IRIS is designed to be used from or through computers at subscribing institutions.

We do not enable commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for IRIS access. This means that you cannot use IRIS directly through your personal Internet Service Provider (you can, however, access IRIS through a proxy server at a subscribing institution; see below). Attempts to search IRIS through your personal Internet account will almost certainly result in an "access denied..." message.

There are two ways to access IRIS from off site:

1. Dial into your institution's server computer. Your computing or network services office can provide the server computer's telephone number. Once you have connected to the Internet through your institution's server computer, you should be able to use IRIS normally.

2. Point your Web browser to a proxy Web server at your institution (IRIS does not have your instiution's proxy server information). The proxy server will ask you for your personal network ID and password that have been assigned to you by your institution. Once you provide these, the server will enable you to connect to IRIS (and other proprietary online resources) just as if you were working from an on-site computer. Many colleges and universities have proxy servers for precisely this reason, but some don't. To find out whether your institution does, try contacting the library.

I've entered my Expertise profile information but don't see my profile.

After you enter your information for the Expertise profile, the adminstrator at your institution must approve it before it can be seen.

There has been some confusion expressed over the display of past deadlines or the absence of any deadline. This note is meant to explain these occurrences, but if you have further questions, please contact us via email and we'll be happy to address them.

I've found a grant opportunity, but there's no deadline listed.

Grant opportunities listed in IRIS are re-occurring, more or less annually. When there is a deadline with a past date, it means that you've missed out on this year's opportunity, but there is a high likelihood that the opportunity will be available next year. It also means that before that deadline comes around again, we'll update the deadline date and any other information we find. Sometimes this date will be more than a year past. This usually indicates the opportunity is bi-annual or is on a two or more year cycle - see the record for more information.

If there is a plus sign (+) next to a date, it means that we're aware of more than one upcoming or listed deadline. If the date displayed is past but this sign is present, check the record for additional deadlines.

If no date is found listed in the deadline field it could be one of two things. The first, and most common, is that the sponsor has not set a deadline and accepts applications or inquiries all year round. The second possibility is that we know the opportunity is open, but the sponsor has not yet indicated what the next deadline will be.

As always, if you have questions about the posted deadlines or have any other question in regards to IRIS please email us (iris@library.uiuc.edu) or call us (217)333-9893.

How do I search for international opportunties?

If you have international interests, there are currently a few ways of using keywords to find funding opportunities.

When searching for opportunities that require study, research, travel, or some other activity IN a foreign country or region, use the relevant country name or region of interest in the search. These keywords are located in the Geographic Location Topic Area. When searching for opportunities that require research or study ABOUT a foreign country or region, use the appropriate area studies keyword under the Area Studies Topic Area.

For example, if you were wanting to study Consumer Economics IN China, your key words would be: {China (Peoples Republic of)} or {Consumer Economics} - (33 results posted on 12/7/2005).

But if you were studying the Consumer Economics OF China, your key words would be: {Chinese Studies} or {Consumer Economics} - (28 results posted on 12/7/2005).

Some of these results may over-lap, because you could obviously study the Consumer Economics OF China IN China.