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Application Instructions

General Instructions

The ACA Grants in Biodiversity application procedure involves more than just writing your proposal and budget. Allow yourself time for gathering documentation and getting any approvals required by your institution. Ensure Part A and Part B are fully completed and set to arrive by the deadline.

Your application must fit on the pages provided plus the two freeform pages allowed in Part B (Research Proposal); do not reformat the pages except as allowed below.  Part B cannot be longer than 7 pages in total. Ensure your application is in black ink, of letter quality.   Typing layout must be single-spaced, with no more than 6 lines per inch, with 1" margins. Font size must be at least 11 pts. Condensed type is unacceptable - reviewers do not look favourably upon applications that are difficult to read. Applications for the ACA Grants in Biodiversity must be written by students and NOT by their supervisors. Supervisors are encouraged to advise the applicant and review the application, but the application is the work of the student. Submissions not adhering to these standards and those outlined below will be rejected.

Some applicants are using colour fonts, photos and graphs in their applications.  This is allowed, but note that your application may not stay in colour through the review/adjudication process as they are copied and printed by various people using a variety of machines.  Also, please be cognizant of the size of the files you are emailing; we recommend having your attachments come in at less than 3MB (less than 1MB is even better).

Please do not submit any supplementary material, such as resumes, statements as to why the research should be funded, additional pages, etc. This material is not forwarded to reviewers and will not be part of the decision-making process.

If you have applied in the past, do not make reference to previous applications. Material submitted in previous years is not available to reviewers or the Adjudication Committee.

Applicants are advised to review the background of this grant program, and also the mission and values of the Alberta Conservation Association. Ensure the proposal shows a good connection between the possible results and benefit to Alberta citizens, anglers, hunters and conservationists.

Part A

APPLICANT CONTACT INFORMATION

Please provide the applicant's postal mailing address.  For most students, it is best to use your university department mailing address, but if you are studying remotely, another address is acceptable. For the e-mail address, use an address that is checked frequently (at least once a week), preferably even after the project is completed (for final report instructions and follow up surveys).

SUPERVISOR CONTACT INFORMATION

Please provide your supervisor's university contact information.  If you have a co-supervisor, please provide their name, department/institution and email as well.  Put an asterisk by the supervisor who will hold the grant funds if your application is succesful.

PROJECT TITLE

Please capitalize the first word and any proper nouns or as required in the rules of scientific nomenclature. Italicize as required. E.g. The effect of habitat connectivity on genetic rescue potential in the alpine butterfly Parnassius smintheus Doubleday (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae).

RESEARCH USING ANIMALS OR HUMAN SUBJECTS

Researchers who use animals in their research, vertebrates in particular, must adhere to the guidelines for animal care (such as Canadian Council on Animal Care). Any biodiversity grant that affects the potential well-being of wild animals requires that the student provide evidence that their research protocols have been approved by a CCAC (Canadian Council of Animal Care) certified animal care committee. This is part of the Federal requirements for any research institution that receives funding from NSERC, SSHRC, or CIHR. You must get CCAC approval for affecting species of higher developmental stage than octopi. Essentially this means all vertebrates, including fish. Degree of disturbance certainly includes capture, tagging, radiotelemetry, trapping, control programs, and nesting studies, but effects may be as slight as observational studies during the breeding season for bird territory estimation, or repetitive approaches to ungulates for behavioral studies. Typically, students will prepare application forms to work with animals with the assistance of their respective university's animal care committee or their University veterinarian.

Similarly, if the project involves human subjects, then appropriate Human Ethics approvals must be obtained. Proposals that involve observations of human behavior, or direct interviews with human subjects will require human ethics approval.  Likewise for projects that will be dealing with biohazards - the appropriate approval must be obtained.

The student's supervisor is ultimately accountable for this certification and assurance that animal care and/or human ethics considerations are followed. The award recipient's institution cannot release the grant funds to a project until the animal care, human ethics and biohazard approvals are in place. The ACA Grants in Biodiversity will no longer require a copy of this approval as part of the application process, but the Program Administrator will be sending out reminders in March of the award year to those who indicate their approvals are not yet in place. Please follow the procedures in place at your own institution and ensure that the correct paperwork is submitted on time.

SUGGESTED REFEREES

Supervisors should get involved here as Biodiversity Grant personnel spend a lot of time trying to get three suitable referees in place. The Program uses a combination of reviewers from our own pool and those provided by applicants in the Suggested Referees section. The application should contain reviewers who are at arm's-length from the applicant and the proposed research; reviewers often reject the Program's requests because they feel they are in a conflict of interest with the project. Suggested referees should not be people you have published with or in your research group. Please provide the names and complete mailing and email addresses of at least four individuals who could provide an independent assessment of the proposal.   Ensure the names and contact emails are correct - you would be amazed at how out-of-date your supervisor's roladex can be!  If this Section is not completed appropriately, the application will not proceed to the reviewing stage.

Suggested referees cannot be:

  1. a member of the applicant's Supervisory Committee
  2. a former (within the last 3 years), or present, research collaborator of the applicant or his/her supervisor; or
  3. a departmental colleague of the applicant or supervisor who is working in the same field as the applicant. You may include someone from your department if they meet the arm's length criteria (ie. not be involved in your project or stand to benefit from the funding of your project).

SIGNING AUTHORITY (Supervisor's Signature)

Under most university regulations, signing authority may only be granted to a full-time employee of the university. Thus, the graduate student's supervisor or designee will be the designated signing authority and trust account holder for grants to students. The signing authority will ensure that grant funds are used for the purpose(s) for which they were intended.

PROOF OF PROGRAM OF STUDY

The Proof of Program or Proof of Acceptance must include the following:

  1. the name of the program the applicant is currently in (or will be in when the project begins),
  2. the month or term and the year when they started the program (or plan to start), e.g. "Ms. Applicant will begin her Masters program in the Fall term 2020" or "You have been accepted to the Ph.D. program commencing January 2021."
  3. some type of official institutional/university signature. The signature of a department administrator who can verify that you are in the program and when you started is fine.

The best proof is the applicant's acceptance letter into their program. Other acceptable proof is an official transcript or a letter written by the department of study. Photocopies/scans of these documents are acceptable.  E-mails showing entry into a program are not acceptable. Applications from students not yet in a graduate program will be considered, but the application must be accompanied by a letter from the prospective graduate supervisor verifying that the research proposed is part of the proposed thesis research and that the applicant is in the process of being accepted; the applicant can send the formal proof of acceptance later when it is received.

If you have recently transferred from a Masters program to a Ph.D.(without completing your Masters), you may indicate the number of years since you began your Ph.D. program provided you include a copy of an official transcript/documentation showing when you transferred to the Ph.D. program.

Part B

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Research proposal details begin on page B-2 of the application form and 2 additional freeform pages only are allowed for this section. Please note the typing layout instructions outlined in the General Instructions at the top of this page. Condensed type is unacceptable. Please make sure the pages are consecutively numbered to fit into the full application form.

A note on incorporating literature into your proposal: There are no strict guidelines for describing your scope and rationale, but it is advised that you include a mini-literature review. You need to show you are aware of the key research that relates to the proposed project, and how your project will build on or use this existing knowledge. Space is limited, so using a numbered or parenthetical reference system would be advised (see next section, Literature List). Reviewers will look to see if you have considered seminal works and recent developments in developing your project.

Clear hypotheses help reviewers evaluate what is being studied and often increase the likelihood of being funded. Also, please consider explaining the rationale for sample sizes in your project.

LITERATURE LIST

You may provide a bibliography or reference list on the Literature List page (pg. B-5) to outline the works referenced in your research proposal. We are not particular about what citation style you use, but if you’re unsure, use CSE style (a quick guide is provided by the University of Alberta Libraries). One page maximum.

BUDGET

We want a detailed budget that deals ONLY with this proposal. Thus, the total amount requested from the ACA for this proposal cannot exceed $20,000. Funds may be used to pay direct costs of research such as employment of student assistants, travel support within Alberta, rental of equipment, field subsistence, purchase of supplies and incidentals, and other research-related expenses for the student engaged in the research. Funds cannot be used for salary for the grantee or to purchase a single piece of equipment exceeding $1000 in value. Ownership of capital equipment reverts to the ACA when the student graduates.  Adjudicators are on the lookout for bloated budgets and tend to favour prudent financial management.  The ACA Grants in Biodiversity will not pay overhead.

In preparing your budgets, remember the grant is a one time payment, but is awarded for a two year duration. The budget should include expenses expected to be incurred between April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2023 (except publication fees - see below).  Also, for projects that span multiple provinces, the ACA Grants in Biodiversity will only fund the portion of the study that occurs in Alberta; the application should include the whole budget and provide a sub-estimate of the portion that is Alberta based. The budget cannot be longer than one page; empty rows can be deleted if necessary.

Budgets Must Be Itemized Under the Following Subheadings:

Costs of Assistants:
Proposed Rate: Grantees may use their grant funds to employ assistants (on a full-time or part-time basis) when they are required to do research for which the grant was awarded.  Wages should be reasonable for field assistants and in line with minimum wage guidelines for the province of Alberta.  Budgets requesting more than one assistant will be subject to extra scrutiny, so ensure the application justifies the need for additional assistants.

Field Travel and Subsistence:
Applicants must follow (and quote) travel and vehicle rental guidelines of their home university. A flat rate of $0.50 per km may be claimed for mileage reimbursement when private vehicles are used. The maximum vehicle charge is $2000/month for vehicle and fuel. Justify use of a 4x4 vehicle.

The Grant will pay up to a $15.00 per diem for reasonable subsistence requests.

Fees associated with residence at biological field stations (e.g. University of Calgary Kananaskis Field Station) are acceptable, as well as motel accommodations (short term only).

The ACA Grants in Biodiversity will not pay for travel outside of Alberta.

Materials and Supplies:
Materials and supplies must be itemized, particularly if amount is high. You decide.

Other Required Expenditures (incl. Publication Fees):
The cost of publishing in open access journals is now an eligible expense under ACA granting guidelines. Up to $3,000 of your budget may be identified specifically for publication in open access journals. You will have up to 5 years from the date of the inital grant approval to claim these funds (details of how to claim this will be outlined in documentation to successful recipients). We will not support costs related to attendance at conferences.

ADDITIONAL BUDGET INFORMATION

Other Sources of Funds:
The Adjudication Committee has decoupled scientific merit from budget requests. We fund based on the merit of the submitted proposal, but we do want a context for our contributions and other contributions to the overall project. Thus, if research funds are held from other sources for the Biodiversity-proposed project, the applicant should indicate how that money is to be spent versus how Biodiversity funds will be spent. If other research funds have been applied for, then applicants should indicate how those funds would compliment Biodiversity funds. If funds have an Applied status, it means an application has been made to another funding source and a decision is pending. Funds with a Held status have definitely been awarded to the project.

Remember the rules regarding funding from multiple ACA programs.

Additional Support:
Do not leave this section blank, because that would tend to indicate to us that both your department and supervisor are providing nothing to the proposed research. At the least, applicants might show how the project is linked intellectually and financially to the research program of supervisors or research cooperators.

How To Submit Your Application (Choose One)

1. Submit by email to [email protected]. Divide your application into two files:

  • Part A and attachments. This file will include your signature pages and proof of program. Please scan into one PDF document.

  • Part B. This file can be a PDF or Microsoft Word document.

    It is helpful if you name your files like: LastnameF_ACAGiB_PartA_2021 and LastNameF_ACAGiB_PartB_2021. For example: GretzkyW_ACAGiB_PartA_2021.pdf or WickenheiserH_ACAGiB_PartB_2021.doc

OR

2. Submit a paper application via mail/courier. Send your application package with Part A and attachments, and Part B, to:

Tracy Stewart, Grant Coordinator
ACA Grants in Biodiversity Program
Alberta Conservation Association
101, 9 Chippewa Road
Sherwood Park, Alberta T8A 6J7
Canada

Regardless of whether you submit your application electronically or by paper, it must be received by the Grant Coordinator's office before the deadline. If you have not received an acknowledgement of your application by 8:00am December 3, 2020, please phone the Grant Coordinator at 780-445-9145.