Request for Proposals

SHARP Center for Women and Girls

Pilot Study Funding Competition Announcement 2011

Purpose

The newly created SHARP (Sport, Health and Activity Research and Policy) Center for Women and Girls at the University of Michigan seeks to foster interdisciplinary and innovative research that sheds light on important issues relating to sport and physical activity for women and girls. To build this capacity the SHARP Center is announcing a pilot study funding competition.

Focus

Each proposed study should be organized around a phenomenon that is both theoretically motivated from within one or more academic disciplines, and that has practical importance to women, girls, or gender in physical activity or sport. Applications from all academic disciplines, including the humanities and sciences are welcome and encouraged.

While projects can focus on any aspect of sport and physical activity outside of the priorities listed below, the projects must justifiably contribute to the overall mission and goals of SHARP. SHARP is particularly interested in projects that will inform policy conversations and issues – especially in the priority areas outlined below. Collaborative and/or interdisciplinary projects are particularly encouraged. Research teams may include faculty from other universities (however, proposals need a Principal Investigator from the University of Michigan); sport, health, or physical activity professionals; graduate students; postdoctoral fellows; and / or research scientists. Funds may be used as seed money or to support ongoing activities. Proposals may request funds for research- and/or outreach-related activities such as graduate student salaries, data collection and management (including travel to research sites if applicable), publication preparation, and dissemination of results.

SHARP anticipates funding up to four 18 month proposals, with a maximum of $15,000 per award. The due date for proposal submission is: MARCH 14, 2011.

Priority topics of interest include:

• Relationship between women's health across the lifespan and sport and / or physical activity (i.e., obesity, healthy weight management, nutrition, health risk behaviors)
• Women's experience in sport in varying historical or cultural contexts (i.e., Title IX)
• Sport injuries (i.e., concussions, knee, elbow, shoulder injuries; prevalence in women and girls)
• Injury prevention (i.e., programs designed to improve sport training and competition and reduce sport-related injuries)
• The business of women's sport (economics, marketing, sponsorship of sport, consumer behavior)
• Employment / Career / Leadership (climate for women in sport business, issues related to opportunity and discrimination)

Dissemination of Results

A central purpose of SHARP is to disseminate the results of academic research to the sport and physical activity community. Hence, each proposal must include a description of how the findings of the research will be communicated to this professional audience as well as an academic audience. Potential dissemination strategies include presentation of the research findings at conferences, workshops or briefing sessions attended by managers, executives or policy-makers, or publication of a short, non-technical summary of the research findings (in web or paper form). SHARP expects that within 18 months of receiving an award, recipients would be willing to make a presentation of their findings and/or related work in some relevant open forum.

Proposal Format and Application Instructions

Download a PDF of the Request for Proposals

The application must contain:

• A proposal narrative
• A budget justification
• SHARP small grants proposal cover sheet (included in the PDF)
• CVs of all collaborators involved with project

PROPOSAL NARRATIVE: (Not to exceed five pages; 12 pt Times New Roman font, 1 inch margins, 1.5 line spacing)

A narrative should be attached to this form which provides a concise description of the research including:

1. Statement of nature, objectives, and expected outcome of proposed research
2. Description of the significance of proposed research: in the discipline or field, for the applicant's scholarship
3. Statement of relevance – to the mission of SHARP (e.g., creating public debate, impacting policy, impacting girls' and women's behavior in sport)
4. Plans for accomplishing objectives (explain if timing of award is critical);

Applicants should make clear their plans for resolving any human subjects issues raised by their proposed research, and funding will not begin until human subjects approval is demonstrated (if research involves human subjects).

BUDGET JUSTIFICATION: (Not to exceed two pages)

A narrative should be attached to this form which fully explains the relationship of costs to the proposed activity and the basis for cost estimates. In addition, please indicate:

1. Why SHARP support is sought (e.g., external support is unavailable, insufficient, delayed, interrupted, impractical, etc.);
2. If the request is for "seed" money, explain the nature and status of plans for other support at the conclusion of this award;
3. If non-faculty salary support is requested, provide detail (for whom, nature and percent of appointment, period of time, amount).

Review Process

Reviews will be completed by an interdisciplinary panel of faculty affiliated with the SHARP Center

Proposals will be judged on the basis of:

• The intellectual quality and scholarly significance of the proposed activities;
• Centrality of research on women or gender to the project
• The potential and likely impacts on understanding and development of sport, health or physical activity policy related to women and girls;
• Innovative (and especially interdisciplinary) approaches;
• Qualifications of the applicants;
• Appropriateness of the budget request;
• Contribution of SHARP funding to the success of the project;
• Other possible factors presented by the proposed project itself.

Send completed proposals by March 14, 2011 to: kbabiak@umich.edu

Awards will be announced in early May 2011. Application materials must be submitted electronically. Please submit one PDF file. Proposals that do not follow the guidelines for formatting and/or length, or are not received by the deadline (11:59 pm, March 14, 2011), will not be reviewed.

Questions should be directed to:

Kathy Babiak (kbabiak@umich.edu)
Co-Director, SHARP Center
School of Kinesiology - Sport Management
1402 Washington Heights, #2120
Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2013

or

Carol Boyd (caroboyd@umich.edu)
Co-Director, SHARP Center
Institute for Research on Women and Gender
204 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1290

SHARP'S MISSION:

The mission of SHARP is to commission and produce evidence-based research that will enhance the scope and quality of girls' and women's experiences with sports and physical activity. We will identify trends and issues that need more research and carry out investigations of these topics using cutting-edge methods and technologies. Through research leadership and policy development, our aim is to increase awareness of the opportunities and barriers in sport and physical activity for women and girls and to promote informed public debate and policy creation in this area. We will plan for media impact, informing policymaking and fostering educational outcomes, as part of the research process.

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