UF Office of Research Announces the 2019 Research Opportunity Seed Fund Competition
The College of Education is allowed to submit three (3) proposals to the university-level for this competition. To participate in the college’s internal review and selection of proposals to move forward, submit your proposal (in a single file) to research@coe.ufl.edu at or before 5 pm January 7, 2019.
PLEASE NOTE: CHANGES TO THE PROGRAM
- For FY 2019, 50% of the awards will be in the Biomedical Sciences. The remaining 50% of awards will cover other disciplines.
- All proposals must be submitted to the Office of Research at or before 5 pm Wednesday, January 30, 2019.
The Research Opportunity Seed Fund targets multidisciplinary, faculty-initiated research projects with potential for extramural support. The program focuses on new projects and/or new collaborative partnerships.
Projects should be innovative, have strong potential for garnering future funding from external sources, OR have outstanding commercial potential. Research Opportunity Seed Fund awards are not intended to support ongoing projects. They should support new projects (not a supplement to current research) and/or new collaborative partnerships. The proposal must emphasize novel research.
To be competitive, proposals must be multi-/interdisciplinary and must involve faculty from at least two departments/units/colleges. Single-investigator proposals are not eligible.
Proposals may be submitted by any UF faculty member (PI) eligible to submit a proposal for external funding: (see Policy on Eligibility to Submit a Proposal for External Funding).
SUBMISSION PROCESS
A two-step review process for the 2019 Research Opportunity Seed Fund will be implemented:
- To increase the participation and input of the colleges in the selection process, each college will select its best proposals through an internal screening process. Faculty interested in applying to the Opportunity Fund should contact their Associate Dean for Research for information on their college’s internal selection procedures and deadline.
- Proposals selected by the colleges will be submitted through UFIRST to the Office of Research and will undergo a uniform and centrally coordinated scientific review by ad-hoc faculty panels.
The number of proposals submitted by each college is based upon each college’s extramural award performance in the previous fiscal year. The maximum number of proposals allocated to each college for the 2019 competition is provided below.
Total awards received (FY 2017-2018) = Number of proposals allocated per College:
- <$5M = 1 per college – Business; Fine Arts; Journalism & Communications; Law; Nursing; Center for Latin American Studies; Libraries
- $5M – $10M = 2 per college – Florida Museum of Natural History; Health & Human Performance; Design, Construction & Planning;
- $10M – $25M = 3 per college – Education; Dentistry; Pharmacy; Veterinary Medicine
- $25M – $50M = 4 per college – Liberal Arts & Sciences, Public Health & Health Professions; Medicine-Jacksonville;
- $75M – $100M = 6 per college – Engineering
- $150M – $200M = 8 per college – IFAS
- More than $300M = 11 per college – Medicine-Gainesville
Visit http://research.ufl.edu/opportunityfund.html to access the program guidelines and review criteria.
Faculty interested in submitting proposals to the Research Opportunity Seed Fund should contact their Associate Dean for Research as soon as possible for information on their college’s internal selection procedures and deadline.
Each college may submit the maximum number of proposals allocated to them, through UFIRST to the Office of Research, latest by 5 pm Wednesday, January 30, 2019. Every effort will be made to notify the Principal Investigators of their award status by April 30, 2019.
