Grants supporting the Orthoptera Species File

Grant application guidelines

The Orthopterists’ Society, in cooperation with the Illinois Natural History Survey, provides funding for projects that support of the Orthoptera Species File. Members of the Orthopterists’ Society are invited to apply. Applications should be sent to María Marta Cigliano (ciglianofcnymunlpeduar).

Grants are available for a project as defined by the applicant. The project must provide a benefit to the Orthoptera Species File, usually through the addition of images (e.g., photographs of habitus, diagnostic details of type specimens, other reliably identified museum specimens, living individuals in natural habitats), sound recordings, and/or geo-referenced specimen records. Any proposal that solely focuses on fieldwork or other systematic research without direct benefits to OSF will not be considered. Projects may be proposed for periods of one to three years.

Funding for 2025 will be for the amount of US$ 50.000. All requested information must be submitted by October 30, 2024 to receive full consideration

The proposals should include:

1. Project description (not more than five pages): Title. Significance (highlighting the new data that will be added to OSF, preferably to taxa currently lacking images, sound recordings, distribution records, etc.). Objectives, methods and activities. Timetable.
2. If applicable, provide summary of the research project related to the proposal.
3. Curriculum vitae.
4. Budget in US$ (including justification of trips to museums, fieldwork, photographic equipment).
5. If applicable, provide letter of agreement/acknowledgement to work with the collection from the corresponding institution/curator including permission to add the images to OSF.

Preference will be given to proposals based on the amount of data added into OSF, i.e. the expected contribution to the taxa under consideration (dependent on existing data). It is highly recommended to include a detailed list of the species that are poorly illustrated in OSF and specify the data that is expected to be added as a result of the grant. Proposals involving images and sound recordings taken in the field prioritized based on the “biogeographical value”, meaning surveys in under-collected areas will be preferred over similar activities in well-studied regions.

Applications from curators seeking support of a qualified student to work under their supervision will also be considered.

Proposals from graduate students should include a simple recommendation from their professor or advisor.

Preferences will be given to applicants who demonstrate knowledge of the taxa involved. The methods used (e.g., techniques for capturing images) will also be considered in the evaluation. Additionally, priority will be given to applicants who plan to document and photograph type specimens not yet documented by images in OSF, or who plan to document the types from museums or collections that are not easily accessible to researchers.

Important: A brief financial report and a report on activities and data uploaded to OSF will be required from each grantee at the end of the funding period. The activity report should be in a format suitable for publishing in Metaleptea (see previously published reports in Metaleptea issues).

If the candidate has received an OSF grant in a previous year, the tasks from the previous grant have to be completed and the report approved by the OSF Committee before applying for a new grant.