open-source-grant-commitment-letter.md

Open Source Grant Commitment Letter

Pattern Summary

Support faculty and research grant proposals with a commitment letter from the OSPO relating to open source and open requirements.

Problem / Challenge

• Funders increasingly require funded research to make research outputs publicly available.
• Faculty and researchers may not know how best to demonstrate that their publications, data and/or software will meet these requirements in their funding applications.

Pattern Category

• Demonstrating value as an Academic OSPO
• Funding & Financial Support
• OSS Advocacy & Policy

Context

A university or research institution that submits grant proposals to federal, state or private funding sources.

Faculty and researchers are applying for grants with open source requirements.

An OSPO with the resources/capacity to supply grant commitment letters (that meet funding application deadlines) and to provide guidance and support to address open requirements after grants are awarded.

Forces

Teams working on proposals face competing pressures and time constraints when submitting proposals and their primary concern is the proposal narrative and budget.

Other components of a grant application (e.g. open source, OSS) may be outside their area of expertise and/or their area of concern.

Solution

Provide a standard commitment letter to researchers to include in their grant applications. The template should be easy to tailor for each new grant.

Sample Letter of Commitment

Dear Review Panel

If the proposal submitted by [NAME OF RESEARCHER/FACULTY MEMBER] entitled [NAME OF PROJECT] is selected for funding, it is my intent to collaborate and/or commit resources as detailed in the Project Description or the Facilities, Equipment, or Other Resources section of the proposal.

Sincerely

[NAME]

[ROLE]

[NAME OF OSPO]

Resulting Context

Offering support with grant proposals develops and strengthens relationships with faculty, researchers and students.

Possibly better reactions from reviewers interested in the open source components of proposals.

Additional learning from The George Washington University OSPO

The initial outcome of this commitment letter is appreciation and education from researchers. We are also connecting more closely with our Office of the Vice President for Research and demonstrating the value of the OSPO to university leadership. We have just started this work, so we do not have evidence to show if these commitment letters are improving our chances of winning grants.

Known Instances

• The GW Open Source Program Office, The George Washington University
• CMU Open Source Program Office, CMU Libraries, Carnegie Mellon University
• The UT Austin OSPO, The University of Texas at Austin
• UW-Madison Open Source Program Office, Data Science Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison

References

• Embedding the OSPO as Research Infrastructure - pattern from the UT Austin OSPO.
• Supporting grant proposals with an open source component - pattern from the CMU Open Source Program Office.

Contributors & Acknowledgement

• David Lippert (The George Washington University) https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6444-9595
• Ciara Flanagan https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3153-7673