April 1st 2023 OBF Event Fellowship Application

[kipkurui]

OBF Event Fellowship Round:

• Round-1: 1 April
• Round-2: 1 August
• Round-3: 1 December

Before opening the call for application (minimum 6 weeks in advance)

7-8 weeks before the deadline:

• Update the application form with the correct date and application round-specific information (such as BOSC participation)
• Create a blog post for the announcement
• Get the board to review the blog, and when the majority agrees, publish the blog
• Cross-post announcements on Twitter, Slack, and newsletter (OBF or other projects)
• If possible, host a webinar to share tips and suggestions with the potential applicants

1-2 weeks before the deadline:

• Amplify the announcement
• Create a folder for the specific round (within the dedicated directory for event fund) in the OBF-board shared google drive (round-specific shared folder)
• Within that folder, create a copy of the rubric template to share with the board when the review begins
• Double check if any application has come through that may need to follow up for any missing detail

After the deadline

• Export the full application in a Google sheet and store it in the round-specific shared folder
• Create a new sheet in the file to replace the 'time stamp' column with a pseudo key for each applicant
• Copy the new sheet to another file for 'anonymised applications' -> remove columns with name, email, affiliation and any strongly identifiable information -> this will be shared with the board
• Share the link of this anonymised applications sheet on the copy of the review form that will be shared with the board
• Share a summary from this application round and ask for 3-4 volunteers from the board who are available to review applications
• Create new columns in the anonymised applications file to allocate applications to reviewers - make sure to have at least two reviewers per application
• Give 10-14 days for reviewers, after which create an overview of reviews (yes, no, maybe) to share with the board
• In case of conflict of interest or opposing review outcome, allocate review to an extra reviewer with 2-4 days of application review time
• For applications that need extra discussion, either set a meeting or bring it to the next board meeting
• Mediate discussion via email to conclude all applications by the end of 3 weeks after the deadline

After review

• Communicate the final decision based on review comments and the board's suggestion
• Email both the awarded and declined application - provide feedback where possible (email drafts in the shared folder)
• Help awardees to answer any questions they may have regarding the fellowship - refer to the (Travel_fellowships.md)[./Travel_fellowships.md] document for consistency
• And entry to the budget spreadsheet including any award cap

After an awardee finishes their event

• Create a WordPress account for them in the OBF website account (add a new user -> use name and email to create a profile -> give 'contributor access' -> create a user id and password to share)
• Email the awardee their WordPress user id and password with some information on how to log in and create a new post
• Ask awardees to share a draft for a blog post in a Google Doc or any editable file that board members can edit before publishing
• After review, ask the awardee to share the post in WordPress under draft mode
• Use Event fund tag and meaningful post title
• Shorten permalink (by default WordPress uses full title in link)
• When agreed, publish the post and share the link by email informing the treasurer to go ahead with the reimbursement process
• Share the link to the blog post on Twitter, Slack and the post for the next round of application
• Update the budget spreadsheet once the award is paid

See the full documentation for details: (Travel_fellowships.md)[./Travel_fellowships.md]

[nlharris]

Should we close this?

[peterjc]

Yes - but it could be turned into an issue template for each round, if @hzahroh or @kipkurui felt it would be useful?

[nlharris]

you're right, we should definitely save it somewhere as a template!