Campus Grants
About the Campus Grants Program
The Campus Grants program is an important part of research development efforts at ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn, and supports a wide range of research and scholarly activities for our faculty. Campus Grants funds also provide investments for interdisciplinary research. The ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn Office of Research provides funding for the following program types:
Competitive Program grants are available to all ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn tenured/tenure-track faculty. The competitive programs open for applications once each fiscal year. The solicitations for the programs are published on this website approximately 5-8 weeks before the cycle deadline. Awards for the cycle are announced three months after the cycle deadline.
Open Invitation/Non-competitive Programs are available to all ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn tenured/tenure-track faculty; applications are accepted any time during the fiscal year while funds are available. Award decisions are made within 10 business days of application submission. The FY25 Open Invitation Campus Grants cycle is closed. The program will re-open in the next fiscal year (FY26).
For additional information about grants available, complete requirements and determining your eligibility to apply, please review the information on this page.
Changes to the Campus Grants Program for FY26
There are several changes to the Campus Grants Program for FY26:
- There will be no Thematic Research Planning Grants & Strategic Initiatives (Competitive TRP) grants.
- Campus Grants Seed Programs (Competitive RID & SCH):
- RID budget will be the same as FY25: $160,000
- Scholars budget will be the same as FY25: $40,000
- There will be only one funding cycle for the competitive campus grants, running from Oct 15 through Jan 15 (this is the submission window)
- The Open Invitation Special Circumstances Research Grant will be renamed to Special Projects and Research Circumstances (SPARC) grant. It will offer two levels of support: up to $1,999.99 and $2,000 and above. The second level will require a more elaborate application, similar to the RID application.
Requirements and Eligibility
- Eligible Faculty for Campus Grants: Only tenured or tenure-track ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn faculty members can serve as PIs on applications to the ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn Campus Grants programs. Under very limited circumstances other ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn researchers might be allowed to serve as PIs. Please contact the Office of Research to discuss PI eligibility when special consideration is desired.
- Faculty applicants MUST have a current disclosure of outside financial interests in and applicable for AND must be up to date. If applicable to the project, certification is also required. Applications without current M-Inform disclosure or PEERRS updates will be returned without review.
- Application Limit: Applicants may submit as PI to ONLY ONE Competitive Program per application deadline (non-lead faculty participation on multiple grants is allowed if projects are substantially different). For rejected applications, ONLY ONE resubmission of the same proposal is allowed in future Campus Grants Cycles.
- Award Limit: Applicants may receive one award per program type per fiscal year (July 1 - June 30); additionally, a PI can only have ONE ACTIVE campus grant from the Competitive Programs.
- All reporting from the applicant’s previous Campus Grants awards must be current. PIs with pending Campus Grants final report/s are ineligible to apply for new grants and their applications will be returned without review.
- Award Administration: Project/grant shortcodes will be established under your department ID and funds transferred by ORA; departments are responsible for all financial and human resources management for the project; ORA will provide instructions in the award documentation regarding access to funding. Upon completion of the project, materials and supplies purchased for the project become property of the department of the grantee.
- Award Completion: awardees may not spend funds beyond the project end date; if needed, one-time no-cost extensions for the competitive programs may be granted and must be requested prior to the project end date; no-cost extensions- for open invitation programs are *not* allowed; remaining funds must be returned to the Office of Research once the project end date has passed; requests for no-cost extensions received after the project end date will be returned without review.
Competitive Campus Grants
Important Changes to FY26 Campus Grants
As of FY26, the Competitive Campus Grants are open for applications once a year. The FY26 cycle runs from Oct 15 through Jan 15. There will be NO Thematic Research Planning Grants & Strategic Initiatives (Competitive TRP) for FY26.
The Competitive Campus Grants below are available to all ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn tenured/tenure-track faculty.
! ATTENTION !
All PIs are required to share the proposal summary, budget, and budget justification with their Department Chair and Dean’s Office BEFORE submitting a campus grant application. Please email the three documents (project summary, project budget and budget justification) to your Chair and Dean’s Office and ask them if they see any issues with the submission (do NOT cc the Office of Research on the above correspondence). If necessary, make additional changes to the proposal and JUST THEN submit your application in InfoReady. NO FURTHER CHANGES will be allowed after you submit your InfoReady application.
When submitting your final application in InfoReady, you will be asked to confirm that the above steps have been completed. After all applications are received, we will ask your Chair and Dean’s Office to confirm in InfoReady their approval of your application.
Dean’s Office Approvers by College (email only the approver in your college):
CASL: Yunus Zeytuncu <[email protected]>
CECS: Leigh McGrath <[email protected]>
CEHHS: Stein Brunvand <[email protected]>
COB: Lee Freeman, <[email protected]>
Deadlines
For FY26, applications will be accepted during the following submission window: October 15 -January 15.
Purpose
The Research Initiation and Development Grant Program aims to assist faculty and research staff with the development of innovative, collaborative research proposals that will advance the ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn mission. We welcome proposals which will create broader resources within our campus for the use of all researchers. The program supports proposals which will help place the principal investigator (PI) and the research team in a strong position to receive additional, external funding from federal agencies, foundations, and/or industry. Inclusion of plans for writing a proposal to an identified external sponsor’s program and submitting it at the end of the proposed project period are required.
Budget floor: $10,000
Budget ceiling: $20,000
Eligibility
- Applicant must be a member of the tenured or tenure-track faculty of ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn
- Standard Requirements for all Campus Grant Programs apply
Read the full guidelines and apply via. If you are new to the InfoReady Application System for Campus Grants, please review the additional information about InfoReady in the section at the bottom of the page.
Guidelines
Program Guidelines for the Research Initiation & Development Grants are available below. Please note that previous FY guidelines may not apply to future cycles. Always refer to the most recent guidelines posted within the InfoReady application portal when preparing your application.
- (July 1, 2023 - Jun 30, 2024)
- (July 1, 2022 - Jun 30, 2023)
Deadlines
For FY26, applications will be accepted during the following submission window: October 15 -January 15.
Purpose
ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn Scholars grants are intended to support research, scholarship and creative activities in the arts. This program is intended for projects with funding needs not usually addressed by other support programs within or outside the University.
Budget floor: $6,000
Budget ceiling: $10,000
Eligibility
- Applicant must be a member of the tenured or tenure-track faculty of ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn
- Standard Requirements for all Campus Grant Programs apply
Read the full guidelines and apply via. If you are new to the InfoReady Application System for Campus Grants, please review the additional information about InfoReady in the section at the bottom of the page.
Guidelines
Program Guidelines for the ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn Scholars Grants are available below. Please note that previous FY guidelines may not apply to future cycles. Always refer to the most recent guidelines posted within the InfoReady application portal when preparing you application.
- (July 1, 2024 - Jun 30, 2024)
- (July 1, 2022 - Jun 30, 2023)
- (July 1, 2021- Jun 30, 2022)
Deadlines
Due to budgetary constraints, the TRP grants will NOT be reopened.
Purpose
Thematic Research Planning grants are open to teams working closely together to solve problems that transcend the traditional boundaries associated with research programs, departments and colleges. Single PI proposals will *not* be considered- at least two different ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn academic units should be involved, in addition to external partners. The aim of the program is to provide support for the development of competitive proposals to preliminary identified (by the team) external funding opportunities.
The TRP grants will fund proposals of strong multidisciplinary teams addressing urgent and challenging issues with well-defined work plans for engaging local communities (including non-profits, municipal, city and community organizations, small businesses and industry), conducting preliminary research activities, and pursuing external funding to sustain the proposed research. The following priority research areas are of particular interest (but not
required):
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This research area includes the study of policies, practices, attitudes and behaviors that contribute to discrimination or routinely produce cumulative adverse outcomes for historically underrepresented and underserved populations. It will support collaborative efforts aimed at enhancing the preparation, increasing the participation, and ensuring the contributions of individuals from historically underrepresented and underserved groups such as African Americans, Alaska Natives, Hispanics, Native Americans, persons with disabilities, persons from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, LGBTQ community, and women and girls. The proposed activities should contribute to new and improved career pathways, policies, opportunities to learn, and practices for equity and inclusion. Examples of topics include, but are not limited to, inequality, diversity and inclusion in education, healthcare, criminal justice, law enforcement, voting process, government, housing, labor market, and religion
- Sustainability. Proposals in this research area should address research questions intended to inform policies, programs, technology, or systems that support human well-being, social equity, and economic vitality. Research should focus on long time horizons and incorporate contributions from the natural and social sciences, engineering, as well as the humanities, seeking to balance society's need to provide ecological protection and maintain stable economic conditions. Examples of topics include, but are not limited to, recycling & reuse technologies, innovations in industrial ecology/ sustainable manufacturing, waste and/or stormwater management, water treatment, indoor and outdoor air pollution, environment and human health/healthcare, soil remediation, and solid waste treatment, restoring ecological function to natural systems, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, green building, climate change adaptation and/or mitigation, corporate social responsibility such as green purchasing, closed loop supply chain that aims to minimize carbon footprint throughout the entire product life cycle, etc.
- Biomedical, Health and Healthcare. This research area will support projects that aim to develop solutions to pending biomedical, public health and healthcare problems. Proposals should be submitted by interdisciplinary teams that develop novel methods or use known ones to collect, connect, analyze and interpret data from individuals, research models, devices and systems to enable discovery and optimize health. Projects may integrate engineering and life sciences to solve biomedical problems and can include objectives that advance both engineering and biomedical sciences. The project goals can be related to fundamental understanding of cell and tissue function in normal and pathological conditions, effective disease diagnosis, treatment, and/or prevention, or improved health care delivery and public health. All related research topics that align with and/or complement core programs of the NSF Directorates and the NIH Institutes and Centers, and the research efforts supported by other agencies such as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), are invited.
- A with details about each NIH IC’s mission is available.
- is available.
The program will be open to teams working closely together to solve problems that transcend the traditional boundaries associated with research programs, departments and colleges. Single PI proposals will *not* be considered- at least two different ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn academic units should be involved, in addition to external partners. Applicants are required to identify in advance the external funding opportunity/ies of interest to them.
The TRP grants will fund planning proposals of strong multidisciplinary teams working on urgent and challenging issues, and with well-defined plans for engaging local communities (including non-profits, municipal, city and community organizations, small businesses and industry). Funding will be awarded for proposal and research planning, proposal writing, conducting preliminary research activities, and pursuing external funding to sustain the proposed research.
Budget floor: $15,000
Budget ceiling: $30,000
Eligibility
- Applicant must be a member of the tenured or tenure-track faculty of ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn
- Standard Requirements for all Campus Grant Programs apply
Guidelines
Program Guidelines for the Thematic Research Planning Grants are available below. Please note that previous FY guidelines may not apply to future cycles. Always refer to the most recent guidelines posted within the InfoReady application portal when preparing you application.
- (July 1, 2023 - Jun 30, 2024)
- (July 1, 2022 - Jun 30, 2023)
- (July 1, 2021- Jun 30, 2022)
Read the full guidelines and apply via. If you are new to the InfoReady Application System for Campus Grants, please review the additional information about InfoReady in the section at the bottom of the page.
Below are commonly requested components of Competitive Campus Grant applications. These forms are provided to help you prepare your application or for reference, however applicants must always use the most updated version provided directly within the grant application you are applying for in InfoReady. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure using the most up-to-date forms and complying with the requirements of the grant application in InfoReady.
Common Forms & Templates:
- : This template should be used by FY23 and prior awardees for their financial report, to report on approved budget compared to expensed budget at the end of the project. It is required for the financial report at the end of the project. Please download and use in Excel.
Grants awarded in FY24 onward will be asked to upload their MReport as a part of the financial report at the end of the project.
- : This is the approved format to provide your requested budget for a proposal. Please download and use in Excel.
- : This is the approved format to provide your requested budget for a proposal. Please download and use in Excel.
- : This is a tool developed by the Office of Research to provide information on how to calculate your salary, if requesting salary as a part of your budget. Please download and use in Excel.
- : This form provides applicants with space to report up to 5 Current and/or Pending projects. Applicants are asked to provide the most relevant projects to their application. Please download and fill out in Adobe.
- : This form provides applicants with space to report up to 3 Results from Previous Support. Applicants are asked to provide the most relevant projects to their application. Please download and fill out in Adobe.
Open Invitation Campus Grants
The following Open Invitation Grants are available to all ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn tenured/tenure-track faculty. Note: The FY25 Open Invitation Campus Grants cycle is closed. The program will re-open in the next fiscal year (FY26).
Deadlines
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, permitting availability of funding.
Purpose
Faculty Research Mini Grants provide up to $1,000 for non-salary resources that enable faculty research and other scholarly activities.
Eligibility
- Applicant must be a member of the tenured or tenure-track faculty of ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn
- Standard Requirements for all Campus Grant Programs apply
Read the full guidelines and apply via. If you are new to the InfoReady Application System for Campus Grants, please review the additional information about InfoReady in the section at the bottom of the page.
Deadlines
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, permitting availability of funding.
Purpose
Special Circumstances Research Grants provide a one-time non-salary support that enables research-related activities *not* supported by the Faculty Research Mini Grant or other Open Invitation Grants.
We strongly recommend that you discuss with us your need for a Special Circumstances Research Grant BEFORE submitting an application. Use this email to request a 30-minute meeting: <[email protected]>
Eligibility
- Applicant must be a member of the tenured or tenure-track faculty of ÂÜÀòÉç-Dearborn
- Standard Requirements for all Campus Grant Programs apply
Read the full guidelines and apply via. If you are new to the InfoReady Application System for Campus Grants, please review the additional information about InfoReady in the section at the bottom of the page.