The COS Funding Opportunities database contains over 25,000 domestic and international funding opportunities related to all academic areas including the arts, humanities, social sciences and physical sciences. COS is available to Berkeley faculty, other researchers, staff, and students.
COS has recently launched COS Pivot, a new web-based funding and collaboration tool that will eventually enhance the current COS Funding Opportunities database by providing a number of exciting new features that will make the search for funding, easier, more productive, and more collaborative.
COS Pivot is available to the Berkeley campus on a trial basis until the current campus COS subscription expires in the summer of 2012. COS Funding Opportunities will continue to be available in parallel for a limited time, probably only through the end of 2011.
COS Pivot Overview
COS Pivot will continue to allow searching the COS funding database as it has in the past, but now COS will direct faculty and other scholars to suggested funding opportunities and potential collaborators within UC Berkeley and at other institutions that match the scholar’s individual profile.
It is important for faculty and scholars to understand that the funding opportunities and potential collaborators that COS Pivot identifies will only be useful if the scholar’s individual profile is accurate. Therefore, faculty and scholars always should review and update the profile COS has created for them to ensure that the funding opportunities and collaborators based on this profile are valid. Existing profiles may be updated by submitting a CV. New profile content submitted is checked by COS editorial staff then used to update the profile database.
COS Pivot includes profiles for over three million scholars around the world, together with verified affiliation and publication information. Faculty and other scholars can use COS Pivot profiles to identify potential collaborators at UC Berkeley and at other institutions by using the expertise profiles in the system. Researchers with profiles will have access to a COS Pivot Advisor that lists funding opportunities based on their profile information.
COS Pivot also will allow individuals to create, organize and save searches on specific funding topics, receive automatic weekly email alerts on new funding opportunities based on these searches, share these funding searches with other individuals and groups both at UC Berkeley and at other institutions, and keep track of shared searches.
Getting Started
COS Pivot maybe be used from any campus-based computer for basic searches without setting up an account. UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to create a COS Pivot account to be able to log in from any location and have access to the tools for managing searches and opportunities. Faculty and scholars are also encouraged to then claim their profile or have one created. The more detail and the more accurate the profile, the better the funding opportunity matches. For guidance on COS profiles, see the COS Pivot Profile Overview and Creating and Updating Your Profile.
We encourage all Berkeley faculty, other researchers, staff, and students to use COS Pivot. Training and online tutorials are available from COS and an overview is provided on the SPO web site. We welcome feedback to help us evaluate the new service while the trial subscription is available. Please note that human interaction with the system is important to create better matches and search results, in particular when using the system-generated matches between expertise profiles and funding opportunities.
For more help or with question or problems, please contact Shelley Sprandel (spore@berkeley.edu or 2-8122). SPO will provide training for departments; department contacts may contact Shelley or Pam Miller (plfmiller@berkeley.edu) for more information and to set up a session.
