Below are answers to some common questions about the 2023 AISL Awardee Meeting. If you have a question that is not answered here, please email revise@informalscience.org. Please email DRLAISL@nsf.gov if further clarification would be helpful regarding your meeting invitation.

1. Who is invited to the AISL Awardee meeting?

• One PI and one project community partner per AISL-funded project is invited to the AISL Awardee Meeting. If the PI cannot attend, they are encouraged to send a co-PI or other person in leadership to represent the project.
• For Collaborative Research awards, only the PI of the lead institution is invited. They can extend an invitation to one community partner.
  • As with all other awards, if the PI of a Collaborative Research award cannot attend, they are encouraged to send a co-PI or other person in leadership to represent the project.
  • Note: A Collaborative Research grant is one project made of multiple awards. For the AISL Awardee Meeting, Collaborative Research awards are represented by one PI and one community project, like all other projects.

2. Why are community partners invited to the AISL Awardee Meeting?

Integrally including community partners in the AISL Awardee Meeting is part of AISL’s commitment to equity within projects and to ensure that AISL-funded projects are informed by and relevant to their focal communities.

3.I have an AISL award, but it only funds the PI to attend the AISL Awardee Meeting. What are my options?

• Depending on what year your AISL award was made, your AISL award may or may not cover travel funding for both a PI and a community partner. If it does not, consider reallocating funds in your award budget to support a community partner's attendance.   This may include travel, hotel, etc., as well as the community partner’s time. There isn’t a registration fee for this meeting.
• Projects without allocated funding for a community partner to attend are still encouraged to include a community partner to enrich the meeting discussions.

4. I’m part of a Collaborative Research award. Who is invited? What are our options?

The invitation is for one PI (or PI representative) and one community partner per project--not per award—even for Collaborative Research awards. A Collaborative Research grant is one project made of multiple awards. Only the PI of the lead institution on a Collaborative Research project received an invitation and is invited to extend an invitation to one community partner.

If the PI chooses to send a PI from one of the non-lead awards, that is up to the PI and the team.

5. I am PI on multiple AISL awards. What are my options?

If you are a PI for multiple AISL awards, you may represent all of your projects OR select one to represent, while having co-PIs represent each additional project.  

You are encouraged to extend an invitation to one community partner per project to attend.

6. My AISL award is expired. Why did I get an invitation? Do I have to attend?

• The AISL program seeks to be inclusive with respect to who is invited to the AISL Awardee Meeting. In the past, AISL POs have received feedback from PIs with expired awards that they still want to attend the meeting. Thus, the invitation list includes all PIs who have had an AISL-funded award since the last AISL Awardee Meeting, which occurred in October of 2021. This includes awards that have expired. It is often exciting to have projects that are completed at the meeting to share your experiences and findings with projects that are in earlier stages of their work.

• If your award has expired, while you are welcome to attend, please note that there is not funding available from AISL for travel, hotel, etc., for PIs and community partners of at this time.  Feel free to ask for notification if this changes.

7. I don’t have AISL funding. Why am I invited? Do I have to attend?

• If AISL is contributing funding to your project, even as a secondary program, you are welcome to attend, if you would like.

• To see if AISL is contributing funds to your award, go to nsf.gov/Awardsearch. Enter your award number in Simple Search. Scroll down to NSF Program(s).  You should see AISL as one of the funding programs of your award, unless a mistake was made in the invitation list. Secondary program funding within NSF is common and is worked out via program officers. PIs are typically not involved in these processes.

• If AISL is a secondary funding source, while you are welcome to attend, please note that there is not funding available from AISL for travel, hotel, etc., for PIs and community partners of at this time.  Feel free to ask for notification if this changes.

8. Who pays for and books travel?

There is no fee to attend the event, but attendees must book and pay for their own travel and hotel. AISL project budgets should cover costs of awardee meeting attendance. 

A discounted hotel rate is available to registered attendees. REVISE has negotiated a block of rooms at the Hilton Arlington National Landing for $169 per night (below required per diem). Other hotels are available outside the Hilton but rooms have not been reserved. All registrants are responsible for paying for and reserving their hotel room after they complete their registration form.

Learn more about meeting logistical information.

9. Where is my mini-poster?

The deadline to submit your mini-poster was on November 8th to ensure that items were printed on time. All mini-posters will be made available on the repository following the 2023 Awardee Meeting. If you attended the 2023 AISL Awardee Meeting and would like to submit a poster to the repository, please follow these instructions and email your mini-poster to equity@informalsceince.org.