OVPRED Grant Resubmission Awards Program

In recent years, funding for research has become increasingly competitive, with success rates for leading federal research agencies well below 20 percent. This means that many highly-rated proposals are not selected for funding, particularly on the first submission, calling for improvements to compete successfully in a subsequent round.

The OVPRED Grant Resubmission Award program provides support for investigators to improve an already highly-rated proposal for re-submission. This is a pilot project, subject to demand and measured impact of the investments. We encourage individuals with highly rated but unfunded proposals of all sizes and in all disciplines to approach us.

The awards will be for up to $15,000 to support activities including data gathering, travel, equipment time, purchase of supplies or other modest activities that could make a significant difference for the competitiveness of the resubmitted proposal.  

Award project dates will be for up to one year. The OVPRED will work with the PI to determine the amount of funds that are needed to address the issues that have been identified by the funding agency.

Grant Resubmission Award funds are meant to be a modest and narrowly targeted investment that could make a significant difference in the success of a specific resubmitted proposal.

The funds may be used to support reasonable and necessary costs for the collection of research data or for proposal development. Expenditures for faculty salaries (either summer or academic year) are not permitted. If the PI has discretionary funds available (IFR, residual accounts, start-up funds, etc.) these funds must be used as a match to the OVPRED award. 

Any UB faculty member whose research is administered through the Research Foundation is eligible.

Emeritus, adjunct, and visiting faculty, as well as post docs, are not eligible to lead projects, but may be included on the research teams.

Full proposals that received the following agency feedback within the previous six months are eligible:

• National Institutes of Health: Top 30 percentile and/or Impact Score <40 after discussion
• National Science Foundation: Excellent or very good from the majority of reviewers
• Other agencies: Application must demonstrate that the proposal was highly rated and close to the pay line

Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis. Selections will be announced as soon as possible, but no later than one month after submission to Joe Balthasar at grantresubmissionprogram@buffalo.edu.   

1. Project description (two-page limit) including:
   • Proposal title
   • PI and key investigator(s)  names and contact information
   • List of limitations in original application identified by sponsor reviewers and description of the work that would be completed through this OVPRED award to address those limitations
   • Sponsor name and sponsor program to which the PI plans to re-apply
   • Timeline for planned resubmission
2. Budget: Itemize general categories of expenses for which award funds will be used and a brief justification for these expenses.
3. A copy of the original proposal (including bio-sketches for the PI and key investigators) and the reviewer comments.

The overall merit of the research project and the likelihood that internal funding will make the proposal more competitive will be considered and evaluated by the Vice President for Research and Economic Development (in consultation with faculty reviewers as needed). The final selection will be made based on the following criteria:

• Potential for the award to provide a basis for a more competitive re-submission to external sponsors
• Likelihood that the proposed work will be completed during the award period
• Size and significance of the research award being sought
• Rating of original submission
• Potential impact of the research on the academic field of study

1. Within 60 days of the end of the approved award period, the recipient must provide to the OVPRED a final report. The report should outline the work that was accomplished and describe the proposal(s) submitted to external sponsor(s) as a result of this award, including proposal number.
2. Within one year of the end of the approved award, the recipient must notify the OVPRED of the final outcome of the resubmission.