Proposal Submissions Research Articles

Intensity and fragility of Czech participatory budgeting during the Covid 19 crisis

IMPACT Participatory budgeting (PB) is widely understood to enhance citizen engagement in civic participation. The Covid 19 pandemic led to shifts in spending priorities for numerous municipalities, necessitating swift responses to rapidly changing conditions. This article investigates how these changes affected the PB decisions of Czech municipalities. Two key groups—citizens and politicians—were examined. The authors investigated voting turnout, the number of submitted proposals and the budget allocated for PB. The investigation revealed that while there was a slight decrease in the number of project proposal submissions, there was a simultaneous increase in the participation of citizens during the voting phase of PB. This suggests that PB can serve as an integral element of participatory democracy, capable of sustaining citizen interest in public matters, even during crises.

Impact of Basic Course in Biomedical Research (BCBR) on Medical Teachers and Postgraduate Students Across India: A Cross-Sectional Survey-Based Study.

Introduction Despite world-class medical facilities and clinical expertise in India, various challenges have hampered biomedical research, including limited funding, overburdened healthcare professionals, and inadequate research infrastructure. The National Medical Commission (NMC) has recognized the need to enhance research capabilities in the medical community and mandated the Basic Course in Biomedical Research (BCBR). This study evaluates the impact of BCBR on medical teachers and postgraduate students across India. Methods A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted among 245 participants who completed BCBR, out of 1,187 who were sent the questionnaire. A structured questionnaire collected data on demographics, motivations for taking the course, knowledge and skills improvement, and research output. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 29.0 (Released 2022; IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results Participants included diverse age groups, with motivations ranging from regulatory compliance to a genuine desire for research knowledge. The majority scored over 70% in the course, indicating substantial knowledge improvement. BCBR positively influenced research output with increased research proposal submissions, publications, and improved thesis mentoring. The analysis showed that participants' designations and branches of study significantly affected course performance, while gender did not. The study revealed a strong correlation between pre-course and post-course performance across various research topics. Conclusion BCBR, mandated by the NMC, not only fulfills regulatory requirements but also promotes a research culture in India's medical community.

Understanding the importance of Gender Action Planning in EC Horizon projects: a case study.

Against a backdrop of continued gender challenges within the European manufacturing and technology domains, and wider society in general, such as gender balance and inequality, the gender pay gap, the glass ceiling/sticky floor, the glass cliff, the invisible woman and the under-representation of women in STEM careers and senior positions, and framed within the latest European Commission guidelines and requirements on equality, diversity and inclusion, this paper will report on the actions and research undertaken by the voluntary Gender Action Planning (GAP) team within a large, multinational, complex Industry4.0 Horizon2020 research and innovation project to try to address gender inequalities and gender balance, as well as to provide safe spaces, supportive communities and raised awareness of gender issues over the four year lifespan of the project. It is hoped that the learning from the GAP team may provide a good exemplar for future Horizon programme proposal submissions where a Gender Plan is now a mandated requirement.

Clustering Research Proposal Submissions to Understand the Unmet Needs ofMilitary Clinicians.

The Advanced Medical Technology Initiative (AMTI) program solicits research proposals for technology demonstrations and performance improvement projects in the domain of military medicine. Advanced Medical Technology Initiative is managed by the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC). Advanced Medical Technology Initiative proposals span a wide range of topics, for example, treatment of musculoskeletal injury, application of virtual health technology, and demonstration of medical robots. The variety and distribution of central topics in these proposals (problems to be solved and technological solutions proposed) are not well characterized. Characterizing this content over time could highlight over- and under-served problem domains, inspire new technological applications, and inform future research solicitation efforts. This research sought to analyze and categorize historic AMTI proposals from 2010 to 2022 (n = 825). The analysis focused specifically on the "Problem to Be Solved" and "Technology to Demonstrated" sections of the proposals, whose categorizations are referred to as "Problem-Sets" and Solution-Sets" (PS and SS), respectively. A semi-supervised document clustering process was applied independently to the two sections. The process consisted of three stages: (1) Manual Document Annotation-a sample of proposals were manually labeled along each thematic axis; (2) Clustering-semi-supervised clustering, informed by the manually annotated sample, was applied to the proposals to produce document clusters; (3) Evaluation and Selection-quantitative and qualitative means were used to evaluate and select an optimal cluster solution. The results of the clustering were then summarized and presented descriptively. The results of the clustering process identified 24 unique PS and 20 unique SS. The most prevalent PS were Musculoskeletal Injury (12%), Traumatic Injury (11%), and Healthcare Systems Optimization (11%). The most prevalent SS were Sensing and Imaging Technology (27%), Virtual Health (23%), and Physical and Virtual Simulation (11.5%). The most common problem-solution pair was Healthcare Systems Optimization-Virtual Health, followed by Musculoskeletal Injury-Sensing and Imaging Technology. The analysis revealed that problem-solution-set co-occurrences were well distributed throughout the domain space, demonstrating the variety of research conducted in this research domain. A semi-supervised document clustering approach was applied to a repository of proposals to partially automate the process of document annotation. By applying this process, we successfully extracted thematic content from the proposals related to problems to be addressed and proposed technological solutions. This analysis provides a snapshot of the research supply in the domain of military medicine over the last 12 years. Future work should seek to replicate and improve the document clustering process used. Future efforts should also be made to compare these results to actual published work in the domain of military medicine, revealing differences in demand for research as determined by funding and publishing decision-makers and supply by researchers.

“It’s What We’re About”: Youth Epistemologies in the Design of Social and Educational Futures

ABSTRACT This article discusses how activist-oriented BIPOC youth designed an annual conference rooted in youth culture and social justice. As a participant-observer, I analyze how these youth co-constructed a teaching and learning curriculum centered on young people’s identities, epistemologies, and radical imaginings. The process of the youth leaders developing criteria for evaluating proposal submissions for this conference reveals how young people understand and co-construct pedagogical ideas that are socially, culturally, and critically relevant for their daily lives and futures. By examining youth-developed approaches to community-based learning, this study expands on theories of youth voice and youth civic literacies by revealing how young people engage in and disrupt educational practices and how authentic, critical approaches to youth-centered learning are developed in a collective third space.

Navigating the fluid funding landscape

One of the most difficult transitions early career scientists must make is entering into the highly competitive federal funding landscape. This commentary briefly reviews the readily available demographics of major United States federal funding agencies that support hydrologic research. Three suggestions on how to improve your odds of being awarded funding are discussed: choosing the right team, persistent proposal submissions, and starting early in your career.

Special Issue Call for Papers: Mathematics and Society

The Journal of Humanistic Mathematics (http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/) is pleased to announce a call for papers for a special issue on Mathematics and Society. Please send your initial proposal submissions via email to the guest editors by August 15, 2022. Initial submission of complete manuscripts is due December 15, 2022. The issue is currently scheduled to appear in July 2023.

What Is the Impact of Mutual Funds' ESG Preferences on Portfolio Firms?

Mutual funds must publish policies announcing how they generally vote on the different ballot items at the shareholder meetings of their portfolio firms. I manually collect 17,000 of these policies for a sample of 29 of the largest U.S. mutual fund families over 2006-2018. I find that voting policies are a major predictor of funds' voting behavior. Exploiting staggered changes in funds' voting policies, I show that investee companies adopt their mutual fund shareholders' preferred governance provisions. This adoption is the result of mutual fund shareholders' active voting. Announced voting policies also stimulate strategic proposal submissions by non-mutual fund shareholders.

Grant application outcomes for biomedical researchers who participated in the National Research Mentoring Network's Grant Writing Coaching Programs.

BackgroundA diverse research workforce is essential for catalyzing biomedical advancements, but this workforce goal is hindered by persistent sex and racial/ethnic disparities among investigators receiving research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In response, the NIH-funded National Research Mentoring Network implemented a Grant Writing Coaching Program (GCP) to provide diverse cohorts of early-career investigators across the United States with intensive coaching throughout the proposal development process. We evaluated the GCP’s national reach and short-term impact on participants’ proposal submissions and funding outcomes.MethodsThe GCP was delivered as six similar but distinct models. All models began with an in-person group session, followed by a series of coaching sessions over 4 to 12 months. Participants were surveyed at 6-, 12- and 18-months after program completion to assess proposal outcomes (submissions, awards). Self-reported data were verified and supplemented by searches of public repositories of awarded grants when available. Submission and award rates were derived from counts of participants who submitted or were awarded at least one grant proposal in a category (NIH, other federal, non-federal).ResultsFrom June 2015 through March 2019, 545 investigators (67% female, 61% under-represented racial/ethnic minority, URM) from 187 different institutions participated in the GCP. Among them, 324 (59% of participants) submitted at least one grant application and 134 (41% of submitters) received funding. A total of 164 grants were awarded, the majority being from the NIH (93, 56%). Of the 74 R01 (or similar) NIH research proposals submitted by GCP participants, 16 have been funded thus far (56% to URM, 75% to women). This 22% award rate exceeded the 2016–2018 NIH success rates for new R01s.ConclusionInter- and intra-institutional grant writing coaching groups are a feasible and effective approach to supporting the grant acquisition efforts of early-career biomedical investigators, including women and those from URM groups.

Learnings from recent offshore project proposal submissions

The offshore project proposal (OPP) process was introduced in 2014 as part of the streamlining of regulatory processes under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to provide for offshore petroleum developments to be assessed early in the project lifecycle. The OPP process involves the assessment of environmental impacts and risks of petroleum activities conducted over the life of an offshore project by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA). An OPP for an offshore project must be accepted by NOPSEMA before a titleholder can submit environment plans for activities that make up the offshore project. Although the OPP process is not new, it has proven complex to navigate, with four revisions to the OPP contents requirements guideline published by NOPSEMA since inception, and only three OPPs reaching the public consultation stage to date. An OPP is required to describe the offshore project; describe the environment that may be affected by the project; set out environmental performance outcomes for the project; describe feasible alternatives to the project or its activities; and evaluate environmental impacts and risks of the project. This paper provides insight to the OPP drafting, submission and assessment process, with shared key learnings based on actual examples of OPP submissions made. In particular, we will focus on the crucial elements that haven proven to make an OPP submission effective, including project aspect scoping, understanding relationships between aspects and receptors, building flexibility within set project boundaries and demonstrating acceptability.

The Tampa Conference Planning Committee seeking proposal submissions

The Tampa Conference Planning Committee is inviting submission proposals for research and policy benefiting children, youth and their families. The Children's Mental Health Network is holding its 33rd Annual Research & Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent and Young Adult Behavioral Health March 15–18, 2020. General topic areas include research on family, youth and young adult roles in behavioral health services; innovative approaches to research and evaluation in complex behavioral health settings; and early childhood behavioral health. For more information, visit https://www.cmhnetwork.org/tampa‐conference/call‐proposals.

Expanding Research Capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa Through Informatics, Bioinformatics, and Data Science Training Programs in Mali.

Bioinformatics and data science research have boundless potential across Africa due to its high levels of genetic diversity and disproportionate burden of infectious diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS, Ebola virus disease, and Lassa fever. This work lays out an incremental approach for reaching underserved countries in bioinformatics and data science research through a progression of capacity building, training, and research efforts. Two global health informatics training programs sponsored by the Fogarty International Center (FIC) were carried out at the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Mali (USTTB) between 1999 and 2011. Together with capacity building efforts through the West Africa International Centers of Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMR), this progress laid the groundwork for a bioinformatics and data science training program launched at USTTB as part of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative. Prior to the global health informatics training, its trainees published first or second authorship and third or higher authorship manuscripts at rates of 0.40 and 0.10 per year, respectively. Following the training, these rates increased to 0.70 and 1.23 per year, respectively, which was a statistically significant increase (p < 0.001). The bioinformatics and data science training program at USTTB commenced in 2017 focusing on student, faculty, and curriculum tiers of enhancement. The program’s sustainable measures included institutional support for core elements, university tuition and fees, resource sharing and coordination with local research projects and companion training programs, increased student and faculty publication rates, and increased research proposal submissions. Challenges reliance of high-speed bandwidth availability on short-term funding, lack of a discounted software portal for basic software applications, protracted application processes for United States visas, lack of industry job positions, and low publication rates in the areas of bioinformatics and data science. Long-term, incremental processes are necessary for engaging historically underserved countries in bioinformatics and data science research. The multi-tiered enhancement approach laid out here provides a platform for generating bioinformatics and data science technicians, teachers, researchers, and program managers. Increased literature on bioinformatics and data science training approaches and progress is needed to provide a framework for establishing benchmarks on the topics.

3339 Development of a Competency-based Informatics Course for Translational Researchers

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Translational researchers often require the use of informatics methods in their work. Lack of an understanding of key informatics principles and methods limits the abilities of translational researchers to successfully implement Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable (FAIR) principles in grant proposal submissions and performed studies. In this study we describe our work in addressing this limitation in the workforce by developing a competency-based, modular course in informatics to meet the needs of diverse translational researchers. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We established a Translational Research Informatics Education Collaborative (TRIEC) consisting of faculty at the University of Utah (UU) with different primary expertise in informatics methods, and working in different tiers of the translational spectrum. The TRIEC, in collaboration with the Foundation of Workforce Development of the Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), gathered informatics needs of early investigators by consolidating requests for informatics services, assistance provided in grant writing, and consultations. We then reviewed existing courses and literature for informatics courses that focused on clinical and translational researchers [3–9]. Using the structure and content of the identified courses, we developed an initial draft of a syllabus for a Translational Research Informatics (TRI) course which included key informatics topics to be covered and learning activities, and iteratively refined it through discussions. The course was approved by the UU Department of Biomedical Informatics, UU Graduate School and the CCTS. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The TRI course introduces informatics PhD students, clinicians, and public health practitioners who have a demonstrated interest in research, to fundamental principles and tools of informatics. At the completion of the course, students will be able to describe and identify informatics tools and methods relevant to translational research and demonstrate inter-professional collaboration in the development of a research proposal addressing a relevant translational science question that utilizes the state-of-the-art in informatics. TRI covers a diverse set of informatics content presented as modules: genomics and bioinformatics, electronic health records, exposomics, microbiomics, molecular methods, data integration and fusion, metadata management, semantics, software architectures, mobile computing, sensors, recruitment, community engagement, secure computing environments, data mining, machine learning, deep learning, artificial intelligence and data science, open source informatics tools and platforms, research reproducibility, and uncertainty quantification. The teaching methods for TRI include (1) modular didactic learning consisting of presentations and readings and face-to-face discussions of the content, (2) student presentations of informatics literature relevant to their final project, and (3) a final project consisting of the development, critique and chalk talk and formal presentations of informatics methods and/or aims of an National Institutes of Health style K or R grant proposal. For (3), the student presents their translational research proposal concept at the beginning of the course, and works with members of the TRIEC with corresponding expertise. The final course grade is a combination of the final project, paper presentations and class participation. We offered TRI to a first cohort of students in the Fall semester of 2018. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Translational research informatics is a sub-domain of biomedical informatics that applies and develops informatics theory and methods for translational research. TRI covers a diverse set of informatics topics that are applicable across the translational spectrum. It covers both didactic material and hands-on experience in using the material in grant proposals and research studies. TRI’s course content, teaching methodology and learning activities enable students to initially learn factual informatics knowledge and skills for translational research correspond to the ‘Remember, Understand, and Apply’ levels of the Bloom’s taxonomy [10]. The final project provides opportunity for applying these informatics concepts corresponding to the ‘Analyze, Evaluate, and Create’ levels of the Bloom’s taxonomy [10]. This inter-professional, competency-based, modular course will develop an informatics-enabled workforce trained in using state-of-the-art informatics solutions, increasing the effectiveness of translational science and precision medicine, and promoting FAIR principles in research data management and processes. Future work includes opening the course to all Clinical and Translational Science Award hubs and publishing the course material as a reference book. While student evaluations for the first cohort will be available end of the semester, true evaluation of TRI will be the number of trainees taking the course and successful grant proposal submissions.

The National Association for Rural Mental Health (NARMH) is seeking proposal submissions

The National Association for Rural Mental Health (NARMH) is seeking proposal submissions to present at the 45th Annual NARMH Conference, “From Surviving to Thriving: Embracing Connections.” Proposals can be submitted online at www.narmh.org. Registration for the conference, to be held Aug. 26–29, 2019, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, will open March 15.

WHY DO FEWER WOMEN THAN MEN APPLY FOR GRANTS AFTER THEIR PHDS?

In spring 2013, the Society for American Archaeology created the Task Force on Gender Disparities in Archaeological Grant Submissions because of an apparent disparity in the rates of senior (post-PhD) proposal submissions by men and women to archaeology programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Although NSF success rates for men and women between 2009 and 2013 were roughly equal, the number of senior women archaeology submissions was half that of men. Given the documented increase in the proportion of women in academic archaeology, this representation of women seemed low. Moreover, submissions for NSF doctoral dissertation improvement grants were evenly divided between men and women. Statistics for Wenner-Gren noted the same general disparity in archaeology. This study examines and integrates a variety of data sources, including interviews with post-PhD women, to determine whether or not there is a problem in research grant submissions. Although the results indicate that there is a problem, it is multifaceted. Women are not well represented at research-intensive universities, and some women instead practice what we term “scaffolding” to integrate smaller pots of money to accomplish their research. Recommendations are provided for female applicants, academic departments, the Society for American Archaeology, and granting agencies.

Qualitative study to develop processes and tools for the assessment and tracking of African institutions’ capacity for operational health research

ObjectivesResearch is key to achieving global development goals. Our objectives were to develop and test an evidence-informed process for assessing health research management and support systems (RMSS) in four African...

Donor support for quality assurance and pharmacovigilance of anti-malarials in malaria-endemic countries

BackgroundMalaria control efforts have been strengthened by funding from donor groups and government agencies. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and the Malaria (Global Fund), the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) account for the majority of donor support for malaria control and prevention efforts. Pharmacovigilance (PV), which encompasses all activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding, and prevention of adverse effects or any other drug-related problem, is a necessary part of efforts to reduce drug resistance and improve treatment outcomes. This paper reports on an analysis of PV plans in the Global Fund and PMI and World Bank’s grants for malaria prevention and control.MethodsAll active malaria grants as of September 2015 funded by the Global Fund and World Bank, and fiscal year 2015 and 2016 PMI Malaria Operational Plans (MOP) were identified. The total amount awarded for PV-related activities and drug quality assurance was abstracted. A Key-Word-in-Context (KWIC) analysis was conducted for the content of each grant. Specific search terms consisted of pharmacovigilance, pregn*, registry, safety, adverse drug, mass drug administration, primaquine, counterfeit, sub-standard, and falsified. Grants that mentioned PV activities identified in the KWIC search, listed PV in their budgets, or included the keywords: counterfeit, sub-standard, falsified, mass drug administration, or adverse event were thematically coded using Dedoose software version 7.0.ResultsThe search identified 159 active malaria grants including 107 Global Fund grants, 39 fiscal year 2015 and 2016 PMI grants and 13 World Bank grants. These grants were primarily awarded to low-income countries (57.2%) and in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (70.4%). Thirty-seven (23.3%) grants included a budget line for PV- or drug quality assurance–related activities, including 21 PMI grants and 16 Global Fund grants. Only 23 (14.5%) grants directly mentioned PV. The primary focus area was improving drug quality monitoring, especially among the PMI grants.ConclusionsThe results of the analysis demonstrate that funding for PV has not been sufficiently prioritized by either the key malaria donor organizations or by the recipient countries, as reflected in their grant proposal submissions and MOPs.

An efficient system to fund science: from proposal review to peer-to-peer distributions.

This paper presents a novel model of science funding that exploits the wisdom of the scientific crowd. Each researcher receives an equal, unconditional part of all available science funding on a yearly basis, but is required to individually donate to other scientists a given fraction of all they receive. Science funding thus moves from one scientist to the next in such a way that scientists who receive many donations must also redistribute the most. As the funding circulates through the scientific community it is mathematically expected to converge on a funding distribution favored by the entire scientific community. This is achieved without any proposal submissions or reviews. The model furthermore funds scientists instead of projects, reducing much of the overhead and bias of the present grant peer review system. Model validation using large-scale citation data and funding records over the past 20 years show that the proposed model could yield funding distributions that are similar to those of the NSF and NIH, and the model could potentially be more fair and more equitable. We discuss possible extensions of this approach as well as science policy implications.

Community Engagement Studios: A Structured Approach to Obtaining Meaningful Input From Stakeholders to Inform Research.

ProblemEngaging communities in research increases its relevance and may speed the translation of discoveries into improved health outcomes. Many researchers lack training to effectively engage stakeholders, whereas academic institutions lack infrastructure to support community engagement.ApproachIn 2009, the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community-Engaged Research Core began testing new approaches for community engagement, which led to the development of the Community Engagement Studio (CE Studio). This structured program facilitates project-specific input from community and patient stakeholders to enhance research design, implementation, and dissemination. Developers used a team approach to recruit and train stakeholders, prepare researchers to engage with stakeholders, and facilitate an in-person meeting with both.OutcomesThe research core has implemented 28 CE Studios that engaged 152 community stakeholders. Participating researchers, representing a broad range of faculty ranks and disciplines, reported that input from stakeholders was valuable and that the CE Studio helped determine project feasibility and enhanced research design and implementation. Stakeholders found the CE Studio to be an acceptable method of engagement and reported a better understanding of research in general. A tool kit was developed to replicate this model and to disseminate this approach.Next StepsThe research core will collect data to better understand the impact of CE Studios on research proposal submissions, funding, research outcomes, patient and stakeholder engagement in projects, and dissemination of results. They will also collect data to determine whether CE Studios increase patient-centered approaches in research and whether stakeholders who participate have more trust and willingness to participate in research.

JRME Monographs: Looking Back and Thinking Forward

In this editorial, I describe how past monographs have served the four functions listed above. The purpose is to stimulate readers' thinking about aspects of their own work that might be suitable for the monograph series. I also describe a recent change in the monograph review process that is intended to increase proposal submissions.