Grants for Students

C.E.L.S.S. provides funding to support PhD dissertation chapters that utilize experimental data. Applications are accepted both for studies conducted in the lab and for studies conducted online.

Eligibility

Applicants must be advanced doctoral students at Columbia in Economics, Political Science, SIPA, the Business School, Sociology, in a department affiliated with ISERP or at Barnard in Economics.

The dissertation funds are restricted to doctoral students who have previously obtained a graduate student seed grant from CELSS and can demonstrate that the project has high probability of becoming part of their dissertations. In addition, the proposal must have been presented at a workshop or colloquium with some faculty presence (for example, in the Economics department: a field colloquium, CELSS Experimental Lunch, the Cognition and Decision Lab meeting, etc.).

Application Requirements

Applications are due October 25, 2024.

The application must include the following, separate documents:

1. A cover letter, which states the name of the workshop or colloquium where the proposal has been presented
2. A paper or presentation slides summarizing the results from the initial CELSS grant
3. An appendix with experimental materials
4. The budget (i.e., a summary table with a clear description of how the grant funds would be spent on participant payment, fees, etc.)
5. The applicant’s CV
6. A statement detailing additional sources of funding for the project (successful, pending, and rejected applications)
7. The endorsement of the student’s thesis adviser
8. A completed checklist (i.e. applicants show that they previously obtained a graduate student seed grant from CELSS, and presented the proposal at a workshop or colloquium with some faculty presence)

The cover letter (maximum 2 pages) should outline briefly the basic rationale of the research, the question under study, and the experimental procedures. Please note that longer proposals will not be considered.

The appendix should contain materials that demonstrate what the experiment will look like. Examples of such materials include experimental instructions, questions, or screenshots. 

The maximum budget is $4,000. All applicants must show a good faith effort of obtaining funding from external sources.

The endorsement of a faculty advisor can be an email to the CELSS director ([email protected]), CCing the CELSS manager ([email protected]). The adviser needs to state explicitly that he/she (1) is familiar with the work done so far, (2) is confident that the project can produce a high quality dissertation chapter; (3) will be responsible for following the progress of the project. Please also include a copy of this email in the application package.

The applicant should submit the items mentioned above in electronic form in a single compressed folder, and send the application to the CELSS manager, at [email protected]. The subject of the e-mail should be “Application for CELSS Funding; Dissertations” and the name of the compressed file should be “LastnameFirstname_CelssFundingApp”.

Notes

1. Unless part of a class, any experiment run on CELSS’ subject pool or with financial support from CELSS requires approval by the Institutional Review Board (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/irb/) and the respect of CELSS rules (https://celss.iserp.columbia.edu/research-projects/rules).
2. The funding allocation expires at the end of the second semester following the grant. Unused funds will be reappropriated by CELSS.
3. CELSS requires that all experiments pay participants an average of $15/hr and a minimum of $1.

4. CELSS generally does not fund field experiments. Please contact the CELSS manager at [email protected] if you’re unsure whether your experiment falls under this category.

Requests for clarification

Questions concerning this call for proposals and the use of the lab can be addressed to the CELSS manager, at [email protected], or to the CELSS director at [email protected].

External Grant Opportunities

Check this page for a list of other grant opportunities outside Columbia University.

C.E.L.S.S. provides funding to support promising experimental projects by undergraduate students for their senior theses. While applications are accepted both for studies conducted in the lab and for studies conducted online, priority will be given to lab based studies.

Eligibility

Applicants must be undergraduate students preparing to write their senior theses and pursuing a major at Barnard in Economics, or at Columbia in Economics, Political Science, Sociology, or in a department affiliated with ISERP. At most one student from each department will be selected to apply. 

Application Requirements

Applications are due October 25, 2024. Applications will be evaluated competitively by a committee of referees.

The application must include the following, in separate documents:

1. The proposal
2. An appendix with experimental materials
3. The budget (i.e., a summary table with a clear description of how the grant funds would be spent on participant payment, fees, etc.)
4. The applicant’s CV
5. The endorsement of a faculty advisor

The proposal should directly address the following items:

1. What question(s) does your project study?
2. What is the motivation for and contribution of your project?
3. What is the relevance of an experiment to your project? How will an experiment answer the question(s) your project studies?
4. Describe the procedures for your experiment, including the intended number of subjects, sessions, and payment structure.

Altogether, your proposal should consist of no more than 1,500 words, excluding references. Longer proposals will not be considered.

The appendix should contain materials that demonstrate what the experiment will look like. Examples of such materials include experimental instructions, questions, and screenshots. 

The maximum budget is $500, the bulk of which should be payments to experimental subjects. If the application concerns a brand-new experimental project, it is strongly recommended to apply for a seed grant of less than $500 for running a pilot experiment. Upon successful completion of the pilot, a summary of preliminary results and a new budget can be submitted to request additional funding. The committee retains the discretion to allocate fewer funds than requested.

The endorsement of a faculty advisor can be a short email to the CELSS director ([email protected]), CCing the CELSS manager ([email protected]). The advisor needs to state explicitly that he/she will be responsible for following the progress of the project. Please also include a copy of this email in the application package.

The applicant should submit the items mentioned above in electronic form in a single compressed folder, and send the application to the CELSS manager, at [email protected]. The subject of the e-mail should be “Application for CELSS Funding” and the name of the compressed file should be “LastnameFirstname_CelssFundingApp”.

Notes

1. Unless part of a class, any experiment run on CELSS’ subject pool or with financial support from CELSS requires approval by the Institutional Review Board (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/irb/) and the respect of CELSS rules (https://celss.iserp.columbia.edu/research-projects/rules). 

2. The funding allocation expires at the end of the second semester following the grant. Unused funds will be reappropriated by CELSS.

3. CELSS requires that all experiments pay participants an average of $15/hr and a minimum of $1.

4. CELSS generally does not fund field experiments. Please contact the CELSS manager at [email protected] if you’re unsure whether your experiment falls under this category.

Requests for clarification

Questions concerning this call for proposal and the use of the lab can be addressed to the CELSS manager, at [email protected], or to the CELSS director at [email protected].