SPRUCE Awards

A one off call for attendees of the recent SPRUCE Hackathon in Leeds has now closed. Full details can be found here. Projects focused on FITS and C3PO were funded.

The second call for award proposals (for the SPRUCE Mashup London) has now closed. A single project was funded.

Read this blog post about the awards we made in the first call.

Introduction

SPRUCE will make awards of up to £5k available for further developing the practical digital preservation outcomes and/or development of digital preservation business cases, that were begun in SPRUCE events. Applications from others may also be considered, but in this case, please discuss your proposal with SPRUCE before submission. A total fund of £60k is available for making these awards, which will be allocated in a series of funding calls thoughout the life of the SPRUCE Project.

The current (open) call is primarily for attendees of the SPRUCE Mashup London.

How to bid for a funding award

To bid for a SPRUCE award:

Carefully read through the details on this page, paying particular attention to the Project Award Criteria, Notes and Conditions, and Timings (see below).
Complete this bid template with details of your proposed project (maximum 2 pages)
Send the template by email to p (dot) r (dot) wheatley (at) leeds (dot) ac (dot) uk, no later than 5pm, 17th October 2012.
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss your bid, please contact Paul Wheatley at the email address above.

Project Award Criteria

Awards will be scored and allocated based on how well the bids meet the following criteria. The Project:

Enhances digital preservation at the bidding institution / partnered institution
Provides results that will support the bidding institution (and will support SPRUCE) in building a compelling business case for digital preservation
Has potential for delivering strong results (demonstrated by building on work from a SPRUCE Mashup)
Has clear and practically focused objectives
Provides outputs with a strong impact and that are applicable and useful for other institutions (particularly UK HE/FE)
Clearly outlines how the award will be resourced and delivered within a realistic time scale
Has support from within the institution with financial or in-kind contribution where possible

Notes and conditions for bidders

Awards of up to £5k will be considered
Applications should be no longer than 2 pages with 10point text only.
Applications will normally only be accepted from individuals that have attended a SPRUCE event. Other awards may be considered but the SPRUCE Project Manager should be consulted in the first instance
Joint applications from teams of individuals (possibly from different organisations) will be considered but one primary named contact will be the recipient of the total amount of the award
Diverse participation is sought so SPRUCE will prefer to make awards to a variety of institutions rather than multiple awards to a single organisation
Applications from UK/FE institutions will be prioritised. Applications from outside of the UK will not be considered
It is expected that in the majority of cases, Projects will be applied for and led by practitioners. Award funding may of course be spent on technical resources if applicable to the activity in question
SPRUCE can provide support in finding sources for technical resource which may be allocated to award activities. Please ask us for help with this!

Awards timetable

Award call opens: 20th September 2012
Applications must be submitted by: 5pm, 17th October 2012
Notification of successful applications: 26th October 2012
Projects to complete by: 31st March 2013

Further calls will be issued later in the SPRUCE project.