Funding for Minerva basic research comes from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Importantly, this means findings coming from the work should be generalizable across time, geopolitical regions, and/or other socio-cultural domains. In other words, the research should have predictive value and should contain useful lessons learned. It is often very challenging in the Social Sciences to meet this generalizability requirement in a compelling (valid) way because arguments from situation(s) X to situation(s) Y are usually based on correlational, rather than experimental, analysis. As a consequence many variables of uncertain impact differentiate among the complex socio-cultural situations of interest. Given this challenge, it is critical that every effort is made, in terms of the research questions asked and the approaches taken to address them, to understand and minimize the impacts of confounding or potentially contaminating contrasts across situations. Considerable thought and space should be given to this issue in the formal proposal. 

Please make clear what in your focus and your approach is novel. What new does your proposed work bring to the disciplinary table? What novel insights might they provide to DoD decision-makers? Why are these insights important? 

Very clearly state how and in what senses your proposed methods provide a compelling test of your theoretical ideas or hypotheses. 

If your work relies on access to particular data sets that are not generally and openly available, please include in the proposal either a strategy by which you would gain access or a statement from the organization/individual controlling the data set indicating they will provide access.

When is the next opportunity to apply for a grant?

The Funding Opportunity Announcement for new Minerva research will be available on Grants.gov in February 2017. The topics of interest are available under Research Priorities.

How many Minerva proposals are expected to be funded in the current FOA?

The number and size of awards is dependent each year on the budget Congress appropriates. In the 2016 competition, Minerva made 11 awards, ranging from $125 K to $750 K per year for three years.

As many know, the funding landscape remains highly uncertain. We are working hard to anticipate the budget climate but likely will not know the exact number of projects selected for awards until the review process of full proposals is already underway or complete. Whatever happens, we will work to optimize our resources over the proposals received and support as many of the new projects as possible.

How large are Minerva awards?

Typical Minerva awards range from around $150 K to $1 M per year, for three years in most cases. Factors impacting budget include the number of key researchers, international field work required, data collection and annotation needs, scope of research questions tackled, and other project-specific contexts. Cost of the project is largely evaluated not in terms of total cost but rather value – the cost in relation to expected outputs and impact.

It often makes sense for project size to be correlated to perceived relevance to the Department. For example, identifying more reliable ways to measure state fragility would have value for national security, but perhaps not large consortia-team value. More expensive projects in general should be more innovative, more interdisciplinary with top experts, and addressing some critical question that has many broad unknowns (but still a strong foundation from which to start.) Smaller projects are generally more narrowly focused, targeting hard but well defined questions. Proposals with small budgets come with the natural advantage that, if it is deemed of adequate quality and relevance, fitting it into the total Minerva budget may be done with more flexibility.

What are Minerva's award selection criteria?

Solicitations for new Minerva research are conducted through the Department of Defense Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) mechanism. Five criteria for Minerva, specified in the FOA, form the basis for source selection:

• Technical merit
• Relevance
• Impact (e.g. to the field, by training students, by having strong government outreach plans, etc.)
• PI qualifications
• Cost: Value

How are proposals evaluated?

Minerva grants are selected through a two-stage solicitation process. Proposers first submit a white paper (four-page mini-proposal) corresponding to one or more topics defined as being of interest. From this pool, a subset of proposers is invited to submit a full proposal. Full proposal submissions are then reviewed by panels of:

• Defense Science & Technology program managers and researchers;
• Defense policy and operations experts; and
• DoD-external academic researchers.

This diverse set of inputs helps to optimize award selection over a number of constraints. Peer review is an important tool for ensuring that the research to be funded is of the highest quality, and is the motivation of including DoD-external academic researchers in the panels. Research program managers in the Army, Air Force, and Navy have advanced academic training in relevant disciplines, but are also trained to spot the types of high-risk, high-reward opportunities important to the Minerva program but are often eliminated in consensus-based peer review processes. Finally, as a DoD basic research program, the Minerva Research Initiative aims to fund research generating insights that may help leadership identify and mitigate sources of present and future conflict. Including perspectives from defense policy and operational experts helps the review panels focus their recommendations on quality research that will also contribute to those problems most critical for national and global security.

How many institutions should be part of a proposed project to warrant a large team application?

There is no set rule, but in general the higher category should involve several distinct disciplines (two or more) and at least two key investigators. The research questions addressed should extend across a fairly broad range of (interrelated) issues, where there is clear potential synergy among the contributions of the disciplines represented on the team.

It is important to justify why a five year project has been proposed, rather than a three year effort that could be continued later through follow-up proposals. How would Years 4 and 5’s research relate to the larger project goals, and what additional insights/impact would they provide?

Is there a preference for collaborative work over single investigator awards?

Minerva does fund awards to university-employed single investigators (as do individual military service research organizations), but most of its awards go to support multidisciplinary efforts, either through small teams or via larger research consortia.

What research outputs are expected?

All Minerva research is unclassified and by federal policy is not subjected to any restrictions on publication or participation by foreign nationals. It is expected that copies of all products emerging from Minerva-supported research, such as academic papers, will be shared with the Minerva program staff.

All publications should acknowledge Minerva Research Initiative support through language such as: “This project was supported through the Minerva Research Initiative, in partnership with [relevant Service partner issuing grant] under grant number [award_number].” Posters and other publications should include reference to the Minerva program and/or Minerva program logo.

During the course of research, Minerva researchers are encouraged to produce 800-word policy briefs -- analytical summaries articulating the broader relevance of the findings presented in these academic papers – sharable within the government and/or others interested.

Who should serve as Principal Investigator?

The principal investigator should be the person who will be responsible for the execution and administration of the project. It doesn't matter whether that person is the lead of the unit in the performing institution. The important issue is the person's expertise and ability to oversee the project. This can be articulated in both the management plan and evident in the person's CV.

Past Minerva awards have gone to nationally-renowned long-time faculty and assistant professors alike. Proposals led by big-name PIs with little planned direct involvement in the proposed work will have no advantage over projects led by younger faculty with a solid publication record with experience working with and/or leading research teams.

As outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates indicated in his April 14, 2008 speech to the Association of American Universities, one of the key components of the Minerva Research Initiative is its commitment to complete openness and rigid adherence to academic freedom and integrity. As such, there are no restrictions on the nationality of faculty or students who are eligible to participate in any of the components of the Minerva Research Initiative.

Are non-US institutions eligible to receive Minerva funds?
Yes. Funds can be awarded to institutions outside the US. However, normal restrictions on U.S. Government funding in certain countries still apply.

Are non-profit institutions and commercial entities eligible to submit proposals to the Minerva FOA?
The Minerva Research Initiative was initiated by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as a university-based social science research program, and university research remains the program's emphasis. However, non-profit institutions and commercial entities are eligible to compete and receive Minerva basic research funding as collaborators in university-led team proposals.

Can a single higher education institution submit more than white paper if they are interested in more than one topic area? Can a commercial subcontractor be on more than one higher education team -- e.g., different teams dealing with different topic areas?
Investigators may submit multiple proposals to the Minerva FOA, though the concepts presented must be distinct and the differences clear.

Are current Minerva researchers eligible to submit white papers/full proposals in this solicitation?
Current Minerva researchers are eligible to submit new proposals both as lead PIs and as collaborators for both small team and large consortium proposals. These proposals are NOT intended to be renewal proposals to augment existing work and will be competed on equal footing with other research proposals. It is expected that the proposals will be clearly distinct from ongoing work.

Minerva grantees whose period of performance is set to expire prior to January 2018 should re-compete in the FY17 Minerva competition. In this case it is expected that budget estimates for Year 1 will take the existing funding into account unless clearly distinct new efforts are demonstrated.

What if a Minerva grant has already been funded at my organization?
Groups otherwise eligible to propose to Minerva remain eligible even if they or their peers already receive Minerva funding. Again, proposed concepts should be clearly distinct from other Minerva efforts.

Can graduate students submit research proposals?
Policies on who can be a principal investigator on a grant vary by the military service executing the Minerva grant, but in general the university PI must be a professor or research staff at minimum. We encourage students with Minerva research ideas to work with their advisors or other faculty to submit a proposal.

Will awards only be made to teams, or also to single investigators?
While the intent of the initiative is to build consortia and increase the capacity to conduct social science research, outstanding ideas proposed by single investigators affiliated with universities will be considered.

Are independent researchers eligible to apply for Minerva awards?
No. DoD awards grants to institutions, not individuals, and thus a researcher must have a university affiliation to apply for a Minerva grant. To determine if your affiliation qualifies, contact your university’s research office.

Are DoD educational institutions eligible to participate and receive funds?
DoD educational institutions that grant degrees in social sciences are eligible to participate and receive funds from the Minerva program. Teaching faculty at defense education institutions such as service academies and war colleges are also encouraged to consider proposing to the Minerva R-DEF program.

Are DoD regional centers (such as the Marshall Center) eligible to participate and receive funds?
DoD Regional Centers for Security Studies are eligible to participate and receive funds as a prime awardee if they are affiliated with a degree-granting institution such as National Defense University (NDU). Otherwise, they may partner with a university on proposals. They are also eligible for funds through Minerva's R-DEF program.