Award Guidelines and Conditions
Each year, the Committee will award one or more grant(s) amounting up to $25,000 each. Please carefully review the following conditions for applicants and awardees.
ELIGIBILITY
Any current, full-time faculty member who has completed three or more years of full-time service at Baylor University is eligible to apply for a Brown Fund grant award. Visiting faculty, adjunct faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates are not eligible to apply.
APPLICATION COMPONENTS
A complete application will include the following components. View full details and application instructions here.
Complete application form
Brief non-technical abstract of proposal (1 paragraph)
Project proposal (limit 1,500 words, not including bibliography)
Short biographical sketch for each investigator (1 paragraph each)
Current cv for each investigator
Any supporting materials described in application/proposal
Project budget approved by your department’s Business Officer
AWARD CONDITIONS
Compliance Committee Approval
Approvals from the appropriate Research Compliance Committees (e.g. Institutional Review Board, Animal Care and Use Committee, Institutional Biosafety Committee, etc.) must be secured before funds will be released for use.
Restrictions
The Brown Fund project period corresponds to the Baylor fiscal year, June 1 through May 31. All project funds must be expended during the fiscal year in which they are awarded. No-cost extensions are not allowed.
Funds may not be requested for the following:
faculty salaries and fringe benefits
supplemental pay for full-time Baylor faculty and staff
travel to professional meetings or conferences to present project results
expenses incurred prior to the beginning of the project period
Travel
Travel is an allowable expense when it is essential to accomplish specific project objectives. In the case of authorized travel, reimbursement for transportation, lodging and meals will be in accordance with current university travel policy.
Expense reports for travel conducted on internal grants must be approved by Post-Award Grant Administrator. Department approvers must submit an electronic version of expense reports to the Post- Award Administration, who will approve and submit to Accounts Payable for reimbursement.
Equipment
Upon project termination, any equipment purchased with project funds will remain under the jurisdiction of the department of the principal investigator.
Interdepartmental Service
Reimbursements for interdepartmental services essential to the accomplishment of project objectives (e.g., School of Education Evaluation Center, Center for Community Research and Development, Institute for Oral History) are allowable expenditures.
Website Development
Any website or online database produced with this funding must meet the following requirements:
The site must adhere to the Baylor ITS Website Policy and all related policies noted in that document
Investigators who wish to use ‘Baylor’ in their site’s domain name must have prior approval from the Office of General Counsel
Investigators are responsible for ensuring all Baylor marks are used appropriately, as required by the Baylor Graphic Standards
Grant Administration
Awardees are required to conduct the project in accordance with the proposal and budget submitted with their application. Any change in research objectives or scope of work or a major budget revision requires prior approval.
Awardees are required to submit a final project report to the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) no later than 60 days after the project expiration date, including a brief summary of research results; extramural funding applications submitted or planned; manuscripts published, submitted or in preparation; and presentations at professional meetings. The OVPR will notify awardees and provide a format for the final report. Failure to comply with this requirement may render the investigator ineligible for future funding from the Brown Fund.
Acknowledgement
Any published work supported in whole or in part by a Brown Fund grant should acknowledge such support in the publication. Other publicity related to the project, such as Baylor PR articles, should also carry acknowledgment.
An example acknowledgement is: “This study was supported in part by funds from the Dr. Benjamin F. Brown IV Fund for Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Scholarship at Baylor University.”