Collaborative Research Grants

The University at Buffalo’s aggressive research expenditure growth goals will be achieved, in part, through faculty pursuing new funding opportunities and teaming together on interdisciplinary projects. The OVPRED will be proactive in significantly growing its research portfolio by supporting faculty-led efforts to create large inter-disciplinary research programs that have the ability to attract significant extramural funding (e.g., DOE – EFRC; NSF – ERC, STC, CEMRI; NIH – P Awards; DoD – UARC, MURI; NEH Challenge Grant; or other large center-type or institutional award mechanisms).  

These faculty teams will be distinguished by intellectual excellence and driven by a clear vision that could lead to fundamental advances, new discoveries, or technological developments of national impact. In addition, the areas of scholarship should be such that multiple agencies may be expected to support the work.

This program recognizes that the preparation of winning center-scale grant proposals will require significant investments of time, networking and new partnerships with colleagues from other disciplines within UB, other universities, national laboratories or industry.

The OVPRED will help support these activities through a planning grant program, the Collaborative Research Grant Program. These funds will be used to nucleate and grow collaborations and partnerships and provide teams with the resources needed to successfully compete for significant extramural funding.  

Planning grant funds must be used for new opportunities and to lay the groundwork for large scale proposals. The OVPRED’s expectation is that, if successful, these planning grants will eventually lead to the creation of new interdisciplinary programs that will have a transformational impact on campus.

Faculty members, researchers, and interdisciplinary innovators are encouraged to submit concept proposals that respond to the pressing issues and research challenges – regionally, nationally and globally – that face us today. Teams should include all the expertise needed to be competitive for external support within the following one to two years and can be comprised of UB faculty, staff, students and external partners.

To be eligible, teams must have a commitment of partial institutional funding in place to support the project. These funds, derived from IFR, ICR (Indirect Cost Recovery), school or department funds or other discretionary funds available to the investigators, will receive a 150% match of OVPRED funds (e.g. $20,000 in applicant funds will be matched with $30,000 of OVPRED funds for a total project budget of $50,000 for one year). The maximum OVPRED awards will be $40,000 for one year. A second year of funding will be considered depending on the progress made during the first year.

CRGP proposals will be administratively reviewed, and funding priority will be given to proposed projects that are aimed at program areas of federal or other funding agencies such that they address priority area(s) for that agency. Priority will also be given to research teams that have demonstrated success at obtaining external awards.

All faculty and staff whose appointments allow them to submit external proposals are allowed to apply. A minimum of three faculty members from different campuses, schools, or departments, or different disciplines from the same campus must collaborate on the proposed project.

Concept proposals can be submitted to the OVPRED at any time and will be reviewed administratively.

Successful proposals will have the following characteristics:

• Investigator qualified to lead a large proposal; 
• Core group of faculty members working together in an interdisciplinary area of national importance; and
• A clear plan for writing several large-scale multi-investigator grants to different funding agencies.

• Budgets must be justified and consistent with the scope of the proposed project, but may not include sub-awards to partner institutions.
• Applicants must commit to submitting an external funding proposal within 24 months from the start of the CRGP award; 
  • failure to do so may preclude eligibility for future internal funding programs.
• Recipients will participate in periodic campus workshops where awardees will present project results and detailed plans for securing external funding.
• Final reports are required at the end of the award period detailing the project’s progress including any proposals submitted (or planned to be submitted), and funding received.
• CRGP support should be acknowledged in all related presentations, publications and reports.

Proposals must be submitted as a single PDF to ovpr.crgp@buffalo.edu. Applications (5-page limit, single spaced, 12pt font, 1 inch margins) should provide:  

1. A vision for the proposed effort (a well-integrated, interdisciplinary research program that would qualify for a center of excellence) highlighting the transformational nature of the work 
2. The long-term research goals and the rationale for an interactive, interdisciplinary approach and the means to achieve this
3. A list of participants including collaborators and partnering institutions
4. A list of funding agencies and industry likely to be interested in funding the proposed work (with supporting evidence such as the name(s) of contacts and details regarding any preliminary conversations with program managers)
5. A plan of action including a detailed timeline with anticipated milestones. 
6. Include, within the page limit, a 1-year project budget and justification. In addition, detail the source of funds that will be used to match the OVPRED funds.

• Also include a biosketch or brief CV (4 pgs. max) for each participating investigator, showing current and pending funding support and any publications or presentations related to the CRGP project.