The Harvard University Climate Change Solutions Fund supports research and policy initiatives intended to reduce the risks of climate change, hasten the transition from fossil fuel-based energy systems to those that rely on renewable energy sources, to develop methods for diminishing the impact of existing fossil fuel-based energy systems on the climate, to understand and prepare for the impacts of climate change, and to propel scientific, technological, legal, behavioral, policy and artistic innovations needed to accelerate progress toward cleaner energy, improved human health, and a greener world.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Climate and Sustainability administers the Climate Change Solutions Fund. The Office invites eligible faculty and students to submit proposals for funding no later than February 7, 2022. Applications are accepted through the Harvard University Funding Portal (HUFP).
1. Contact information that includes applicant’s name, affiliation, title, address, phone number, and email.
2. 1000-word proposal that describes the research project. A supplementary field is provided to upload a separate document with citations, images, etc. Applicants are not required to include any supplementary information, and reviewers are not required to consider this information in their evaluation.
3. Description of any cross-school collaboration (not required, but encouraged) and a statement on how these funds will help leverage future funding.
4. Bio sketch or CV for Principal Investigator, Co-Investigators, Collaborators, and other team members limited to two pages each.
5. Project Budget requires both a Budget Form and Budget Justification. Applicants must use the Budget Form and Budget Justification Form provided in the application.
i. Non-allowable Expenses include:
1. Student tuition
2. Renovation costs
ii. Allowable Expenses include:
1. Academic-year salary support for faculty principal investigators. (Requests for partial support of principal investigator summer salary will be considered in limited circumstances.) Applicants requesting salary support must include a letter signed by their school’s academic dean, or other appropriate institutional officer, indicating the school’s approval of the request for salary. Such a letter is also required for any Harvard faculty member serving as a co- investigator on the project, but not for others on the project team.
iii. If the total cost of the proposed project is larger than the award requested from the Fund, please include an overall financial plan for the project that indicates other sources of funding.
iv. Applicants should note that any benefits-eligible personnel (e.g. faculty, exempt employees, union employees, post-doctoral fellows, teaching assistants, temps) expenses in the budget must include the appropriate fringe rates for each year of funding. If the application proposes to fund a certain amount of an existing employee’s time, then the budget must also include that percentage of applied fringe. Applicants should consult with Human Resources at their home schools for applicable rates.
v. Capital projects and renovation costs will not be covered.
vi. The recipient of any funding involving travel should adhere to Harvard University’s travel policies.
vii. School assessments and/or indirect costs should not be included in your budget (the OVPCS will arrange these with home schools separately).
6. Other Support: Applicants must use the form provided in the application to summarize active and pending support for the Principal Investigator.
Other Support includes all financial resources, whether Federal, non-Federal, commercial or institutional, available in direct support of an individual’s research endeavors, including but not limited to research grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and/or institutional awards. Please include any Harvard internal grants or major, project-specific support. Please do not include any "start-up" packages and/or tenure-transfer funding.
7. Assurance of Compliance: All recipients of an award from the Climate Change Solutions Fund are expected to comply with all University, (or local institutional, if awarded through an affiliated entity), policies governing the conduct of research including, but not limited to, the use of animals, human subjects, hazardous materials, and export controls. Awardees will be asked to provide the name and signature of a school or department administrator who, in addition to the principal investigator, will certify that the project complies with all relevant policies. Funds will not be made available, and invoices from non-Harvard entities will not be reimbursed, without such certification. All applicants are subject to audit.
Reviewers will evaluate applications on intellectual merit, interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation, and likely impact on all fields of energy, the environment, and health. The merits of the proposal should be clear to both experts in the applicant’s field as well as a cross-disciplinary audience.