Year-End Grant Reports and Renewals
Rackham offers Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop (RIW) grants to sponsor an ongoing program of interdisciplinary workshops, which is overseen by Associate Dean Catherine Sanok. This program has two goals. First, it is designed to encourage interdisciplinary research by supporting workshops for graduate students, faculty, postdocs, and staff who share intellectual interests but do not necessarily have an easily available forum in common because they have different academic affiliations. Second, RIWs are designed to advance graduate student research by providing opportunities for them to develop and present research in an interdisciplinary forum.
Graduate students interested in forming such groups may apply for grant funding to support workshop activities and to compensate coordinators. A maximum grant award of $5,000 may be requested if the application is submitted by August 1, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. (EDT) for the upcoming academic year. Workshops will receive grant funds at the end of the year after successful submission and approval of the year-end report. Funding is for one year only, but continuing workshops may apply for renewal. Funding not used by the end of the academic year cannot roll over to the next academic year. Please note: The RIW program no longer has a second application cycle for winter semester workshops. Groups, however, may still apply for grant funding for one semester only and must submit applications by the August 1 deadline.
Year-End Grant Report
A year-end grant report is due by June 1. Year-end reports must include:
- An account of the year’s events that includes information about the topics, format, and location(s), as well as a list of members and attendees, with their uniqname and program affiliation, for each meeting.
- A summary (250 words) of the workshop’s accomplishments for the year and key ways it supported interdisciplinary research: advances in graduate student research, emerging ideas, questions, or collaborations.
- Itemized Expense Report. Please complete the Itemized Expense Report. No receipts are necessary. Attach a budget narrative (as necessary) to explain any portions of the budget that require explanation. For a detailed listing of valid expenses, please review the Allowable Expenses section(this will have to be an anchor that takes to the Allowable Expenses heading in the new page) before preparing your application budget and year-end report expense listing, or both.
- (As necessary) Explanation of any departures from the approved budget.
- We also welcome feedback on the structure of the RIW program.
All of the above should be submitted via the RIW System. Once the Rackham RIW team provides preliminary year-end report approval, your faculty sponsor and department administrator will have to indicate their approvals of the year-end report through a link emailed to them by the RIW System. After those approvals, the report goes back to Rackham for final approval and funds disbursement. Failure to submit and/or approve (faculty sponsor and department administrator) the year-end report by the end of the fiscal year (June 30 annually) will result in the workshop waiving its right to approved funding.
Grant Renewal Applications
Applications for renewal of sponsorship for an existing group are due by August 1 for full-year RIW or one-term RIW. You cannot begin a renewal application until you have submitted your year-end grant report (due June 1). Once your year-end grant report is submitted, please go to the RIW System Application Home to begin the Renew Application process.
Grant renewal applications must include/provide:
- Updated list of members who have committed for the following academic year.
- Updated plans for the meeting format and frequency.
- Proposed budget. (See the “Allowable Expenses” Section for more details, and budgets must adhere to this template.)
- Confirmation from the student coordinators’ director of graduate studies or faculty advisor that they approve the RIW planned activities and that students have reached candidacy.
Contact
Questions should be directed to 734.764.4400 or via email at [email protected].
Organizer Contact Information and Calendar of Events
Keep the list of current workshops, but we will change the links to their webpages to organizers’ contact info.