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AI Crisis Communications Pilot (Grenada) - Project Budget
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6-month project | All figures USD
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CategoryLine itemMinimum ($)Ideal ($)Rationale
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1. Researcher stipend
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Lead researcher time (est. 80-90 days over 6 months)$18,000$20,000Minimum covers approx. 80 days; ideal approx. 90 days across synthesis (15-20 days), scenario design and ethics (8-10), recruitment (5), fieldwork (15), analysis (12-15), report (10), playbook (6-8) and dissemination (5). Implied rate of approx. $222-225/day (approx. GBP 170), roughly one third of the my consulting rate, keeping researcher time under half the total budget.
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Subtotal$18,000$20,000
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2. Framework development
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Literature access, reference management software$400$500Paywalled journal access and citation tooling for the cross-disciplinary synthesis; minimal because much of the key material is open access (WHO, UKHSA, NIST, OECD).
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Expert review honoraria (2-4 reviewers)$300$600Honoraria for 2-4 external experts (e.g. a crisis communications academic and a behavioural scientist) to spend 2-3 hours each reviewing the draft framework and pilot instruments before fieldwork. Substitutes for the departmental peer review an institutional researcher would receive free
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Subtotal$700$1,100
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3. Piloting and data collection
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Travel and accommodation (Trinidad to Grenada, 1-2 trips)$3,200$4,200Budgeted from London: international return flight (approx. $900-1,100), 2-3 weeks accommodation and local transport for fieldwork. Ideal allows a second shorter visit for validation.
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Participant incentives (80-100 participants)$2,400$3,000Approx. $30 per participant. Minimum covers 80 participants, the floor committed to in the application; ideal covers 100. Incentives are essential for recruiting across socio-economic backgrounds, not just students.
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Workshop venues and refreshments (3-4 scenario workshops)$1,000$1,400Community venue hire plus refreshments. Ideal allows a fourth workshop to reach lower-AI-literacy or rural participants.
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Local research assistant / facilitation support$1,800$2,500A local RA (potentially an SGU student) for recruitment logistics, workshop facilitation and note-taking. Minimum covers fieldwork weeks only; ideal extends support through analysis. Builds local research capacity, strengthening the Global South framing.
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Academic collaborator honorarium and SGU support costs$2,000$3,500Primarily an honorarium recognising Professor Grenade's time and methodological input, plus a contribution toward university facilities and administrative support for recruitment through SGU channels. Deliberately weighted upward: adequately recognising the local collaborator is critical to delivery and to the capacity-building aims of the project.
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Materials, printing and localisation of test messages$400$600Printed scenario materials, visuals, adaptation of message templates for local context (a core variable being tested), and basic audio recording equipment for workshops.
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Subtotal$10,800$15,200
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4. Analysis, validation and refinement
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Transcription of workshop audio$200$300AI-assisted transcription tools (approx. $10-20/month). Residual researcher time to verify transcripts for local dialect and phrasing accuracy is covered in the stipend; accuracy matters because language is a tested variable.
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Qualitative analysis software$300$500Survey collection via free platforms (e.g. Tally). Covers a qualitative analysis software licence (MAXQDA or ATLAS.ti flexible licence, approx. $50-100/month) for coding workshop data. AI research tool subscriptions are self-funded by the researcher as an in-kind contribution.
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Validation session with participants/stakeholders-$700A follow up session presenting preliminary findings to a participant subset and local stakeholders. Cut first if funds are tight, but strengthens validity and is good practice in under-researched settings.
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Subtotal$500$1,500
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5. Knowledge translation and dissemination
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Professional design and layout of playbook and report$250$600Canva Pro plus AI-assisted layout keeps costs low; ideal adds a small freelance polish of the final playbook, since design quality affects whether operational crisis teams take the tool seriously.
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Dissemination: briefings to OECS, CDEMA and stakeholders$700$1,200Primarily regional travel to present findings at one OECS/CDEMA relevant meeting, plus briefing materials including a short policy brief (2-4 pages), the format regional bodies and crisis teams most readily consume. Webinar hosting is near-zero cost
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Subtotal$950$1,800
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6. Project management and research infrastructure
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Ethics review fee (SGU IRB or equivalent)$400$500Human subjects research requires ethics approval
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Insurance, admin and communication tools$300$400Fieldwork and travel insurance
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Contingency (5% of direct costs)$683$1,025Calculated as exactly 5% of all direct costs (all lines excluding the researcher stipend). Covers weather disruption to Caribbean travel, participant no-shows requiring re-recruitment and exchange rate movement
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Subtotal$1,383$1,925
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TOTAL$32,333$41,525
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Notes: Minimum column (approx. $32.3k) is the leanest budget delivering the full committed scope: 80 participants, 3 workshops, both outputs and the SGU partnership. Ideal column (approx. $41.5k) adds the 100-participant target, a fourth workshop, a validation session, expert review of the framework and design polish of the outputs. All figures USD. Contingency is formula-driven at 5% of direct costs. Blue cells are inputs; all subtotals, contingency and totals recalculate automatically.
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