Research-Practice Partnerships Grants Program

Eligibility

• Proposals to the Research-Practice Partnership program must be for research and other activities aimed to support collaborative partnerships between academic researcher(s) and a broad array of practitioner(s) of education.
• Principal Investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs applying for a Research-Practice Partnership Grant are expected to have an earned doctorate in an academic discipline or professional field, or demonstrated professional experience appropriate for this program. Note: If the PI or Co-PI from the practice side of the partnership does not have an earned doctorate, they are expected to have appropriate professional experience to serve in this role in the partnership. While graduate students may be part of the team, they may not be named the PI or Co-PI on the proposal.
• The PI must be affiliated with a non-profit organization that is willing to serve as the administering organization if the grant is awarded. The Spencer Foundation does not award grants directly to individuals. Examples include non-profit colleges, universities, school districts, and research facilities, as well as other non-profit organizations with a 501(c)(3) determination from the IRS. The PI associated with the administering organization for this grant could be either the practitioner or researcher of the partnership. At least one Co-PI should be from the other member organization(s).
• Proposals are accepted from the U.S. and internationally, however all proposals must be submitted in English and budgets must be proposed in U.S. Dollars.

Summary

Note: this competition will go through RMS for approvals (this replaces the RFAA).

The Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) Grants Program is intended to support education research projects that engage in collaborative and participatory partnerships with project budgets up to $400,000 and durations of up to three years.

This grant program is specifically intended to build the capacity of partnerships to make educational change. Effective governance is a key aspect of successful partnerships, and as such all proposals should specify their governance structures and how the work is jointly developed across all partners.

Submission Process

Internal Submission

Note: this competition will go through RMS for approvals. RFAA is not required.

LOI:

1. Upload a copy of your final and complete LOI application from the agency portal http://spencer.smartsimple.us/ to the RMS Application record, and submit for academic approvals.  Please ensure that you allow enough time for academic approvals prior to the Research Services (RSO) final internal deadline of NOON November 4th for the pre-proposal stage. Please note this is a hard deadline. 
2. RMS will notify you when the institutional approval has been provided. You may then submit to the agency by clicking the Submit button at the bottom of the page on the agency portal.

Full Proposal:

• Once your Intent to Apply form has been submitted, you will automatically have access to the Full Proposal application on your Workbench.

1. Upload a copy of your final and complete application from the agency portal http://spencer.smartsimple.us/ to the RMS Application record, and submit for academic approvals.  Please ensure that you allow enough time for academic approvals prior to the Research Services (RSO) final internal deadline of NOON, December 2, 2022. 

• Please ensure that the University of Calgary is listed as the Administering and Partner Organization:
• Signature from Authorized Representative of the Administering:

Tiago Lier

Director, Grants, Awards & Ethics

Research Services University of Calgary

2500 University Drive N.W., Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4

rsogrants@ucalgary.ca

Note: The signature process must be completed by noon on the deadline date. You, as the applicant, are responsible for making sure your proposal is signed by the deadline. The Spencer Foundation is unable to accept late submissions.

• As an optional service, if you wish to receive a detailed administrative review, with the opportunity for feedback, please submit your complete and final application in RMS, by November 23rd, 2022. Applications received after this date will receive a basic administrative review only. The detailed administrative review includes a detailed review of the application, checking for eligibility and UofC commitments and risk, compliance with program guidelines, completeness of the application, and the opportunity for feedback to improve the application. The basic administrative review involves a minimal check of the application for eligibility and any UofC commitment or risk.

Submission to the Agency

1. Once internal approvals have been provided RMS will notify you that institutional approval has been provided  - the applicant must click the Submit button at the bottom of the application page and it will be routed to your Signatory for signature and final submission. We will then provide sign-off and the application will be routed to the agency.

Resources

https://www.spencer.org/grant_types/research-practice-partnerships

https://www.spencer.org/grant_types/research-practice-partnerships.pdf

Program contact:
research-practice-partnership@spencer.org

Relevant Documents

research-practice-partnership-program-20220907.pdf

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Pre-application program deadline

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

• PIs and Co-PIs may only hold one active research grant from the Spencer Foundation at a time. (This restriction does not apply to the administering organization; organizations may submit as many proposals as they like as long as they are for different projects and have different research teams.) 
• PIs and Co-PIs may not submit more than one research proposal to the Spencer Foundation at a time. This restriction applies to the Small Grants Program, Large Grants Program, and Research-Practice Partnership Program. If the PI or any of the Co-PIs currently have a research proposal under consideration in any of these programs, they are required to wait until a final decision has been made on the pending proposal before they can submit a new proposal.