All the information found in this section can be found in a pdf that you can download here.

 

All applications should be submitted online by February 1, 2021 at 11:59PM IDLW (the last time zone on Earth). The online submission form can be accessed by clicking this link.

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The application consists of nine components, detailed below. The first five components require that you download and complete the provided templates, which can then be uploaded via the submission form alongside the remaining application pieces. Please be sure to use the provided templates, rather than creating your own documents, as they help to ensure a consistent and streamlined review process.

 

We recommend having all materials completed prior to beginning the submission form.

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Template 1: Download and complete this template for your Research Proposal, Statement of Readiness, Contribution to Diversity, and Budget Justification.
 

Template 2: Download and complete this template for your Budget.

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1.   Research Proposal: Describe your proposed research project in 1500 words or less. References as well as up to one Table or Figure may be included beyond the 1500-word limit. Your proposal should address:

   • The gap in understanding and theoretical justification for the investigation

   • The hypothesis / hypotheses or research question(s)

   • Proposed methods and analysis plan

   • Statement of contribution to research on love

   • Statement of anticipated consequences of these activities (e.g., manuscript submission, conference presentation, future collaborations, consequences for this area of research, for the public, etc.)​
     
     Note: To reduce biases in the review process, this portion of your application will be reviewed via masked review. As such, we ask that you please do not include any identifying information within the body of your research proposal.
      

2.  Statement of Readiness: Describe your readiness to conduct this particular research project in 200 words or less. This statement might include details about your prior experience conducting similar research in the past, any supporting statistical or methodological skills you possess, or other relevant knowledge.
    

3. ​Contribution to Diversity: The Love Consortium is committed to promoting diversity in the science of social connection. For example, this includes promoting trainees and scholarship from people with historically under-represented backgrounds, studying human experience in people from a wide range of backgrounds, studying social connection across a range of relationship types, and even in the theories and methods brought to bear on a given research question. 
   
   In 200 words or less, please describe how your proposed project will help advance diversity in the science of social connection.
    

4. Budget: Grants will be awarded for up to $10,000 USD in direct costs. Among other uses, funds may be used for a summer stipend for the applicant if they do not have another source of funding; for supplies and services to conduct biological assays on stored specimens; for software to conduct behavioral coding on existing video records; for registration fees or costs associated with statistical methods workshops or academic conferences; and, where safe, to cover costs for the trainee to travel to live/work on site for research activities or to travel to workshops or academic conferences. Given the existing data, use of funds for participant payment will rarely be justified, but exceptions may be made, such as a planned conceptual replication of a key idea that can't be replicated in another existing dataset. Funds may not be used to pay faculty salaries.
   
   You may also request a maximum of 5% for your university's indirect/F&A costs, beyond the direct costs mentioned above. We encourage universities to waive indirect costs if possible.
   
   Please use the budget template spreadsheet to list the items and associated costs for which you would like to use the requested funds.
    

5. Budget Justification: Describe how each of the requested budget items will support the proposed research project.
    

6. Curriculum Vitae: Please submit your curriculum vitae, saved as a PDF file with your full name and “CV” in the file name (e.g., Alex Garcia CV).
    

7. Supporting Letters: You will need to request three types of brief letters/statements that must be submitted with your proposal:

   • ​Advisor's Consent. You will submit your graduate school advisor's name, institutional affiliation, and email address with your application. When you submit your application, we will send your graduate school advisor an email with an online link to a brief confidential survey where they will be asked to respond to four items:

     • Are they aware of the contents of your proposal? Yes/no

     • How do they think your specific skills and capacity will facilitate your success on this specific project? (Limited to 300 words or fewer.)

     • Do they consent to this proposed use of your time and what is their level of enthusiasm for your work on this proposal vis a vis your training and career goals? (Limited to 300 words or fewer.)

     • Do they have any reservations about your involvement in or ability to complete the proposed project? (Limited to 300 words or fewer.
       
       Your advisor's responses to this survey will be due within two weeks from their receipt of the email and no later than February 15th, 2021 at 11:59PM IDLW.
       
       Note: You should discuss this aspect of the requirement with your advisor when you decide you would like to submit a proposal.
        

   • Letter of Collaboration. For any dataset from The Love Consortium Dataverse to be included in the proposed project, please submit a brief letter acknowledging the collaboration from the data owner(s) with the following information (one paragraph will typically suffice; 1 page maximum):

     • Willingness to collaborate on the proposed project

     • Name of the dataset described on The Love Consortium Dataverse (include doi)

     • The status of ethics approval to share the data with you

     • Whether the data owner has reviewed the project proposal and believes it to be feasible, given the dataset

     • Whether authorship has been discussed (The proposed project may be at a stage where it is premature to discuss authorship, which is an acceptable answer.)
       
       Note: You should request this letter once the person agrees to be a collaborator, and you will be responsible for uploading their letter when you submit your application. One letter should be submitted for any dataset included in the proposal that is not owned by your graduate school advisor. If you have multiple letters of collaboration from owners of datasets to be used in the proposed work, these letters should be merged into one pdf document for upload within the online submission survey.
        

   • Project Mentor Statement. You must identify one primary project mentor for this project. The person must have a Ph.D. and be affiliated with an academic institution. Typically, it will be a collaborator identified in 7b or your graduate school advisor (identified in 7a), but the person may also be someone who has the expertise you need to execute the project. The key is that they are willing to meet with you regularly about the project and are willing to take ethical responsibility for the conduct of the research.  (Due to the latter requirement, the mentor must have a tenure-track or tenured position; Postdocs are eligible to be the project mentor but must have a co-mentor who has a tenure-track or tenured position.)
     
     You will submit your project mentor's name, institutional affiliation, and email address with your application. When you submit your application, we will send your project mentor an email asking them to simply respond to that email with confirmation that (a) they agreed to be your project mentor on the project, (b) they are willing to meet with you about it regularly, and (c) they are willing to take ethical responsibility for the conduct of the research.
     
     Note: You should discuss this aspect of the requirement with your proposed project mentor when you decide you would like to submit a proposal.​

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Submission Checklist

___Research proposal*

___Statement of readiness*

___Contribution to diversity*

___Budget**

___Budget justification*

___Your CV

___Graduate school advisor's contact information for brief consent survey

___Letter(s) of collaboration from dataset owner(s)

___Project mentor's contact information for brief confirmation of willingness to be your project mentor

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Notes: 
*Your research proposal, statement of readiness, contribution to diversity, and budget justification should be uploaded together as one PDF using the provided template.
**Your budget should be uploaded separately in CSV format using the provided template.