Collaborative Research Grant RFP

Fall 2017

This is to announce a call for internal Letters of Intent for the 4-VA Collaborative Research Grants Program. The 4-VA collaborative is a program between Virginia Tech, James Madison University, University of Virginia, Old Dominion University, and George Mason University whose mission is to promote inter-university collaborations that leverage the strengths of each partner university in order to accomplish much more than any individual university could achieve alone.

This grant program seeks to increase the prevalence and intensity of research collaboration between institutions within the commonwealth; increase funding awarded to Virginia faculty and universities; increase scholarly impact of Virginia faculty and universities; and increase student participation in original scholarship, especially those from diverse backgrounds and at non 4-VA institutions.

Collaborative research grants are intended to improve research competitiveness within the commonwealth by providing funding for faculty teams to engage in pilot research which could be used as a springboard for subsequent external funding (e.g., federal or foundation grants). Proposals involving only one faculty member will not be considered; collaboration with researchers at another public or private university, research institution, or campus location in Virginia is strongly encouraged, but not required.

It is anticipated that a total of $250,000 will be awarded with a maximum requested of $30,000 per proposal. Funding can be requested for up to two years.

Apply Online

Application Eligibility

These research grants are open to all UVA and UVA-Wise faculty. Faculty may name staff or graduate students as Co-PIs and are encouraged to include undergraduate and graduate students on their research teams.

Instructions for submitting the Letter of Intent

To apply, click on the “Apply” button at the top right-hand side of the page. You will login to the system using NetBadge. If the PI is submitting the Letter of Intent, the PI’s name and email will already be filled in. If you are submitting the proposal on behalf of the PI, please fill in the PI’s name and email address (use the PI’s UVA ID, not an email alias). Enter the proposal title, the list of participating faculty (name and Department), and a short (no more than 1 paragraph) description of the planned proposal. This information will be used to help develop the internal review panel, if necessary. An individual may only submit one Letter of Intent. If you need to submit LOIs on behalf of multiple applicants, please email limited-submission-vpr@virginia.edu for assistance.

Faculty submitting LOIs will be contacted with instructions for submission of application materials. The application must contain the following:

  • A title page which includes the proposed project title, a list of the project team (e.g., PI, Co-PIs, other team members), a project summary which provides an overview for the project and how the work ties into the 4-VA goals outlined in the Background (1 page max)
  • A Research proposal which includes a justification for the research proposed, what research questions will be pursued, which approaches/methods will be used, what are the anticipated outcomes, a project management plan and timeline (4 pages max)
  • A discussion how the research team assembled will work together to meet the project goals and how you plan to use results of this work in subsequent, major federal grant proposals (1 page max)
  • A plan to disseminate the results on this work, both during and after funding. Active dissemination, especially to 4-VA partners and other universities within the commonwealth, is expected. This could include ongoing project updates and dissemination of findings via publications or other means (e.g., via a broadly accessible online media platform) (1 page max)
  • References, if applicable (1 page max)
  • A Summary Budget which outlines the major expenditures and justification, if appropriate. Note that indirect costs do not need to be included for any PI or Co-PI, irrespective of school or campus location.
  • 2-page CV or Biosketch for all PIs and Co-PIs
  • Letter of support of department chair or the equivalent. While there is no required template for the proposals, use a font of 11 point or larger and 1 inch margins on all sides.

Proposals which do not include all of the above may not be reviewed.

Limited Submission Process and Review

More information on the limited submission review process can be found here: https://virginia.infoready4.com/limited-submissions, and in the documents found therein. To summarize, reviewers for individual limited submission opportunities are drawn from a standing committee of tenured faculty members who are nominated by the Schools and appointed by the VPR. Ad hoc committee members may also be invited to serve on specific panels based on their subject expertise and/or their experience with a particular sponsor or program. The internal review committee provides critical reviews of internal pre-proposals and makes recommendations for the pre-proposals that should go forward for external submission. The VPR office follows the best practice of many foundations and agencies and does not disclose the names of individual reviewers who contribute to a specific review panel. The limited submission team notifies individual internal applicants of their pre-proposal review results via email. The limited submission team notifies the Department, School, and Office of Sponsored Programs of the proposal(s) that will go forward for external submission via email.

Questions?

Email limited-submission-vpr@virginia.edu