Grants

INQUA financial support is provided to stimulate the development of research networks, and is divided into two categories:

1. INQUA funding for International Research Network (IRN) 

          a. Multi-year IRN (1 workshop/year)

          b. Single-year IRN (1 stand-alone meeting/conference)

2. INQUA funding for International Skill Activity (ISA)

           a. Single-year ISA (1 workshop)

Categories

Multi-year / Single-year International Research Network (IRN) 

A multi-year project is a non-permanent collaboration designed to address scientific topics of wide international significance and to answer specific scientific questions. Yearly support for multi-year projects is 5000 Euro. In exceptional cases, where a convincing case is made, funding may be extended to a maximum of 8000 Euro per year.

The funding application should lay out a plan for up to four years (in the first instance) and involve ECRs and DCRs in the planning and formulation of the project. Multi-year Projects will normally be approved in principle for the whole of the current inter-congress period. However, funds will be allocated on a yearly basis, subject to evaluation of Project activities. Progress will be reported each year and continuing funding will be contingent on the success of the project, to be ratified by the executive council based on the report received.

A multi-year project duration is usually the 4 years of the inter-congress period, and it should start at the beginning of this period. The leaders can apply for a supplementary 4-year period and, after evaluation, the project can be able to continue in the following inter-congress period.

A single-year project can be on a smaller scale than a multi-year project, both in terms of scientific questions being asked or level of international participation. It is designed to allow international networking between researchers on any relevant Quaternary research topic. Yearly support for single-year projects is also 5000 Euro. In exceptional cases, where a convincing case is made, again funding may be extended to a maximum of 8000 Euro per year. Single-year projects may apply for repeat funding to enable them to become multi-year projects if their activities continue and grow over time.

Applications for multi or single-year project funding (application form available here) must demonstrate that the project:

1)    will address a significant Quaternary research question;

2)    make significant progress towards answering this question through collaboration and within a reasonable timeframe (within a year for the single-year project category);

3)    has an explicit plan for activities throughout the proposed duration of the project, and have a high-level of buy-in from the international INQUA community, as shown by e.g. active participation;

4)    has a framework that is responsive to community needs and open to community participation, including involving early-career and developing-country researchers in significant roles;

5) has identified concrete outcomes or products explicitly.

International Skills Activity Grant (ISA)

The goal of this funding category is to widen the skill base within the INQUA community, specifically through assisting scientists who lack well-developed infrastructures or networks (including but not limited to early career and developing country scientists), through encouraging networking, exchanges of information and techniques, training, and bringing people together e.g. to develop new single- or multi-year projects.

Skills Enhancement funding can be used for the development and running of INQUA training courses or summer schools, INQUA workshops focusing on networking within a specific region or for a specific technique/interest area, and/or the production of teaching and training resources to assist new practitioners in specific techniques.

Applications for Skills Enhancement funding must demonstrate:

1)    the need for skills enhancement in a particular region/field;

2)    how the proposed activities will foster skills enhancement;

3)    who will benefit directly from the funding;

4)    how the skills enhancement activity will benefit the INQUA community in the longer term.

Applications to this type of grant are independent and distinct from the other categories of funding. A proposal under the Skills Enhancement scheme would typically be for funding of between 4000 and 8000 Euros.

Financial Considerations

Funding through any of the categories of INQUA grants may be used for:

1. Participation (travel, accommodation, and subsistence) of researchers in INQUA meetings organized through the Project or Conference. At least 75% of the participation amount of the grant should support the participation of ECRs and/or DCRs in project events (definitions of ECR and DCR found here).
2. Rental of rooms for conferences/meetings.
3. Rental of vehicles for meeting-related field trips.
4. Costs associated with video-conferencing (Zoom, etc)
5. The development of webcasts and podcasts

 

Funding through the Skills Activity grant may additionally be used for:

1. Development of teaching/training resources relating to the skill enhancement activity being planned

 

Funding requests that INQUA will NOT support:

1. Salaries or stipends of any type.
2. Travel and registration costs for meetings such as EGU, AGU, etc. However, INQUA can support project meetings held in association with larger meetings e.g. either before or after but not during the third party meeting.
3. Server costs for websites, databases etc.
4. Journal or book publication costs.
5. Purchase of equipment or analyses.
6. Institutional overheads.

Additional considerations of funding

INQUA grants may be held in institutional or non-institutional accounts. Because INQUA requires that its limited funding is used to assist Developing Country and Early Career Researchers to participate in international projects it does not allow overheads to be taken off its grants. In the case of institutional accounts, INQUA anticipates that the institution will be happy to join INQUA in promoting science by waiving any overheads normally charged. In case of non-institutional accounts, it is the Project Leader’s responsibility to make sure that his/her institution allows this, and that all formalities and legalities are observed. Grants are normally transferred to the Project Leader. However, at the Project Leader's request they can be transferred to a co-leader or local organizer.

The Project Leader(s) of an awarded grant, are obliged to complete a reporting form and submit all invoices / receipts of funds spent.

Application Procedures

The application should be sent to INQUA Secretariat: [email protected]

Please do not hesitate to contact INQUA ([email protected]) and/or the Vice-president for Commissions, Maria Fernanda Sanchez Goni ([email protected]), if you have any questions or if you would like to have support or feedback.

Deadlines

30 September 2024 is the submission deadline for finalized INQUA 2024 Funding proposals submitted to the INQUA Secretariat ([email protected]). Final decisions regarding the allocation of funding are made by the INQUA Executive Committee. The Commission Presidents have an advisory role in this process.  Applicants will be notified whether their application has been successful and any conditions attached to the funding by the INQUA Secretariat by 1 December 2024.

Funding is provided on an annual basis. If you are applying to continue your activity (e.g., a multi-year project), you must complete and submit the application form again each year to guarantee continued funding from INQUA.

31st December: Deadline for project reports for ongoing projects (for reporting on activities from the ongoing year).

The projects awarded in 2023 are:

CMP

OnSea - EvolutiOn of Seascapes (2404 m-y) – Gaia Mattei, Parthenope University of Naples, Naples, Italy

PALSEA-next - PALeo constraints on SEA level (2405 m-y) - Matteo Vacchi, University of Pisa, Italy

CoasDis - A workshop on the techniques and methods for investigating the Quaternary geological record of coastal disasters (2401 s-e) - Adam Switzer, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore       

HABCOM/PALCOM

MAACH 2.0 - Mapping Ancient Africa: Climate, vegetation and humans - Phase II (2412 m-y) - Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, Freie Universität, Germany

HABCOM

PalaeoHome - Palaeolithic Hominins and Habitats: Out of Africa to South Asia (2415 m-y) - Kumar Akhilesh, Sharma Centre for Heritage Education, India

SEPOK - Settlement Effect on Peat of Kalimantan (2422 s-y) - Monika Ruwaimana, Universitas Atma Jaya Ygyakarta, Yogyakarta

PALCOM

PMIP - Defining a common PMIP-carbon protocol (2436 s-y) - Fanny Lhardy, Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, ENS de lyon-UCBL, France

WiSH - Warm Intervals in the Southern Hemisphere (2439 m-y) - Jasper Knight, University of the Witwatersrand, S Africa

INTIMATE - INTegrating Ice core, Marine and TErrestrial records for advanced palaeoclimate reconstruction (2432 m-y) - Celia MartinPuertas, Royal Holloway University of London, UK

SACCOM

EQ - European Correlation of Quaternary Stages Boundaries (2444 m-y) - Markus Fiebig, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna      

GPAFT - Geochronology and prehistoric archaeology of fluvial terraces (2440 s-a) – Sam Kelley, University College Dublin, Ireland             

The Mystery of Ancient Soils! Children's booklet to understand the soils of the past: A multilingual and jointINQUA-IUSS initiative (2457 s-e) - Axel Cerón González, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City      

TERPRO

PWGM2024 - Quaternary Sediments, Landscapes, and Early Settlement History in Western Estonia (2454 s-a) - Alar Rosentau, University of Tartu, Estonia

CHAMP - Cascading Hazards and Mitigation Project (2446 m-y) - Tina Niemi, University of Missouri -Kansas City, USA           

PHADMA - Palaeo-Hydrology: Ancient disasters, modern application (2453 m-y) - Willem Toonen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands