Small grants for workshops in social ontology - Call 2025

One of the key aims of ISOS is to foster innovative approaches and collaborations in social ontology, as well as to support research in social ontology regionally and globally. In service of this, we have started a program to help fund workshops in social ontology. The ISOS steering committee will consider members' request to fund workshop events on social ontology.

2025 Application Instructions

Only members may submit a grant proposal. The new extended deadline is 12 January 2025. Applicants will be notified in February 2025. 

To submit a grant proposal, fill out the budget template and the workshop grant proposal submission form. Email these documents to smallgrantsisos@gmail.com.

Click here for the budget template.

Click here for the workshop grant proposal application form.

We particularly welcome applications from underrepresented regions. 

Successful applicants will be welcome to submit a special issue proposal to Journal of Social Ontology for consideration for publication.

For questions, contact: smallgrantsisos@gmail.com.

In the grant proposal submission form, applicants will be required to include the following:

·       The names and institutional affiliations of the workshop organisers.

·       An abstract of the workshop (150 word maximum).

·       A brief account of the workshop’s purpose, explaining its benefits for the field of social ontology (benefits might include, e.g., the discussion of new or developing research, or an increase in the number of academics who know about the field) and/or how it involves community outreach (e.g., attendance to the workshop is open to the public; the event includes a public lecture component; talks are recorded and materials are publicly accessible).

·       A timeline for holding the proposed workshop.

·       Information about other funding sought or obtained, if any.

·       A description of how the workshop will be advertised to the larger social ontological and/or lay audience.

·       Where a workshop is associated with a website, proposers should state where the site will be hosted and indicate whether they intend a link to be created to ISOS’s website. (ISOS cannot host websites for funded workshops.)

·       The proposers should address how the program will be accessible for disabled persons, including deaf/hard of hearing and blind/visually impaired individuals, making adjustments and provisions wherever possible within budget.

·       The proposers should address whether the event will provide bursaries or waivers for students and/or precariously employed participants.

Please note that, as a service to future applicants, some successful proposals will be made public.

Requirements

1.    Proposals should ordinarily be for expenditures that will be completed within 12 months of the grant being authorized. (For grants approved in 2025, therefore, expenditures should ordinarily be spent in 2025 and before February 2026 at the very latest.) Proposals that plan expenditures later than this must directly justify the timeline for expenditures (in the “any other comments” box in the form).

2.    While a proposal may describe a workshop series that needs funding over more than a year, ISOS will not commit to support of a grantee beyond the funds authorized in any year. Applicants should, however, state in the application if the activities for which a proposal seeks funding are part of a multiyear program.

3.    Proposals may include requests for travel funds. However, it is not the policy of ISOS to fund travel to its own annual conference.

4.    ISOS does not provide administrative support for grantees, nor will ISOS act as the agent who is fiscally responsible for a grant.

5.    A grant by ISOS to any University shall be conditioned upon such University’s agreement not to charge ISOS with any Facilities and Administrative Costs in connection with the grant.

6.    ISOS accepts applications from all its active members expect those involved in the decision-making processes associated with this call.

7.    Grant proposals involving the use of graduate student assistance (e.g., as paid workshop administrators) need to indicate whether graduate students will receive any academic credit for work they do in connection with grant-supported activity.

8.    The workshop programme, advertising, and CFP should acknowledge ISOS’s contribution to its funding and include a link to ISOS webpage for more information about the society and how to become a member.

Selection Criteria

·       The committee favours proposals that aim to bring together new groups of researchers and/or work on new topics and that demonstrate the potential to obtain continuing support from other sources.

·       The committee favours proposals for which the grant recipient is willing to provide information about the workshop for others.

·       The committee favours proposals that provide bursaries or waive costs for students and/or precariously employed participants to help defray costs for participating in the workshop.

·       The committee favours proposals that include a Call for Papers, i.e., events that are not by invitation only. 

·       Given the limited annual grant funds, proposals are more likely to be successful if they request $1,500 or less.

·       Proposals are more likely to be successful if they have secured local/university support for the project.

·       Proposals are more likely to be successful if the groundwork for the workshop has already been laid.

·       The committee will not ordinarily fund lectures or lecture‐series at a single university or college—the preference is to bring together multiple researchers across different universities or colleges.

Reporting Requirement

Any workshop funded by ISOS must submit a brief (<1 page) post-workshop report to smallgrantsisos@gmail.com. This report must detail what ISOS’s funds were spent on, based on the plan detailed in the original proposal.

No funding proposals will be considered from any member whose past funded proposals have not submitted the required reports.

Please note that all grant reports will be made public.

Grant Publicity

All proposals receiving funding from ISOS must include recognition of that funding in publicity materials. 

To help guide applicants for the 2025 program, we provide the following examples of past successful applications:

Thonhauser - ISOS Workshop Grant Application Form.pdf

Thonhauser - ISOS Workshop Grant Fund Budget Template.pdf

Martino - ISOS Workshop Grant Application Form.pdf

Martino - ISOS Workshop Grant Fund Budget Template.pdf

Wringe Kastas Gonullu Sebep - ISOS Workshop Grant Application Form.pdf

Wringe Kastas Gonullu Sebep - ISOS Workshop Grant Fund Budget.pdf