Metanexus Global Network Initiative--Catalyst Grant Program -- Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science

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• Metanexus Global Network Initiative--Catalyst Grant Program

-- Sponsor: Metanexus Institute on Religion and Science

-- SYNOPSIS: The sponsor's program is to designed to help foster collaboration across disciplines. The program unites specialists from a cross-section of academic disciplines -- including the natural sciences, social sciences, philosophy, theology and the humanities -- to pool their collective expertise with the goal of addressing the most stimulating and complex questions facing the world today.

-- Deadline: 02/15/2009

-- E-mail: mgni@metanexus.net

-- Web Site: http://www.metanexus.net/globalnetwork/mgngrant.asp

-- Program URL: http://www.metanexus.net/globalnetwork/documents/MGNI_CatalystGrant_RFP.pdf

-- OBJECTIVES: The goal of MGNI is to provide an opportunity for the world�s leading thinkers to supplement their current focus of study with interdisciplinary research. Working in teams across disciplines, participants will address the myriad angles of a single question, or a series of questions, through focused research. For participants, it is an opportunity to advance their own intellectual journey in an extraordinary way, while advancing society�s understanding of the most complex questions of the universe.

The goals of the Metanexus Global Network Initiative are fourfold:

I. Promoting Transdisciplinary Exploration--The program seeks to promote the transdisciplinary exploration of the really big questions of life, the universe and humanity by: Stimulating research into material, human and spiritual realities; Posing new questions about ourselves, our communities, our universe, and our religious beliefs; and Producing and disseminating rigorous research in a variety of peer-reviewed print and electronic media, as well as in other forms of communication, to the widest possible audience.

II. Stimulating University-Wide Engagement--The program seeks to stimulate a university-wide engagement that may: Attract others from the university community to the working group; Spur research in new programmatic directions; Promote an expertise that spans the disciplines involved; Generate new research groups and programs, resulting in a flow of additional transdisciplinary activities; and Attract media attention and support from external resources.

III. Promoting International Collaboration--The program seeks to promote the development of an international collaborative network of grant groups, their members, and their sponsoring institutions to further broaden and diversify the grant participants� experience.

IV. Transforming Higher Education--The program seeks to foster a revitalization of higher education by reintroducing the concept of renaissance scholarship and awakening the academy to its fundamental purpose: the quest for wisdom.

-- ELIGIBILITY: To apply for a grant, a group must consist of five or more qualified persons, and must be interdisciplinary in nature. It is unlikely that applications from groups of fewer than five initial members will be selected. The applicant group should consist of university-affiliated scholars who together can demonstrate a well-balanced diversity of disciplinary expertise in areas of scientific, philosophical and religious concern as well as an eagerness to transcend the disciplinary boundaries of knowledge. Such groups could encompass committees of faculty, individuals from interdisciplinary programs or departments, groups of clinicians and students in the practice of medicine, and new initiatives within organizations specifically designed to advance transdisciplinary projects. The group chair�or, in the case of applications from graduate students, a responsible co-chair�should hold a Ph.D. or equivalent terminal degree. The applicant group that receives an MGNI grant must operate as, or be under the auspices of, a not-for-profit institution. In most cases, this will be a college or university. Independently operating organizations must consist of well-qualified college or university faculty or be clearly linked to a college or university.

-- FUNDING: The program awards three-year grants of $30,000�paid in annual installments of $10,000�to support the program costs of globally networked, locally acting metanexus groups who are dedicated to exploring the fundamental questions of life, the universe and humanity through the lens of multiple disciplines.