Organizational Overview

Mozilla’s mission is to ensure the Internet is a global public resource, open and accessible to all. Our global network of technologists, thinkers and builders work for a healthier Internet through core issues like: privacy and security, open innovation, decentralization, web literacy, and digital inclusion. Mozilla stands at the center of a complex web of people around the world, our focus for is to connect more people to each other to take action on Internet health.

The Mozilla Science Lab seeks to identify, support and develop a community of leaders in the network with the aim to transform research and the culture around science to make it more accessible, transparent, and reproducible.  MSL specifically focuses on making publicly funded research more open, collaborative, and beneficial by maximizing access and contribution to papers, data, code, and materials. We work to remove barriers -lack of familiarity with tools, skills gaps, and isolation – to make it easier for individuals and communities to make the leap to open practice.

Purpose of the Grant Program

Bridging the gap between early adopters of open science and the many scientists who value, but don’t have time to invest in learning about open is key to moving from science to open science. The 2017 MSL mini grant program invites applicants to submit project ideas that foster innovation and ultimately lead to more robust prototypes and products by expanding and enhancing the community of scientists who are working open.  Supported projects will focus on one or more of the following:

• Prototyping – Building tools or documentation collaboratively with others. This can be open source code, documentation, tools and technologies used in data-driven science, scientific software, discovery tools (e.g., ways of searching code, hosting services, etc.)
• Community Building – These might include mentorship programs, workshops, meet-ups or other events that promote community engagement.
• Curriculum – Materials might include text, visuals, and video for online or in-person training.

All projects should specifically reflect priorities that enhance our broader community efforts toward open innovation, efficiency in regards to practicing open science (lower barriers, ease of use & integration, etc), and reproducibility (transparent research methods & results).

Eligibility Criteria

• Open to all individuals regardless of geographic location or institutional affiliation.
• All materials must be open source, shared under a Creative Commons license of CC-0 or CC-BY, when licensing is required.
• Proposals must address one of three key areas: Prototyping, Community Building, or Curriculum. The brief application will require that they reflect an understanding of the work we are currently doing and articulate their own efforts within the needs of the broader community.

Guidelines/Instructions

Grant awards will range from $2,000 – $5,000 USD.
Grant-funded projects or activities should take place between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018.
Applications may be submitted for projects lasting up to 12 months.
Final reports will be due 30 days after the end of the proposed project period.

Deadline for entries will be Friday, June 2nd, 2017.

Selection will take place in time for award announcement by July 30th, 2017.

Application instructions

Fill out the application form here: https://mozilla-science-lab.forms.fm/mozilla-science-mini-grant-application

Please contact sciencelab@mozillafoundation.org if you have any questions.

Funding Decisions

The Mozilla Science Team staff and our advisors will review applications and evaluate them according to guidelines reflecting priorities that enhance the broader community efforts for innovation, efficiency in regards to practicing open science (lower barriers, ease of use & integration, etc), and reproducibility (transparent research methods & results).

Not funded

MSL mini grants cannot be used to support:

• Political campaigns and lobbying activities.
• Fundraising activities
• scholarships or tuition assistance.

These grants are made possible through the generous support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; awardees should provide acknowledgement of the support of Mozilla and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in any events or materials produced using grant funds.