by Joseph Rickert
The second and final ISC Call for Proposals for 2018 is now open. We are looking for ambitious projects that will contribute to the infrastructure of the R ecosystem and benefit large sections of the R community. We are deliberately being a little vague here, but having awarded more than $650,000 in grants so far, we can show a substantial number of funded projects that provide examples.
If you are going to submit a proposal, “Think Big” but structure your proposal with intermediate milestones. The ISC is not likely to fund proposals that ask for large initial cash grants. We tend to be conservative with initial grants, preferring projects structured in such a way that significant initial milestones can be achieved with modest amounts of cash.
As with any proposed project, the more detailed and credible the project plan, and the better the track record of the project team, the higher the likelihood of receiving funding. Please be sure that your proposal includes measurable objectives, intermediate milestones, a list of all team members who will contributing work and a detailed accounting of how the grant money will be spent.
Also, if you think you are onto something but could use some help in finalizing scope of a project, or you think implementing your idea would require achieving some level of consensus within the R Community, you might consider asking the ISC to help you establish a working group.
If you don’t think you have an idea that is fundable but want to get involved, you might want to explore getting involved with existing projects or put some thought into one of the perennial issues associated with finding one’s way through the R ecosystem. For example, could you build a package discovery system or recommender engine that spans CRAN, Bioconductor and GitHub, or implement and curate a calendar that automatically tracks R related events worldwide?
Our goal in calling for proposals is to stimulate creativity and help turn good ideas into tangible benefits for the R Community. What can you do to improve the R ecosystem and how can the R Consortium help you do it?
Note that proposals to sponsor conferences, workshops or meetups should be sent directly to the R Consortium’s R User Group and Small Conference Support Program. These are not funded as ISC proposals. Note that the deadline for applying for support under the 2018 program is coming up quickly. Requests for support under the 2018 program must be received by midnight, September 30, 2018. The 2019 program will launch sometime in January.
To submit a proposal for ISC funding, read the Call for Proposals page and submit a self-contained pdf using the online form. You should receive confirmation within 24 hours.
The deadline for submitting a proposal is midnight PST, Sunday October 31, 2018.