University Research Committee (URC)
FACULTY RESEARCH AND
CREATIVE GRANT PROJECTS

Instructions to Applicants
Cover Page
Abstract
Budget Page
Proposal
Final Report
Get Adobe AcrobatIndependent Review: Faculty Research
Independent Review: Faculty Creative

Instructions to Applicants

Purposes of the Faculty Research and Creative Projects Grant Program

To support significant scholarly and creative research projects, particularly in the School of Business, Colleges of Architecture and Planning, Education, Fine Arts, Health, Humanities, Law, Social and Behavioral Science, and the Graduate School of Social Work, where extramural funding is difficult to obtain.

Eligibility of Applicants

  1. Faculty are eligible to apply for modest grants for a specific scholarly or creative research project if they hold at least a 50% FTE appointment (http://www.admin.utah.edu/ppmanual/9/9-2.html)

  2. In the Colleges of Engineering, Medicine, Mines and Earth Sciences, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Science strong preference will be given to junior faculty who have not yet achieved tenure.

  3. With the exception of fieldwork connected to the scholarly or creative research project, it is expected that faculty members have their principle activities at the University of Utah.

  4. If an application has been turned down by the committee, the PI is allowed one resubmission of a revised proposal on the same subject. Revised proposals must include a description of all changes made to the original proposal.

Restrictions of the Grants Program

  1. Grants may not be used for the following:

    1. Faculty salaries.
    2. Graduate student stipends or fellowships.
    3. Graduate student initiated projects or support to write their dissertations or theses.
    4. Curriculum development and/or career development (e.g. taking courses, attending professional meetings, etc.).
    5. Benefits on hourly wages except those required by law..
  2. A request for money to purchase a computer requires evidence that the project can not be pursued without procuring that specific computer or workstation. The URC will fund the acquisition of computer hardware and software that are vital and necessary components of an approved project.
  3. The awardee is required to acknowledge the URC grant in any published results, catalogs, videos or other products.

Financial Limits on Grants

  1. The applicant will be required to justify the budget in detail. A single proposal will not be funded for more than $6,000.
  2. Proposals may be submitted by co-applicants; however, they will not be funded for more than $6,000 as outlined in Item 1. Co-PI’s must meet eligibility requirements.
  3. No faculty member may hold more than one URC grant at any given time.
  4. Budgets submitted with the application should be sufficiently detailed to clearly indicate how the funds are to be spent. Specifically:

    1. Hourly wages of research assistants should be listed and justified. If Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) students are used in your project, their wages are paid by UROP. However, Students must apply separately (call 581-8070 or see website @www.ugs.utah.edu/student/urop.htm).
    2. The basis for figuring travel related to the project and per diem costs should be made clear, and may not exceed rates for per diem and travel set by the Travel Office (581-7142).
    3. Careful justification should be given for the purchase of equipment (including computer hardware, software, or supplies) which may already exist in the University.
    4. Where leasing of equipment is a possible option, purchase must be justified.
    5. Equipment purchased by the research grant becomes the property of the University of Utah.
  5. The budget, once the grant is awarded, becomes the responsibility of the faculty member to oversee. The URC will set up a research account for the grant, however, the URC will not bear the burden of over-expenditure made by the faculty member. Differences between the amount awarded and the amount expended in excess will need to be rectified by the faculty member and his/her academic unit.
  6. PI’s may not make any changes to the original objectives in their research plan without written permission of the URC. It is possible, once the grant is awarded, that the faculty member may reallocate up to 25% of the total budget to one of the existing lines established in the original budget proposal. Should the investigator wish to use the funds for something other than previously established in the budget, a modified proposal will need to be presented to URC for reconsideration of funding.

Length of the Grants

  1. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the time period of a grant shall be no longer than two years. At the end of two years, the grant activity shall be closed and any remaining funds returned to the URC. Requests for an exception to this policy must be made in writing to the chair of the URC for his/her consideration. If an extension is granted it will be no longer than 1 year in length.
  2. Recipients of the URC grants must submit a final report (with cover sheet) when their grant has expired.

Deadlines

  1. There will be three submission cycles per year (based on the availability of funding) with deadlines at the close of business (5:00 p.m.) on August 15, November 15, and February 15 of each year. If the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday, applications are due on the first workday following the 15th.
  2. Applicants submitting proposals for the August 15 cycle will be informed of the committee's recommendations at the end of October. Applicants submitting proposal for the November 15 cycle will be informed of the committee's recommendations at the end of January. Applicants submitting proposals for the February 15 cycle will be informed of the committee's recommendations at the end of April.

Preparation and Submission of the Proposal

Proposals should contain the information usually expected for a research or creative project. However they should be written in such a way that the idea of the project, its significance to the applicant’s field and career, and the methodology could be understood [without extraordinary effort] by informed scholars outside the applicant’s field.

The proposal should consist of seven parts, as listed below. Parts II and IV should be typed, single-spaced (with a font size of 12 points), on 8 1/2" x 11" paper, with the seven parts stapled together at the upper left corner. Do not use folders.Get Adobe Acrobat

  1. Cover Page (use online form)
  2. Abstract (NOT online)

    The abstract must be limited to 1/2 of an 8.5" x 11" page, single-spaced with a font size of 12 points. Those with more will be returned without committee review.
  3. Budget Page (use online form)
  4. Body of Proposal (NOT online)

    The narrative description must be limited to three typed, single-spaced pages with a font size of 12 points plus a one-page bibliography. Those with more will be returned without committee review.

    A clear description of the project, consisting of

    1. Clear objectives.
    2. A specific research question or creative objective.
    3. Justification for the project.
    4. A detailed, but concise, description of methods and procedures. It must be made clear how these methods will lead to the project objectives. Many proposals have to be deferred for additional information because neither the methods nor their purpose are obvious to the committee. To save time, special care should be given on this section. Please note, if your methodology includes human subjects in any way, including interviewing, you must receive written Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval before submitting your proposal.
    5. All proposals should contain references or a review of the relevant literature in order to demonstrate both that the applicant is knowledgeable about background material and that the proposed project will not duplicate research already undertaken by others.
  5. Curriculum Vita or Biographical Sketch (three-pages maximum).
  6. Additional Information (1-2 single-spaced pages maximum -- appendices are to be kept to a minimum)

    1. Applicant’s publications that are most relevant to this proposal.
    2. Do you hold or have you applied for other funding for this research? If so, list the funding agency and amount of the grant and explain how this funding relates to the grant requested from the URC. You may not use a URC grant to fund budget items covered in another grant.
    3. Describe how the results of the project will be disseminated to the public, used to seek additional funding, etc.
  7. All special permits must be obtained before the URC will consider a proposal.

    1. Research on Human Subjects must be approved by the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB): Remember, if your proposal involves information on human subjects or from human subjects (e.g. interviews, etc.), you must submit a proposal to the IRB.

      Health Sciences: 101 MREB — 581-3655
      General University: 101 MREB — 587-9135
    2. Radioisotopes Use must be approved through the Radiological Health Department:

      Radiation Safety Committee: 100 OSH — 581-6141
    3. Research involving the use of vertebrate animals must be approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee:

      IACUC: 615 Arapeen Drive #116 — 581-5950

Evidence of protocol submission (a copy of the signature page) must be included with your research proposal submitted to the URC. Evidence of protocol approval must be submitted prior to the URC's review of your proposal. Applications submitted to the URC will not be considered without the above-described documentation.

Documentation for Creative Projects

It is recommended that intended documentation for creative projects be described at the time of proposal submission. Costs are carried as a part of the project budget. Likely documentation might include: video tape for dance and theatre performance; manuscript or publication for creative writing; tape or disc recording for musical performance; score for musical composition; slides or photographs for visual art forms; or a print or other material for film.

Submission of Proposals

Every applicant must submit the following:

  1. 27 stapled copies of the proposal — Parts I - VI (may be double sided to save paper).
  2. A list of five recommended faculty reviewers (on campus) with a complete address, e-mail address and phone number for each. One from his/her department and four from outside the department. Deans and department chairs cannot be reviewers. Do not recommend anyone who is directly involved in the project.
  3. One copy of any pertinent special permit (Part VII), attached to the original proposal.

There will be three submission cycles per year (based on the availability of funding) with deadlines at the close of business (5:00 p.m.) on August 15, November 15, and February 15 of each year. If the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday, applications are due on the first workday following the 15th. Applicants submitting proposals for the August 15 cycle will be informed of the committee's recommendations at the end of October. Applicants submitting proposal for the November 15 cycle will be informed of the committee's recommendations at the end of January. Applicants submitting proposals for the February 15 cycle will be informed of the committee's recommendations at the end of April.

Submit to: Vice President for Research Office, 210 Park Building

Review of Proposals

The committee’s secretary will check the proposal against established criteria, and allow the applicant to correct any deficiencies. The proposal will then be sent to two members of the URC and to outside reviewers. Reviewers may include one or more of those suggested by the applicant. Reviewers cannot be directly involved with the project. Reviewers submit their confidential evaluations to the Vice President for Research Office on the forms shown at the end of these guidelines. The reviews are then provided to the committee members who will present the proposal to the whole committee at the next meeting.

Criteria for evaluation and acceptance include:

  1. The significance of a project in its particular field.
  2. The soundness of the proposed plan and budget.
  3. The competence of the applicant.
  4. The significance of the proposed work to the career development and intellectual growth of the applicant.
  5. In funding cycles in which the committee receives more applications than it can fund, the committee will take under consideration the number and frequency of the applicant’s previous URC grants. Although the committee permits applications for new grants as soon as a current URC grant is spent, in cycles where funding is tight, those who have received URC grants within the previous two years may be turned down or asked to resubmit for this reason alone.

The proposal is evaluated primarily on its own merits, and only secondarily on the past achievements of the applicant. A strong academic reputation will not substitute for a complete and well-written proposal. The committee may defer acting on the proposal and request additional information.

Get Adobe AcrobatFinal Reports (NOT online)

The recipient of a Faculty Research/Creative Grant must submit a one-page, single-spaced, Final Report (with cover sheet) within one year after the work is completed. If, within one year there is a tangible product, the recipient should send a copy of the product to the committee. This includes, but is not limited to, such items as articles, books, photographs, or other appropriate material (see also documentation for Creative Projects). Tangible products submitted with final reports will be returned.

The committee will consider no new applications from an investigator until final reports from previous grants awarded by the URC are submitted.

Intellectual Property Rights

All questions of intellectual property should be addressed to the Technology Transfer Office at 581-7792. For the faculty member’s own protection, it is suggested that the grantee pursue any potential patent or copyright implications within the context of existing University of Utah regulations.

Questions and Special Problems

Should you have any questions on the foregoing instructions or have any special problems, please contact Jo Ann Murray in the Vice President for Research Office, 210 Park, 581-7236.