Ning Jiang, a Ph.D. student in the Bren School, works on her water filter projectNing Jiang, a second year student in the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management Ph.D. program, wants to bring clean drinking water to developing countries and she hopes to achieve that goal partly through crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding, that is, raising money for projects through multiple small donations, has gained popularity in the last few years. Through websites like Kickstarter, RocketHub, and IndieGoGo, anyone can propose a project, set a funding goal, and ask for support from the general project. High-profile projects raising money this way include retro video game sequels, Bluetooth-enabled watches, and comic book anthologies.
Last year, seeing the potential to fund science research in this way, Jai Ranganathan and Jarrett Byrnes, researchers at UCSB’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, launched the SciFund Challenge. Using the RocketHub platform, they helped 49 researchers set up projects and raise $76,230 from 1440 donors in a six-week period. Building off this success, the second round of the SciFund Challenge launched on May 1 with 75 projects proposed by researchers around the world, including Ning’s clean water project.
Ning got involved with clean water research when Safe Water International approached her adviser, Dr. Patricia Holden, about testing an affordable, versatile water filter to use in developing countries. Jiang was able to conduct small-scale tests, but to do a larger project she would need more funding. While she has applied for traditional grants, she thought the SciFund Challenge would be an interesting way to raise money for her project.
“Doing a one-time preliminary testing is easy and cheap, and my adviser was very kind to provide supplies. But to do a controlled, well-thought-out research project, I'll need much more funding,” Ning says. “Safe Water International is a wonderful, but small, non-profit run entirely by volunteers and it doesn't have a big budget.”
With an initial goal of $2,000, Ning was able to meet her target in less than three days, becoming one of the first SciFund projects to be fully funded this round. Even though her goal has been met, any amount over the target will also go to directly fund the project, allowing her to do additional testing of the filter's efficiency at removing pathogenic viruses. Check out her project page, Save lives, one filter at a time, for more information about the project or to contribute.
While raising money for the project is the primary goal of the SciFund Challenge, Ning has found many secondary benefits. “Crowdfunding is an excellent opportunity for us to get out of the nerd loop and really engage the public in our research projects,” she says. “Not everyone has the chance to, or wants to read scientific journals, but when I put my project in a short video, more people are likely to learn about it.” As she moves forward with the project she plans to engage her supporters by sending them regular email updates or starting a blog. Eventually, she hopes to incorporate the research into her dissertation and visit Malawi to see the filter in action.
Of the 75 projects in the SciFund challenge, five are by UCSB graduate students. Projects will be open for funding until May 31. Besides Ning’s project, check out the pages for:
- Living outside the snail, Ana Elisa Garcia, Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology
- Roads of the Ocean, Shaun Walbridge, Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology
- African Clawed Frogs: The Mysterious Invaders, Emily Wilson, Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology
- Can an abalone in a bag save two on the reef?, Tal Ben-Horin, Bren