SIEF Working Group funding

Financial support for SIEF working group activities

The SIEF working groups are the backbone of our society, creating stability and strength in our common purpose, while supporting the body’s varied research interests. They promote greater dialogue and participation among membership and provide increased leadership opportunities for scholars with related fields of inquiry, through direct activities. Therefore, SIEF’s Executive Board will provide financial support for the activities of its working groups in accordance with its established guidelines in the following manner:

• Every second year, following the SIEF congress, a set amount of the society’s budget will be allocated for supporting SIEF working groups’ activities.
• Each working group may normally request up to €1000 for various activities. Higher amounts might be granted pending availability of SIEF financial resources, the exceptional nature and the benefit to SIEF of the proposed activity.
• A new working group can apply for funding only after it has been approved by the Executive Board.
• Working groups are encouraged to apply for funding together, to finance joint activities, in which case the amount requested can be increased (e.g. max €2000, for two WGs applying together).
• Funding will mainly support activities such as seminars, conferences and workshops, preferably in the in-between years of the SIEF congresses. However, depending on their demonstrated necessity, other activities (e.g. publications, sustaining local communities, etc.) might be funded as well. SIEF will support expenses that are key to the successful delivery of the activity. This may include travel and accommodation for invited speakers (which may or not be SIEF members), support for young scholars, independent scholars, researchers from low-income countries and other scholars in precarious situations, but daily allowances will not be covered. Funds may also be used to reduce conference fees (e.g. pay costs for coffee/tea, lunches, software and technical assistance, publications, etc.) to make events more inclusive, to broaden and enhance diversity.
• Each working group must determine which activities they seek funding for, with the working group chair(s) responsible for submitting the application. Where someone else will be responsible for the activity (e.g. conference organiser) this will need stating.
• Proposals must be made using this application form (spreadsheet), providing an activity description, a brief statement of benefits for the working group and SIEF (following the main criteria listed below), a budget, and a list of all funding sources.
• If funding is requested for more than one activity, a separate application form must be completed for each additional activity. The total amount requested should not exceed €1000.
• The Executive Board encourages working groups to seek other sources of funding for their planned activities.
• As SIEF might not be able to support all working groups’ funding requests at the same time, funding decisions will be made based on the quality of the application, more precisely, on its ability to fulfil the criteria listed below. With applications showing equal merit, some preference will be given to working groups that have a strong history of activity, or which have demonstrated successful completion of previously funded SIEF activities, or have not recently been granted financial support.
• The completed application form(s) must be emailed to the SIEF administrators membership(at)siefhome.org, before the 1st of November, in the year of the SIEF congress. 
• The Executive Board will evaluate the proposed activities and decide which will be funded by the end of the year. The Board's decisions are final.
• If, for various reasons (e.g. restrictions due to the pandemic), the activity funded by SIEF has to be cancelled, the working group is allowed to submit another application as soon as possible, in order to redirect the allocated sum.

Assessment criteria

In assessing applications, the Executive Board will pay particular attention to the following criteria:

• The quality of the application.
• The likely benefit of the activity to the vibrancy of the working group.
• The likely benefit of the activity to include early career scholars, researchers from low income-countries, independent scholars, and scholars in precarious situations.
• The likely benefit of the activity to the SIEF and its members.
• The likely benefit of the activity to broaden and enhance the diversity of the membership base, reaching countries which are less (or not at all) represented within SIEF.

For funded projects

• The funding must be spent within the two-year funding period.
• Details regarding the transfer of funds from SIEF to the working groups will be decided case by case, depending on the nature of the proposed activity, the local currency and banking system.
• SIEF's logo must be used on all programs, folders, etc. created for the funded activity/activities. This can be obtained from sief(at)meertens.knaw.nl.

After the activity

• Within one month of the completion of each activity, a detailed financial report must be sent to membership(at)siefhome.org. Use the application form spreadsheet as a model, modifying as needed.
• A descriptive report about the funded activities, not exceeding one page, must be submitted by the working group’s chair(s) for publication in the SIEF Newsletter. This report should be sent, together with one high-resolution picture of relevance to the activity, to sief(at)meertens.knaw.nl.
• Any SIEF funding granted to a working group which, for various reasons, is not spent within the two years allocation period will be returned to the SIEF account and will be credited to the general funding budget for working groups.