Grants for students and new graduates

Conference grants for students and new graduates
Research grants for students

Conference grants for students and new graduates

Context

ISKO UK is the UK Chapter of ISKO, the International Society for Knowledge Organization. We are a not-for-profit scientific/professional association dedicated to promoting the theory and practice of organising knowledge and information. Following a series of successful events, the ISKO UK Chapter has sufficient funds to take a more direct approach to the following objective: “To encourage and support the next generation of Knowledge Organization (KO) researchers and practitioners, with attention to continuing professional development as well as basic education and training”.

Purpose

An important aspect of personal development is to attend events where it is possible to hear and develop contacts with others in the chosen field of study. ISKO UK, therefore, wishes to encourage students to attend conferences which cover significant aspects of Knowledge Organization.

Eligibility

Applicants should be enrolled as postgraduate or undergraduate students on courses in any UK academic institution that covers some aspect of Knowledge Organization. This award is open to current students and to those who have graduated within one year of their application.

Conferences in scope

The biennial conferences of ISKO or any of its Chapters are eligible. Some other conferences that have a significant coverage of KO topics may be eligible, subject to an explanation of their relevance by the applicant, and verification/approval by the Executive Committee.

Expenses covered

The grant should be seen as a contribution towards the costs, rather than covering all expenses. Each grant will be in the range £100 - £500, and as a minimum, the grant will cover the registration fee of the event in question. It may also meet some of the travel/accommodation expenses.

Conference report

As well as attending the whole of the conference, the successful applicant will be expected to report on its proceedings. The report, typically between 500 and 1,000 words, will be made available via our website, especially to members of ISKO UK. Additional publicity channels, such as Twitter and Facebook, should be used where possible.

How to apply

Applicants should email their application to the ISKO UK Secretary chair@iskouk.org with the following information:

Name, date and location of the conference
The conference fee and a breakdown of estimated expenses
A short statement of how the conference would be of benefit to the applicant
Details of the academic institution and study programme in which the applicant is enrolled. If a grant is awarded, ISKO UK will require evidence of student status.

The applicant will be informed of the Committee’s decision within 14 days following the application. Payment of 80% of the award will be made to the successful applicant as soon as an invoice or other evidence of conference registration payment is received by the ISKO UK Secretary. The remainder will be paid after a satisfactory report of the conference proceedings has been received.

You can read the reports by the grant winners here.

Research grants for students

Context

ISKO UK is the UK Chapter of ISKO, the International Society for Knowledge Organization. We are a not-for-profit scientific/professional association dedicated to promoting the theory and practice of organising knowledge and information. We deploy classification, indexing, taxonomies, ontologies, metadata, as well as emerging technologies to reveal patterns and make sense of the knowledge landscape. The field of Knowledge Organization (KO) is expanding but traditionally it includes classification and indexing, tagging, thesauri and metadata. See also the article on Wikipedia.

One of our objectives is to encourage more students to take up studies and research in Knowledge Organization (KO) . Likewise, we want to encourage KO research which is practice-oriented. In that spirit, we are pleased to offer students who wish to engage in KO-related research the following support:

a financial contribution towards expenses incurred in the course of a research project
advice and information on relevant KO matters
access to a community of KO practitioners and researchers through whom results can be publicised and disseminated

Eligibility

While it is anticipated that students in the field of information studies would be particularly suited to this grant, applications are welcome from students of other disciplines whose work has a significant Knowledge Organization aspect. The support requested may be for the entire project or for a specific task in a longer project.

Applications for this grant are invited from students based at UK higher education institutions who are doing an undergraduate dissertation or a postgraduate project that is relevant to the Knowledge Organization domain. Applicants are encouraged to apply, as long as their research/project has been endorsed by their institution.

Grant and assistance available

ISKO UK is offering the following support for students:

A contribution towards expenses incurred in the course of the project (up to £500), for example: travel to collect data or visit organisations, access to resources, subscription to digital services or software licensing. Please note: the grant is not intended to cover study fees.
Some form of mentoring (providing this does not contradict the university’s guidelines and is done with the supervisor's knowledge)
A forum or community through which the results can be publicised/disseminated (e.g. ISKO meetings/conference).

Reporting

Recipients of the award will be expected to disseminate their research findings via ISKO UK. As a minimum we would expect successful recipients to submit:

a short report on their research (500 – 700 words);
a link to an electronic version of the research report or dissertation/thesis, e.g., link to the institution repository;
acknowledgement of the support provided by ISKO UK.

How to apply

Applications should be emailed to the ISKO UK Chair for consideration by the Executive Committee. and they should include the following information:

a short description of the project and its objectives
the purposes for which the grant is sought and the funding requested (up to a limit of £500)
a timetable for completion of the project or part of it
details of the institution and study programme in which the applicant is enrolled. If a grant is awarded, ISKO UK will require evidence of student status.

The Executive Committee will reply within 14 days after the application with the following information:

any comments on the research project;
details of the funding (if any) it is willing to offer;
a response to any other types of support requested.

When the research is concluded to the satisfaction of the supervising institution, ISKO UK will provide a link from its website to the report/thesis in the institutional repository. If there are other opportunities for publication, or for a presentation, these will be offered for discussion with the successful student.