CLOSUP Major Projects Program

Summary

NOTE: The Major Projects Program is not active at this time. For more information, contact CLOSUP staff. Information about the Major Projects Program is provided below for archival purposes.

The purpose of the CLOSUP Major Projects Program is to sponsor applied policy research that simultaneously generates new research insights and links the University of Michigan research community with the state and local public policy communities. Each project is organized around a set of problems or issues that are both theoretically motivated from within one or more academic disciplines, and that are of practical importance to state and/or local policy-makers. Each project is collaborative and interdisciplinary, involving scholars from across the University who study related problems from diverse disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Research teams may also include policy professionals, students, and researchers from different universities. Each project includes a significant outreach activity or set of activities. The Program makes available resources for research- and outreach-related activities such as graduate student salaries, data collection and management, workshops, conferences, publication preparation, and dissemination of results. Funds may be used as seed money or to support ongoing activities. Priority is given to projects that receive (or expect to receive) a significant share of their funding from other sources.

The purpose of the CLOSUP Major Projects Program is to sponsor applied policy research that links the University of Michigan research community with the state and local public policy communities. Many scholars within the University are currently engaged in cutting-edge research that is directly relevant to the problems that policymakers grapple with every day. However, due to a lack of resources, contacts, or expertise, it is often difficult to communicate the results of this research to policymakers in the field. Likewise, policymakers understand that the University holds a wealth of knowledge that would prove beneficial in their decision making process. Yet often they do not know where to look or whom to ask for this information. 

The Major Projects Program is designed to sponsor research projects that seek to simultaneously generate new research insights and to help achieve these linkages with the policy community. Each project should be organized around a set of problems or issues that are both theoretically motivated from within one or more academic disciplines, and that are of practical importance to state and/or local policymakers. Priority will be given to projects that are collaborative and interdisciplinary, involving scholars from across the University who study related problems from diverse disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Research teams may also include policy professionals, students, and researchers from different universities. Funds may be used as seed money or to support ongoing activities. Priority will be given to projects that receive (or expect to receive) a significant share of their funding from other sources. 

Each project should include a significant outreach activity or set of activities, including the creation of a policy briefing document. Project directors or other participants in selected projects are expected to work with CLOSUP staff to develop and conduct their outreach component, which, in addition to the policy brief, may include workshops, conferences, colloquia, briefing sessions, published reports, web pages, press releases, etc. Proposals may request funds for research- and outreach-related activities such as graduate student salaries, data collection and management, workshops, conferences, publication preparation, and dissemination of results.