This should interest readers of this blog with a funding opportunity from Microsoft Fuse.

Request for Proposals – Peer Economy Research Awards

SCHEDULE AND DEADLINES

• RFP released: May 19, 2014
• Two-page proposal submission deadline: June 6, 2014
• Notification of results: Mid June, 2014

OVERVIEW

A number of technological platforms, often referred to as the “sharing economy,” are disrupting entrenched industries by enabling ordinary people to monetize excess resources such as cars, bedrooms, and skills. For instance, Uber, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit have challenged the status-quo in the hospitality, transportation, and staffing industries.

These platforms have the potential to create extra income opportunities for people, reduce the environmental cost of ownership, and foster interactions among co-located residents. At the same time, they challenge existing business practices, some of which were originally intended to protect public safety, health, and labor rights, among others. More broadly, the term “sharing economy” is in need for examination as these platforms most often involve the monetization of transactions that otherwise could have occurred in reciprocity networks.

Despite the Peer Economy’s increased visibility, size, and tensions, not much independent academic research has been done in this space. We are seeking to fund academic researchers who can investigate and problematize this phenomenon, especially in urban environments where they thrive, to answer questions such as:

• System Design. What sociotechnical tools or design interventions could help address or examine existing limitations of peer economy platforms? How might reputation systems be leveraged in new ways to recruit and engage communities of practice, to increase accountability and quality of labor? How could mentorship systems be leveraged to improve providers of labor over time?
• Urbanism. What are the impacts of generalized “ride sharing,” space rentals, and other forms of collaborative consumption in the lives of city residents?
• Economics. What are the economic impacts of different peer economy platforms across industries? What sort of industries are susceptible to disruption by peer economy platforms and in what ways? Can the peer economy be accessible to communities who may not have access to high value capital or excess resources?
• Altruism. How is altruistic sharing impacted by the introduction of peer economy platforms? Is there a crowding out effect?
• Regulation. What is the role of governmental and other forms of regulation in the peer economy?
• Infrastructure. How do peer economy platforms enhance or undermine public infrastructure? How do these platforms impact communities’ resilience?
• Data. What data from peer economy platforms can be leveraged to help communities? How can individuals’ privacy rights, societal benefits, and the platform’s own interest be reconciled?
• Environment. How does the peer economy change the nature of ownership? What are the environmental effects of these changes?
• Labor issues. How are labor rights undermined or redefined by these new income earning modalities? What new structures for collective action might emerge from the peer economy providers? What jobs are being displaced by peer economy platforms and what alternatives might emerge?

MONETARY AWARDS

We will offer unrestricted gift awards totaling up to $100,000 USD, made payable to the applicant’s institution.

ELIGIBILITY

We are especially welcoming of proposals that are cross-disciplinary. We recognize that the knowledge necessary to address this area may come from a wide range of methodologies and disciplines as diverse as computer science, urbanism, information science, sociology, design, legal studies, and economics. We welcome proposals that involve qualitative or quantitative data collection and analysis.

To be eligible, your institution and proposal must meet the following requirements.

• Institutions must have access to the knowledge, resources, and skills necessary to carry out the proposed research.
• The receiving institution must agree that awards are made as unrestricted gifts, and should provide the necessary tax documents shortly after being notified of the award.
• Applicants may be faculty, researchers, students and affiliates of institutions that are either an accredited degree-granting university with a non-profit status or a research institution with non-profit status
• Proposals that are incomplete will be excluded from the selection process.
• Institutions can be located inside or outside the United States.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

FUSE Labs at Microsoft Research shall have no obligation to maintain the confidentiality of any submitted proposals. Therefore, proposals should not contain information that is confidential, restricted, or sensitive. FUSE Labs reserves the right to make the winning proposals publicly available, except those portions containing budgetary or personally identifiable information.

To be considered for this award, submit a CV, and a project proposal (2 pages) via email at fuselabsaward@microsoft.com with the following basic information:

• Description and approach. What set of questions will be addressed? How will they be addressed? What are the methodological and theoretical approaches that the researchers will utilize?
• Related research. Briefly summarize and explain how your proposal is going to build on previous work  (references section are not counted towards the page limit).
• Budget and timeline. Describe how the award will be used, along with the milestones to measure the progress of the project. If the project described is part of a larger ongoing research program, estimate the time for completion of this project only.

SELECTION PROCESS AND CRITERIA

FUSE Labs reserves the right to fund winning proposals at an amount greater or lower than the amount requested, up to the stated maximum amount. We cannot provide individual feedback on proposals that are not funded.

All proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Addresses an important research question that, if answered, has the potential to have a impact on the peer economy.
• Potential for wide dissemination and use of knowledge, including specific plans for scholarly publications, public presentations, and white papers.
• Ability to complete the project including adequacy of resources available, reasonableness of timelines, and qualifications of identified contributors.
• Qualifications of principal investigator including previous history of work in the area, successful completion of previous funded projects, research or teaching awards, and publications

CONDITIONS

Funded researchers must seek approval of their institution’s review board for any work that involves human subjects.

FUSE Labs makes no claims on any of the data collected as a part of this research, but we encourage the researchers to publish their work broadly. Funded researchers do not need to seek FUSE Labs’ approval prior to publication.

ORGANIZERS

This RFP is being coordinated by Andrés Monroy-Hernández, researcher in FUSE Labs at Microsoft Research. For more information please email fuselabsaward@microsoft.com