Community-based Research Faculty Fellowships

Proposal submissions will be judged based on the following criteria:

• Significance of the proposed research question(s)/pursuit for community(ies) in Chicago and/or surrounding communities;
• Strength of the partnership with a community-based organization(s) or neighborhood association;
• Level of involvement by the community
• Integration of some aspect of the research project (e.g., survey development, data collection, data analysis, etc.) into an undergraduate or graduate course taught by the Fellow during the 2024–25 academic year;
• Role of the research assistant in supporting the project and advancing their academic and/or professional development.
• Research must be cleared by DePaul’s IRB prior to implementation.

Report. A minimum 1000-word research report or working paper will be submitted to the community-based organization partner(s) and the Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning at the end of the fellowship year.

Conference. A paper proposal based on the research will be submitted to an academic conference of the Fellow’s choosing. The Steans Center will fund reasonable expenses for conference attendance for both the Fellow and the student research assistant or a community partner within a year of completion of the project. The Fellow can present alone, but if participating, the research assistant or community partner must be a co-presenter.

Publication. The Fellow will submit an article based on the research project to a peer-reviewed journal of their choice within one year of completing the project. The Fellow is strongly encouraged to include the student research assistant and/or the community partner as co-author (s) on the publication. Note: "publication" is understood as peer-reviewed scholarship that is in a form, format or style relevant to the faculty member's discipline.

Symposium. The fellow will make a presentation based on the research at an annual university-wide symposium sponsored by the Steans Center (May 2025).

Submit proposals in MS Word format as an email attachment to Howard Rosing at: hrosing@depaul.edu. The application will be reviewed by committee comprised of past fellows who are faculty experienced with community-based research methods. The committee is charged with making recommendations of fellowship awards.

Disseminate call for proposals: April 2024
Final proposal submission:June 30, 2024
Decisions announced: July 15, 2024
Fellowship project period begins: August 1, 2024
First fellowship stipend installment processed and research assistant hired: August 1, 2024
Midterm oral report with Steans Center Executive Director: January 31, 2025
Fellowship research component completed: July 31, 2025
Project research report due to Steans Center: August 15, 2025
Second fellowship stipend installment processed: August 31, 2025
Conference presentation funding approved by Steans Center: Anytime (typically in year 2)
Submission of scholarship to peer-reviewed publication: Anytime (typically in year 2)
Third fellowship stipend installment process: Following scholarship submission
Presentation to university-wide symposium on CbR: May 2025

Project narrative should be 7 pages maximum in MS Word and include:

• Name, department and type of faculty appointment
• Project abstract (3-5 sentences)
• project rationale - why is the research important to both the faculty member and community partner;
• research aims/goals;
• research question(s) to be addressed (defined collaboratively with partner);
• theoretical foundations;
• methods;
• detailed description of how the project's goals and objectives support the community-partner and the issue(s) that they seek to address in Chicago area communities;
• brief description of the DePaul course that will involve students contributing to some aspect of the research during academic year 2024-25 (students can contribute to any stage of the research project);
• timeline for project completion;
• plans for submission of the research proposal to the University’s IRB;
• preliminary plan for submission of research findings to a peer-reviewed publication. Note: publication of findings must be agreed upon by the community partner and ideally publication should be co-authored with the partner.

Additional Documents (not included in proposal narrative):

• job description for the research assistant (undergraduate or graduate) for three consecutive terms (Fall 2024 through Spring 2025).
• letter of support from the partnering community organization or neighborhood association
• faculty member’s CV.