Explaining Decision Categories

Weiss Fund applications receive one of four decisions from the committee: Fund (Partial or Conditional), Revise and Resubmit, or Reject. Each category is described below.

Explaining Categories of Decisions for Weiss Fund Applications

  • Fund: Projects are funded as proposed.
    • Partial Fund: The committee agrees to fund one or more discrete components of a project while excluding others it finds less promising. Only the budget corresponding to the funded components is awarded.
    • Conditional fund: The committee decides to fund the project conditional on resolving certain specific issues. 
  • Revise and resubmit: The project shows promise but requires substantial revision. These projects are encouraged to apply again if they can address the comments from the committee. Project funding is not guaranteed  when reapplying; the next committee will make that determination. If projects are time sensitive, applicants may let us know and apply off-cycle, but we cannot guarantee that they will hear back before the next committee meeting. Of R&Rs that were subsequently resubmitted and received a decision, about 48% were funded.
  • Reject: The project is denied funding in the current call. Researchers can reapply for the same project but are not actively encouraged to do so. Researchers can reapply with a rejected project only once. If researchers reapply for the same project, they should attach previous comments and explain how they’ll address them. For similar but revised projects, applicants should clarify what has changed and attach responses to prior comments. Approximately 13% of projects resubmitted after a rejection receive funding on their next attempt.