manuscript (or other relevant scholarly representation aligned with their discipline, i.e., art exhibit, book contract) will be given priority.
Eligibility: Matriculated graduate or undergraduate students (both full and part time), whose conference proposal has already been accepted by the conference organizers, are eligible to apply for this support. The student proposer must have written and submitted the conference abstract in order to present their own work.
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- Faculty cannot be the lead author.
- Student presenter must be the first or second author. If two students are on one panel, they cannot get full funding but will have to split the award amount.
- No more than two students for one paper or poster will be allowed.
- Student must have completed at least one semester at SCSU.
- FT faculty may not apply for these funds even if they are enrolled as a Graduate Student.
- PT faculty who are enrolled in a graduate program at SCSU may apply for AAUP travel funds or for a student travel grant, but not both.
Review Process: These grants are sponsored by the Office of the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Deans. Students with other concurrent funding must disclose their funding.
Faculty Mentor Certification Consent: As per the current guidelines, I understand that the student must be presenting on their own scholarship and that requests to present on another individual’s work will not be considered.
Award Amount: Matriculated graduate students may apply for up to $1,000 for a national conference or up to $1,500 per international conference, depending on the budget submitted. Undergraduate students may apply for up to $500 for a national conference only. Please note: regional conferences cannot be awarded under this Call. Funds for both types of students may only be applied towards the costs of registration, transportation, and hotel room expenses. All travel must abide by regulations of the CDC and CT Department of Health as they exist at time of travel. Funds may not be used for faculty travel expenses.
For virtual conferences: Matriculated graduate or undergraduate students may apply for up to but not more than the cost of registration for a virtual conference. Funds may not be used for faculty registration expenses.
Application Process: The application and all required documents must be submitted via the Kuali portal system using this link: Conference Travel Grants for Students.
All the following documents must be submitted (in PDF format). Incomplete applications will not be funded.
- Conference announcement
- Student's Conference abstract and proof of acceptance of the student's abstract
- Unofficial transcript
- Budget of travel-related expenses.
Please note that only the cost of registration, estimated travel to and from the conference site, and the estimated expense for a hotel room during the conference should be listed in the budget. For virtual conferences only the cost of registration (not supplies) for the conference can be submitted.
- Proof of conference registration costs.
Students must indicate a faculty mentor on the form; the faculty mentor is expected to formally approve the application through the electronic portal.
We recognize that conferences send acceptance at different times, therefore there is no hard deadline for submission of proposals. However, after committee review and approval, commitments to fund will be granted on a first come, first serve basis. Therefore, students should apply as soon as possible after they receive organization/society/conference acceptance. Funds are ordinarily distributed on a reimbursement basis following processes used by the university Travel Office. All expenses, following travel, must be fully reconciled prior to the end of the fiscal year (by no later than June 30, 2025).
Further Information
For questions, please contact Professor C. Michele Thompson thompsonc2@southernct.edu.
Please note that awardees are responsible for completing the University/State required Travel Authorization and associated paperwork within the required timeframe to be reimbursed.
Identifying a Predatory Conference
Predatory journals and conferences are a growing concern in academia. As shared in an article published by Idaho State University, available here, predatory conferences “claim to be scholarly, but are organized by an entity focused on financial gain rather than quality scholarship.” They make money from attendees through the high registration fees, usually with little given in return. Questions for a student to ask when evaluating whether a conference is predatory would be:
- Does the program description appear legitimate?
- Is the topic of the conference overly broad or general?
- Is the conference’s planning group affiliated with a reputable, legitimate organization or educational entity? Are you able to find information about this conference by searching directly through that organization’s main website?
- If sponsors are named, are they relevant to the topic of the conference?
- Does the invitation include keynote speakers who are known experts?
- Are invited attendees charged unreasonably high fees? Does anything seem strange or irregular about how payment of these fees are to be received, and is it clear how much the registration will cost, or are details about the fees complicated and unclear?
- Is the vetting process for presentations and posters described? Is it reasonable and rigorous, or is the peer review skimped or skipped entirely?
- Will conference abstracts or proceedings be published? Are you able to locate abstracts or proceedings from previous years?
- Are continuing education credits offered? If so, are they certified by an entity recognized in your field? Has that entity actually agreed to provide the continuing education credits?
- Does the target audience seem appropriate for the conference’s aim and scope?
- BONUS: Is the language of the email invitation, the communications received from the conference organizers, or the website itself disorganized, poorly written and rife with bizarre grammatical and spelling mistakes that truly professional conference organizers, who spend quite a lot of time and money putting these events together, would probably not make?
The fact that a conference is predatory does not always imply that it is not a real event; they frequently do actually take place, but they are poorly-organized, poorly-attended, and offer few learning or networking opportunities.
Vetting conferences for these features is a valuable skill that students should acquire in order to save their equally-valuable time and effort as future academics and professionals. Be aware!
Download the Application Instructions
Southern Connecticut State University is pleased to announce the continuation of a program to support independent undergraduate research during Summer or Fall Semester 2025. This initiative, Undergraduate Research Grants, is funded by the SCSU Foundation. Grants of $3,000 each will be awarded to undergraduate students to complete research in any academic discipline represented on the SCSU campus. Each student awardee will be guided by a faculty mentor. Faculty mentors will receive payment for one credit for their guidance of the proposed student research.
The student may accept the full $3,000 as a stipend, or, if needed, a portion of the money can be used for expenses related to the project.
The purpose of these grants is to promote high quality research and creative activity at the undergraduate level by having students work closely with a faculty mentor.
Eligibility:
To be eligible, a student must:
• be a matriculated undergraduate with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0.
• have completed at least 45 course credits by the end of Spring Semester 2025;
• be enrolled in undergraduate courses for the Fall 2025 term (i.e., seniors graduating in May 2025 are not eligible);
• work with a mentor who is a full-time faculty member at SCSU.
If a student has previously received an undergraduate grant from this program, a copy of the final report from the previous grant must be included with the proposal.
For projects involving human participants or animal subjects, approval from the SCSU Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) must be obtained before beginning the research.
To apply:
The student application must be submitted via the Kuali Build portal using this link: Undergraduate Research Grant Application by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 3rd 2025. Faculty Mentors must then respond to the application and add their reference documents within 24 hours.
Incomplete applications will not receive consideration, nor will late applications.
The electronic application will require:
- Identifying information as a cover sheet
- A PDF of your Statement of Research: using a maximum of five pages (single-spaced, 11-point Times New Roman font), please describe the:
- Research problem;
- Research design (methodology and status of IRB and/or IACUC clearances, if applicable);
- Research resources (e.g. laboratory access, equipment, libraries);
- A budget of anticipated expenses that may be personally incurred, relative to the project; funds for faculty expenses are not allowed. If the funds are to be used as a stipend this must be stated in the budget.
- Expected outcomes;
- A plan to disseminate results; and
- A mentorship plan
- A PDF of an unofficial copy of your CURRENT SCSU TRANSCRIPT
Faculty mentors will receive notification to upload a PDF of their recommendation into the electronic application before routing to the Department Chairperson for notification and to the chair of RSAC for approval as to completeness of the proposal and eligibility of the student.
Awards:
Members of the Research and Scholarship Advisory Committee (RSAC) will review proposals and recommend awardees to the Provost.
Academic Honesty:
These proposals should be written by the student proposer; any proposal that was clearly written by the sponsoring faculty member will be disqualified. Likewise, any student proposal which contains plagiarism or exhibits any other form of academic dishonesty will be disqualified.
Questions:
Questions regarding the content and review of applications may be directed to C. Michele Thompson, Research and Scholarship Advisory Committee Chair at thompsonc2@southernct.edu
Questions regarding the electronic form can be directed to the SPAR office, spar@southernct.edu
Download the Application Instructions
Description and Purpose:
Southern Connecticut State University recognizes the importance of faculty scholarship and creative activity in furthering its mission. The University is committed to expanding the array of support mechanisms for such scholarship and creative activity. The Joan Finn Faculty Research Fellowships aim to provide untenured faculty members at the assistant or associate rank with a significant amount of reassigned time at an early stage in their careers at Southern for these purposes. The Fellow may generate publication(s) from his/her dissertation or other previous research or conduct new research or creative activity. It is expected that the Fellow will pursue work leading to a publishable article or its scientific or creative equivalent and will make a public presentation at Southern or within the CSCU system.
Applications will be reviewed by a group of faculty, representing a broad range of disciplines, who have been appointed by the Provost to serve on the University-wide Research and Scholarship Advisory Committee.
This fellowship is sponsored by the Office of the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs and is independent from the reassigned time allocated in the AAUP contract. This reassigned time will be coupled with a proportionate release from service responsibilities for the semester of the fellowship.
For this project, two fellowships of NINE hours of reassigned time each will be awarded, for the Fall 2025 or for the Spring 2026 semester.
Eligibility, evaluation criteria, and proposal guidelines follow. A link to the submission portal in Kuali Build is included here and throughout this CFP.
These fellowships, now named in honor of the late Joan Finn, professor emerita of Exercise Science who did much to launch them, are an excellent opportunity for untenured faculty members who satisfy the criteria below, and the University hopes that those eligible will consider applying.
Eligibility:
Full-time, permanent untenured faculty at the assistant or associate professor rank who will have completed at least one year of service at SCSU by Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 are eligible to apply for this fellowship. The applicant must hold a terminal degree in his or her field and must not have entered the tenure review process.
Criteria:
The Committee will use the following criteria to rate the quality and completeness of proposals:
- Significance: Evidence of a well-focused and worthy purpose, presented in relationship to previous scholarship. Please include in your application a discussion of how the project will contribute to your discipline or field of study.
- Plan of Work: An appropriate and feasible method as well as a plan of action or a setting of conditions that will result in accomplishing the objectives of the project. Please include a proposed schedule or timeline.
- Outcomes and Reporting: Likelihood of significant outcome, such as publication, performance, or exhibition. Applicants should be aware that a final report highlighting scholarly accomplishments will be due 90 days after the completion of the project. Furthermore, it is expected that the recipient will complete a manuscript for a publishable article or its scientific or creative equivalent and make a public presentation at Southern or within CSCU. These responsibilities must be fulfilled within two years following the end of the fellowship semester.
Proposals:
A fellowship proposal must contain the following:
- Cover Sheet and Abstract: Use the form provided in Kuali Build.
- Proposal Narrative: The narrative should respond to and be organized by the headings given in the “Criteria” section above (i.e., Significance, Workplan, Outcomes and Reporting). The narrative should fit onto no more than five double-spaced pages of printed text using 12-point font and one-inch margins. A bibliography or works cited page is required in order to help the committee understand the significance of your research and should not exceed one page; this page will count toward the five-page limit. No other materials/appendices will be allowed in the application. Please keep in mind that the review committee consists of faculty in a range of disciplines, so that proposals will likely be read by faculty who are not necessarily discipline specialists. Therefore, proposals should be written for an informed generalist while still giving enough specific information on the significance of the research and the soundness of the proposed method to allow a reasonable evaluation by faculty from outside of your area. A brief review of related research undertaken by the applicant and/or others will help the committee understand the significance of the proposed project. A creative arts proposal should contain a description of the work to be produced, materials and facilities to be used, and production details.
- Curriculum Vitae: Please include a curriculum vitae indicating your educational background, professional experiences, previous and present research, and other scholarly accomplishments.
- Human Subjects and Vertebrate Animals: If the research involves either human subjects or vertebrate animals, you must so indicate on the proposal cover sheet. As with any research project, the Fellow must seek approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for human research subjects or the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) for vertebrate animals. The Fellow should contact the appropriate committee for information on submission procedures and timing. In no case should work with human beings or vertebrate animals as research subjects be undertaken until the proper approval is obtained. Failure to obtain proper approval may result in the termination of the fellowship. Letters of approval from the IRB or IACUC must be attached to the final report.
If research will involve human cells, tissues, or potentially infectious materials, you must also indicate this on the cover sheet and seek guidance from the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).
Proposals that fail to adhere to these application guidelines will not be reviewed.
To apply:
The application form and all required supporting materials must be fully completed and submitted through the electronic portal at this link: RSAC Faculty Research Fellowship Application by 4:00 p.m. on February 3rd, 2025.
Proposal Review:
Applications will be reviewed by a committee of faculty appointed by the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs to serve on the Research and Scholarship Advisory Committee. The sub-committee designated to evaluate Fellowship applications will represent a broad range of disciplines. The sub-committee may solicit feedback from additional readers in the event that special expertise is required to evaluate the proposal.
Each reviewer will be asked to assign a rating from "1" for weak to "5" for excellent for each of the three criteria listed above. The scores from the readers will be added to produce total scores, which will assist in ranking the proposals.
The Research and Scholarship Advisory Committee will make recommendations to the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs, who will announce the awards.
To avoid undue hardship for a department, the recipient of the fellowship should work with the school Dean, Department Chairperson, and the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs to select the semester for the fellowship.
Deadline:
All proposals must be received in electronic format to: RSAC Faculty Research Fellowship Application no later than 4PM Monday February 3rd.
Questions:
Questions regarding the content and review of applications may be directed to C. Michele Thompson, Research and Scholarship Advisory Committee Chair at thompsonc2@southernct.edu
Questions regarding the electronic form can be directed to the SPAR office, spar@southernct.edu