Applying for a Special Projects Grant

Since 2003 SIGCSE has awarded a limited number of Special Projects Grants each year. These grants help SIGCSE members investigate and introduce new ideas in the learning and teaching of computing. Projects must provide some clear benefit to the wider disciplinary community in the form of new knowledge, developing or sharing of a resource, or good practice in learning, teaching, or assessment.

The Application Process is relatively informal. Proposal submissions have no closing date but will be considered twice per year, with rolling deadlines of May 15 and November 15. Applications must indicate the purpose of the project, how it will be conducted, the start date and duration of the project, reasons why the project is particularly timely, and its expected outcome. In addition to the specified project outcomes, successful proposers also agree to:

  • Produce a brief report on their completed project for the SIGCSE Board.
  • Publish results for the SIGCSE community, for example as papers or posters at such SIGCSE-sponsored conferences as the Symposium, ITiCSE, and ICER, or by submitting to such computer science education publications as ACM Inroads or ACM Transactions on Computing Education.

Application Guidelines
To apply for a Special Projects grant:

  1. Complete the Application Form.
  2. Describe within 1000 words a narrative (general overview) of the project for which you seek SIGCSE support.
  3. E-mail the completed Application Form followed by the accompanying narrative as a single file to the Special Projects contact address: apply@sigcse.org

Please note that:

  • $5000 USD is the maximum award: smaller bids are encouraged.
  • No person or group can receive more than $10,000 during any four year period.
  • The proposal must make the case that it will benefit the wider disciplinary community. This benefit can be in the form of new knowledge, developing or sharing of a resource, or good practice in learning, teaching, or assessment. When projects produce resources for adoption by other educators, adoption must be possible at low or no cost to new adopters (for example, proposals that fund equipment to develop a resource should explain why adopters won't need to pay for comparable equipment). Proposals that do not demonstrate the broader impacts of the work beyond the proposer's institution will not be considered for funding.
  • Funds from the SIGCSE Special Project awards may not be used for:
    • registration for, travel to, or accommodation at conferences
    • internal staff training and development (although this may be a secondary outcome)
  • SIGCSE, as a voluntary organization, will pay only direct costs, not institutional overheads.
  • SIGCSE will not normally fund more than one Special Project in any one department at any one time.

Process for Making Awards
A SIGCSE Special Projects Review Panel will judge the value and timeliness of proposals and to make the awards. Unsuccessful applicants will receive feedback on their application and may be encouraged to re-submit their ideas. The Reviewing Panel will consider all applications to be confidential.

Application
Use the following template and instructions to complete your application. If you do not have access to Word, then use the printed PDF document as your guide.

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