[agents] AI Journal Funding Opportunities - Deadline for this call 14 May 2010

[Wooldridge, Michael]

Artificial Intelligence Journal: 

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES for PROMOTING AI RESEARCH 

Deadline for proposals: May 14, 2010


BACKGROUND

Artificial Intelligence Journal (AIJ) is one of the longest
established and most respected journals in AI, and since it was
founded in 1970, it has published many of the key papers in the
field. The operation of the Editorial Board is supported financially
through an arrangement with AIJ's publisher, Elsevier. The editorial
board of Artificial Intelligence is now in the unique position of
being able to make available substantial funds, of the order of
US$250,000 per annum, to support the promotion and dissemination of AI
research.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THIS FUNDING?

In providing this funding, AIJ aims to:

* promote and raise awareness of AI research and practice;

* encourage the timely and widespread dissemination of AI research
  results, techniques, and tools;

* promote interaction and exchange of ideas between AI researchers,
  practitioners, and students;

* promote the exploitation of AI research results, techniques, and
  tools.

In this call, a proportion of available funds have been set aside for
activities that are fundamentally new, and likely to lead to the
establishment of a new research community or new direction for AI
research.

WHAT KINDS OF ACTIVITIES WILL AIJ CONSIDER FUNDING?

Broadly speaking, any activity that achieves the goals described above
might be considered as a candidate for funding. For example:

* student travel scholarships for a conference or workshop;

* funds for an invited speaker to present at a conference or workshop;

* funds to support a web site to disseminate proceedings of an AI
  related conference or workshop;

* start up funds for a workshop in a promising new area of research;

* funding to organise a summer school on some aspect of AI.

This list is absolutely not intended to be exhaustive, and we strongly
encourage you to consider innovative ways in which the goals set out
above can be achieved. See below for the criteria that will be used to
evaluate proposals.

WHAT KINDS OF ACTIVITIES DOES AIJ PREFER NOT TO FUND?

Some guidelines:

* We prefer not to fund individuals. By preference, requests will come
	from organisations such as a foundation, charitable body, or the
	organising committee of an event. AIJ does not exclude the
	possibility of funding individuals, but this is likely to be
	exceptional. Note that AIJ will not fund individual requests for
	travel funds.

* We prefer not to fund research projects. Research projects involving
	staffing costs would probably not, in our view, be a cost effective
	use of the funds.

* We won't fund duplicate activities. For example, if there is already
	an established, successful, and wellregarded conference in the area
	of X, then in all likelihood we would not provide seed funds to set
	up a duplicate, competitor conference.

* We prefer not to fund activities where alternative sources of
	funding are readily available.

* Activities are funded on a not-for-private-profit basis.  AIJ will
	not fund activities that lead directly to profit for the
	organisation or individuals involved. However, we recognise that
	with some events, (e.g., large conferences) it is necessary to
	budget for a surplus; in this case, proposals should describe what
	will happen to the surplus.

There is no hard and fast rule about how much you can ask for: you
should ask for what you need to make your activity
successful. However, here are some broad principles; as ever, these
are only guidelines. First, if you are applying on behalf of a large
(> 80 participants), successful, and scientifically strong conference,
then please bear in mind that several such conferences applied for
funding for (e.g.) student travel grants and invited speakers in the
December 2009 round of AIJ funding, and received typically US$10K
each. Although, as always, there may be exceptions to this, it may be
helpful to use this amount as a guideline. Note that we would be
reluctant to spend more than US$50K on an individual
activity. Proposals may include the possibility of AIJ underwriting an
activity (to an agreed limit) in the event of a loss. Finally, we urge
you to investigate whether it is possible to "leverage" AIJ funding,
for example by obtaining matched funding from elsewhere. In this case,
the value of every dollar spent by AIJ is effectively doubled, which
makes for a compelling funding case.

HOW CAN I BID FOR FUNDS?

A proposal should contain the following sections:

* What? Describe exactly what activity funding is requested
  for. Please note that AIJ funds specific activities. For example,
  "we request funds to support a conference on X" is not a specific
  request, while "we request travel funds to bring invited speaker X
  to conference Y " is a specific request. Provide any contextual
  information that you think is relevant.

* How Much? A (high level) budget that provides details of the use of
  requested funds, and, where appropriate, describes how the requested
  amount fits into an overall budget for the activity/event (e.g., in
  the case of requesting conference travel funds for students, what is
  the overall conference budget?)

* Why? Brief justification for funding; note that priority will be
  given to activities for which no alternative funds are available.
	
* Who? Describe who will benefit from the proposed activity.

* When? Dates of the proposed activity, and date by which funding
  would be needed.

* Where? Location of the proposed activity.

* Contact details: Name, affiliation, contact details for the
  responsible party (postal address, email, telephone number, fax),
  web address of event if available.

Proposals should under no circumstances exceed more than two pages in
total. Proposals should be submitted in PDF via the EasyChair web
review system at the following URL:

		http://tinyurl.com/aijournal2

HOW WILL PROPOSALS BE EVALUATED?

We anticipate issuing calls for proposals approximately two or three
times per annum, with FRIDAY MAY 14, 2010 being the deadline for the
current call. Further calls will be issued later - watch the AIJ web
site for details (http://www.aijd.org/). The AIJ sponsorship committee
will assess proposals on the basis of:

* scientific quality of proposed activities;

* likely level of impact on the international AI community;

* cost effectiveness/value for money.

All bidders will be informed by email of the outcome of their proposal
as soon as an outcome is known.

We anticipate notification of decisions on this round of funding being
sent out no later than July 15, 2010.

If a proposal is approved for funding, then please be aware it may
take time to transfer funds: if you are bidding for funds to support
an event, then we suggest your proposal should be submitted at least 6
months before the event takes place.  Note that where a proposal is
felt to have merit but is not fundable in its submitted form, we may
return to bidders to discuss possible modifications; where this is
felt to be necessary, we will try to do this practicably and
expeditiously. A summary of successful proposals will be made publicly
available on the AIJ website.

MY PROPOSAL WAS REJECTED - CAN I APPEAL?

The decision of the AIJ sponsorship committee with respect to funding
decisions is final. We regret that it will not be possible to enter
any correspondence with respect to unsuccessful proposals.