Competitive funding from Research & Innovation
Research & Innovation provides competitive opportunities to fund scientific research, as well as creative and scholarly activities. These funding opportunities are intended to promote collaborative research, competitive resubmissions, and critical seed funding to support the research careers of the University’s faculty. With one exception, internal funding opportunities are open to faculty across all disciplines, and Seed Funding specifically supports multi-disciplinary research teams. Only faculty from the College of Liberal Arts or the Reynolds School of Journalism are eligible to apply for Dimensions funding as a lead PI.
Applications for all internal funding opportunities are due by 5 p.m. on the last Friday of March to avpr@unr.edu.
Some internal grants require matching funds. These matching funds may come from a faculty member’s Start Up Funds, from their F&A account, from their department or from their college. If matching funds are required, your application must include a letter that details where those funds will come from and a commitment of the budgeted amount to your project.
If you have any questions, please contact avpr@unr.edu.
A special note about travel: R&I will not consider applications for travel grants through the end of 2021. Faculty Travel Grants, including the travel component of the Dimensions Grant, will be reinstated in 2022.
| Time period | Internal funding information |
|---|---|
|
January |
All internal funding opportunities from Research & Innovation will be announced in an email to the ResearchNotes list serve each January. |
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March |
Applications are due by 5 p.m. on the last Friday in March of each year. Applications may be submitted between Jan. 30 and the last Friday in March of each year. |
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May |
Notification of awards will be made by the first week in May of each year. |
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July 1 – June 30 |
The period of performance for all awards will be from July 1 to June 30 of each year unless an exception is requested and granted in writing. |
Review process
All applications for funding from Research & Innovation, with the exception of Dimensions grants, will be reviewed by an external review service and evaluated on the following criteria. Please see the details within the Dimensions grant description for information about that review process.
Review criteria
- Intellectual merit
- Clarity and presentation
- Feasibility
- Benefits to the researcher
- Potential to lead to future external funding
- Potential to lead to further interdisciplinary research
The external review service ranks applications against each other in the same category and provides comments on the relative merit of each proposal. The Associate Vice President for Research and the Vice President for Research and Innovation review the comments and ranking recommendations from the external review service before making the final determination.
Funding opportunities from Research & Innovation
Summary
This funding opportunity supports production costs. All academic faculty with a research expectation and who have a contract to produce scholarly or creative work, such as a book, monograph or multimedia work are eligible to apply.
Maximum anticipated funding amount
Up to $1,000
Due date
Last Friday in March by 5 p.m. emailed to avpr@unr.edu
What is covered
Budgets up to $1,000 (alternatively up to 30% of the total cost, whichever is lowest) may be requested to defray costs associated with book subventions, copyright costs, CD/music/video production costs, etc.
Special requirements
Matching funds are required. The amount of matching funds must be equal to the amount requested from Research & Innovation (a 1:1 match).
Deliverables
- Awardees must supply a copy of the product to the University Libraries and Teaching & Learning Technologies.
- Awardees must present at the annual Research & Innovation showcase poster session.
Application
The application must consist of:
- Standard cover page
- Proposal, up to three pages, that includes:
- Description of the project
- Expected Outcomes
- Timeline for completion
- A copy of the publisher’s/company’s contract
- Standard budget and justification
- Letter detailing where the matching funds will come from and committing those funds to this project
- CV or biosketch in the format customary in the field
Download the templates for the standard cover page and the standard budget/justification.
Summary
Research Enhancement Grants (REG) provide funding for activities that will lead to a successful resubmission of a proposal to an external sponsor. This opportunity seeks applications from faculty members who plan to resubmit a proposal that was submitted to, but not funded by, a federal agency (NSF/NIH/NEH/DOD/DOE/DOT/etc.).
Maximum anticipated funding amount
Up to $20,000
Due date
Last Friday in March by 5 p.m. emailed to avpr@unr.edu
What is covered
Equipment is not an allowable expense unless it is supported by cost share from the department or college. For NIH resubmissions, only a first resubmission will be accepted.
Special considerations
Funding requests should not exceed $20,000. If funding above that amount is necessary, a letter must be included that details where the additional funds will come from and commits them to your project.
Deliverables
- Awardees must submit their revised proposal to an external review agency prior to resubmission to the sponsor.
- Resubmission of the proposal to the same or a different agency during the project period but not later than six months after the close of the project period.
- PI must notify Research & Proposal Development Service, avpr@unr.edu, upon completion of this requirement. The Associate Vice President for Research will submit a letter to the PI’s dean and department chair once this notification has been received.
- Awardees must present at the annual Research & Innovation showcase poster session.
Application
The application must consist of:
- Standard cover page
- The entire original submission (including personnel documents, budget and narrative)
- Funding agency reviewers’ comments and panel summary
- Proposal, up to three pages, that includes
- A brief summary of the reviewers’ comments and a brief response to them.
- Your plan for modifying your research proposal in response to the resubmitted proposal reviewers’ comments and panel summary.
- An explanation of how the funds requested from Research & Innovation will enable specific research activities necessary to address reviewers’ comments.
- An explanation of how the funds requested from Research & Innovation will enhance the competitiveness of your resubmitted proposal and lead to a successful submission to the sponsor.
- Timeline for completion of the project.
- Standard budget and justification
- If your budget exceeds $20,000, you must include a letter that details where the additional funds will come from and commits them to your project.
Download the templates for the standard cover page and the standard budget/justification.
Summary
Research & Innovation offers competitive funding to promote interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research, and scholarly and creative work. Seed Funding can provide the resources for new collaborative scholarly activities that span traditional academic disciplines.
Research & Innovation offers Seed Funding in two competitive tracks. 100% matching funds are required for both tracks (a 1:1 match).
- Micro Grant track of the Seed Funding awards a maximum of $5,000.
- New Scholarly Endeavor Grant track of the Seed Funding awards a maximum of $2,500.
Maximum anticipated funding amount
Up to $5,000 for Micro Grants
Up to $2,500 for New Scholarly Endeavor Grants
Due date
Last Friday in March by 5 p.m. emailed to avpr@unr.edu
What is covered
This award will not cover travel.
Special considerations
Matching funds are required. The amount of matching funds must be equal to the amount requested from Research & Innovation (a 1:1 match).
Deliverables
- Awardees must present at the annual Research & Innovation showcase poster session.
- Preparation of a proposal to external funding, and submission of that proposal to an external review service.
- Submission of a proposal for funding to an external sponsor.
Application
The application must consist of:
- Standard cover page
- Proposal, up to three pages, that includes:
- The objective of the new proposed work
- A detailed description of the new activities to be pursued
- The novelty of the proposed collaborative approach
- How the proposed outcomes will advance the collaborative scholarly pursuits of the faculty members involved
- Potential funding sources that will sustain the new scholarly activities once this proposed work has been completed. If none, how will the new collaborative scholarly activity be sustained?
- Timeline for completion of the project
- Standard budget and justification
- Letter detailing where the matching funds will come from and committing those funds to this project
- CV or biosketch in the format customary in the field
Download the templates for the standard cover page and the standard budget/justification.
Research & Innovation has teamed up with the College of Liberal Arts and the Reynolds School of Journalism to offer funding that supports the research and creative activity of tenure/tenure-track faculty in CLA and RSJ. All projects must be led by a tenure/tenure-track faculty in either CLA or RSJ.
Faculty may request up to $8,000 to support collaborative and interdisciplinary research and creative projects. In general, collaborative and/or interdisciplinary projects that have the potential to be eligible for future external funding will be prioritized.
Maximum anticipated funding amount
Up to $8,000
Due date
Last Friday in March by 5 p.m. emailed to avpr@unr.edu
What is covered
Funding supports interdisciplinary research projects, symposia or public discussions that aim to advance connections between the humanities, arts, social sciences and/or journalism with STEM, medicine, business or other professional fields. Funds may also support collaborative research or creative work between two or more faculty in the same or different departments within the CLA or RSJ. This funding could be used as seed money for developing the early stages of a collaborative scholarly or creative project (e.g. data collection or project design) that might lead to an application for a more substantial external grant. This program may fund equipment or materials purchases related to the project, as well as participant support costs or graduate/undergraduate student assistance. Funds may be used to support travel related expenses.
Funds may not be used to cover course buyouts or summer salary.
Special considerations
The lead PI must be a faculty member from CLA or RSJ. Faculty from other units may be co-PIs or other types of collaborators. Approval from the PI’s dean must be provided if collaborators from other institutions are included.
If the lead PI has Start Up Funds, they are ineligible for Dimensions funding.
Special consideration: Evaluation
Applications for Dimensions grants will be evaluated by the Scholarly and Research Activities Committee, a standing committee within the College of Liberal Arts, joined by one faculty member from the Reynolds School of Journalism who will be appointed by the RSJ Dean, as well as one member of Research and Proposal Development Services. The evaluation committee will be overseen by the Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Resource Management in the College of Liberal Arts. The committee will forward its recommendations to the Associate Vice President for Research. The final selection of awards will be made by the Vice President for Research and Innovation.
Deliverables
- A one-page report, submitted within three months of the end of the project, summarizing outcomes.
- Awardees must present at the annual Research & Innovation showcase poster session.
- All award recipients should acknowledge the support from the University of Nevada, Reno in all publications, monographs, presentations, exhibitions, videos, recordings, websites and other projects or activities stemming from the award.
Application
The application must consist of:
- Standard cover page
- Proposal, up to three pages, that includes:
- A summary of the research or creative project
- Role of each collaborator and their contributions to the project
- Timeline for completion of the project
- A short discussion on the external funding for which the applicant has already applied or plans to apply for in order to support continued development of the project
- Standard budget and justification
- CV or biosketch in the format customary in the field
- Letter of support from the PI and co-PI’s department chair with the dean’s endorsement.
Download the templates for the standard cover page and the standard budget/justification.
We encourage academic faculty to engage in travel that will have clear outcomes linking to the University’s strategic goals and a positive impact for their department. These grants provide travel funding resources for faculty and are processed in cycles throughout the year.
The current application cycle for Faculty Travel Grants is on hold through the end of 2021 but will restart in 2022. This page will be updated with a new application process for the 2022 cycles.