UD Internal Funding Opportunities

UD seed grant funds are available to support research, scholarship and creative activities through annual university-wide competitions. These are merit-based grants designed to help launch an idea leading to future external sponsorship of research in the area. Several of the seed grant mechanisms are administered by the Research Office on an annual basis but there are one-time opportunities as well. Additional seed grant mechanisms at UD, which are independently organized and run by other units on campus, are listed under Seed Grant Resources.

For more information contact
Research Development Office
researchdev@udel.edu

(302) 831-7088

RESEARCH OFFICE SEED GRANTS

General University Research Grants

Letter of Intent:
January 24, 2025
Full Proposal:
February 28, 2025

UD Research Foundation

Letter of Intent:
December 4, 2024
Full Proposal:
January 17, 2025

UD Research Foundation Strategic Initiatives

Letter of Intent Deadline:
October 8, 2024
Full Proposal Deadline:
October 25, 2024

Chemours Discovery Research Award

No longer accepting applications.

Additional Campus Seed Grants

Additional independently organized seed grant opportunities abound at UD, from pilot programs to call for proposals, these opportunities are waiting to be discovered. Log onto our portal to explore the most recent campus funding opportunities.

GRANT RESOURCES

Internal Grant Opportunities FAQs (GUR, UDRF and UDRF-SI)

1. What is the project period?

2. What is a no-cost extension?

3. How do I apply for a no-cost extension?

4. What information will I need to include in my no-cost request?

5. What justification for no-cost extensions (reasons) is the Research Office likely to accept?

6. Under what conditions is the Research Office likely to deny a request?

7. Am I allowed to purchase an item not included in my original proposal?

8. How do I request a budget reallocation?

9. What information will I need to include in my reallocation request?

10. How do I get my expenses (including salary) paid?

11. Questions about Internal Grant Opportunities?

UD RESEARCH OFFICE OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM OVERVIEWS

GUR

UDRF

University of Delaware Research Foundation (UDRF)

UDRF Template

UDRF Template

UDRF Download

UDRF Guidelines

The University of Delaware Research Foundation, Inc. (UDRF) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization supporting fundamental research in all science, engineering, and social science fields. Although an independent corporation, it is chartered primarily to support the University’s research mission.
 
 

UDRF Application Deadlines

LETTER OF INTENT: December 4, 2024
FULL PROPOSAL: January 17, 2025

 

UDRF PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Eligibility Requirements

Improving the PI’s research competitiveness for future external funding is the primary objective of the UDRF grant program. Additionally, the program seeks to further the professional development of the recipients and advance the University’s research prominence. UDRF grants support proposals from untenured, tenure-track faculty only. Tenured faculty are ineligible as Principal Investigator (PI) but may serve as co-PI. Previous UDRF award recipients are ineligible as PI but may serve as co-PI. Faculty may apply to both the UDRF and UDRF-SI programs within a calendar year. However, PIs may receive only one award per calendar year.

 

UDRF Deadlines

UDRF proposals are due to the Research Office by:

  • December 4, 2024: Letter of Intent Deadline
  • January 17, 2025: Full Proposal Submission Deadline

 

 

Proposal Evaluation

Selection for funding will be based on:

  • Intellectual Merit (30%): Does the proposed work significantly advance domain knowledge and enhance the PI’s research competitiveness?
  • Broader Impacts (15%): Does the proposed work have the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes?
  • Incremental vs. New Idea (15%): Does the proposed work press the PI into a novel research area? New research directions for the PI are particularly encouraged.
  • Feasibility (10%): Likelihood of completion within one to two years.
  • Likelihood of Future External Funding (20%): Does the proposal articulate clear achievable goals which will likely attract new external funding? (e.g., NIH, NSF, DoE, DoD, USDA, State, Foundations, Private Sector, etc.)?
  • Clarity of Presentation (10%): Proposals are reviewed by generalists in the area/discipline; hence clarity of presentation is of great importance.

 

Proposal

PROJECT BUDGET

UDRF proposals may request up to $50,000 of which $30,000 is sponsor-direct funding with an additional $15,000 in matching funds from the PI’s Dean ($7,500) and the Provost’s Office ($7,500) and $5,000 if a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) stipend is requested. All UDRF proposals require matching funds from the PI’s College and Provost’s Office.

BUDGETING GUIDELINES

Personnel: PI faculty summer salary up to $5,000.00 or 1/9th salary, whichever is less, is allowable. University of Delaware graduate research assistant (RA) stipends, hourly wage, and other positions providing technical assistance are allowable. Support of UD graduate students are generally accorded as a higher priority than other budget categories. REU stipends in the amount of $5,000 may be requested and are limited to UD undergraduate students.

  • Fringe Benefits: Fringe benefit costs are required for all personnel categories other than PI summer salary.
  • Direct Research Expenses: Expense categories such as equipment, travel, participant support costs, and other direct research costs typically allowed by federal sponsors are allowed.
  • Unallowable Expenses: Facilities and administrative (F&A) costs, graduate tuition, and PI fringe benefits are unallowable on UDRF awards.

All budgets should be prepared with the understanding that budget changes exceeding 25% of the total award and re-budgeting of funds into categories not included in the original budget must be approved by the Research Office. See the UDRF Post-Award section for more information.

PROJECT DURATION

UDRF grants are awarded for up to two years with periods of performance commencing June 1. No-cost extensions may be granted up to three times only when circumstances warrant. No-cost extension instructions are presented in the UDRF Post-Award section of this document.

PROPOSAL COMPONENTS & FORMATTING

Submit the UDRF proposal using the UDRF Proposal Template. All components should be single-spaced using 11-pt Arial font with one-inch margins. Additional information such as References, Budget Justification, PI and co-PI NSF-style Biosketches, and PI and co-PI NSF-style Current & Pending Support should be combined with the proposal template and submitted as one PDF document. Incomplete applications will be returned without review.

Executive Summary: The executive summary is a one-page section consisting of three sub-sections: Overview, Intellectual Merit, and Broader Impacts. The Overview should include a description of the scientific scope of the proposal and potential future sources of external funding. The statement on Intellectual Merit should describe how the project will advance knowledge and understanding in the domain. The statement on Broader Impacts should describe how the project will benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes. The summary should be written for a non-expert, highly educated reader.

Project Description: A three-page section providing a statement of work including clearly achievable goals within the proposed timeline and expected significance of the proposed research. The project’s intellectual merit and broader impacts should be fully described in the Project Description. Include any relevant figures or tables. Investigators should specifically address the approaches for seeking external funding and, investigators with significant current support, must include a clear explanation of how the proposed research differs from existing awards. The entire Project Description should be clear to a reviewer having a technical/scientific background within an allied discipline, but who may not be an expert in the field.

Submission

PROCEDURES FOR SELECTED PROPOSALS
FACULTY PROCEDURES
  1. When a proposal is selected for funding, the faculty member should reach out to their applicable department administrator or grant analyst so that a record in UD's Grant Management System, PeopleSoft (PS), can be initiated.
  2. Faculty should provide the administrator with a single PDF copy of the full proposal submission.
  3. Faculty should work with the administrator in adapting their awarded budget to the PeopleSoft input budget categories. If needed, detailed budget template can be found on the Research Office website.

 

ADMINISTRATOR PROCEDURES

Departmental administrator or grant analyst guidance for using UD’s Grants Management System is available on the Research Office website and by contacting the department’s assigned Contract & Grant Specialist in the Research Office.

 

UDRF PEOPLESOFT PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Sponsor ID: 2910 - University of Delaware Research Foundation
  2. Purpose: RSCH4- Foundation Research
  3. Budget Considerations:
    • Direct Costs: Enter up to $30,000 base award from UDRF as direct costs. The PI may also have requested and received an additional $5,000 as direct costs for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) supplement. Note: The undergraduate student must be budgeted under participant support costs (see details below).
    • Cost Share:
      • $7,500 from the Provost’s Office should be entered as cost share from department ID #01551. (This cost share will be approved by the Research Office. The Provost Office does not need to approve the Proposal Summary Form.)
      • $7,500 from the College Dean should be entered as cost share from the appropriate department ID.
    • Faculty Summer Salary: Up to $5,000 or 1/9th summer salary for the PI, whichever is less, and must be budgeted under account code 120800 with budget category PSTDOC so that fringe benefits are not incurred.
    • Participant Support Costs: REU supplements are limited to $5,000 and must be budgeted under account code 146115 with budget category PTSTIP. These funds can only be used for the REU and may not be used for other wage categories or other project expenses. A separate project must be created for REU participant support costs.
    • Graduate student tuition is prohibited.
    • F&A Pricing Setup: F&A costs are not permissible on UDRF awards.
      • Choose “Industrial Research On-Campus” for the rate type; overwrite the F&A rate to zero.
      • Pricing Method should be FIXED
    • Under the Attachments tab, upload a single PDF copy of the full proposal submission using the following naming convention: ProposalID_Other
    • Routing of FIN Proposal Approval Summary (PAS) webform should include PI, Department Chair, College Dean and Research Office per standard procedures.

 

FACULTY S-CONTRACT PROCEDURES

If the PI chooses to receive a stipend from their recently awarded UDRF grant, the S-Contract that is processed by their department should identify the payment by using account code 120800 and the earnings code PFF. This account code will identify the stipend as a fellowship, which is not subject to FICA taxes, TIAA pension contributions, or university matching of such contributions. In addition, the account will not be charged fringe benefits on the stipend. The comments section of the S-Contract should include the phrase “Stipend Award from UDRF”. University policy limits a summer payment such as this to 1/9th of the PI's regular salary.

 

Terms & Conditions

UDRF research grants are made with the following understood commitments from the PI.

  1. Acceptance signifies intent to continue employment with the University for the duration of the proposal period.
  2. The University's patent, copyright, and publication policies, found in the Faculty Handbook, apply to research conducted under a UDRF grant. UDRF research must comply with the University Research, Sponsored Programs, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Policies.
  3. If the proposed research includes human subjects or private identifiable data, and/or the use of non-human vertebrate animals, the research protocol must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board or the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee respectively prior to expending any UDRF funds. If IRB or IACUC approval is not granted for the study, the award will be withdrawn.
  4. The University exercises no direction or supervision over the details of the research or activities to be performed but does require adherence to the original objectives and purposes of the grant. It also requires that a final report on the proposal be submitted to the Research Office no later than ninety (90) days after the end date of the award. Final reports can be submitted using the UD Internal Seed Grant Request form.
  5. Every publication directly resulting from a research grant must include an acknowledgment that the research was carried out with the support of the University of Delaware Research Foundation. Each grantee is required to furnish one copy of any resulting papers, books, or other publications to the University Library through the Research Office (researchdev@udel.edu).
  6. Unless arrangements to the contrary have been included in the proposal as accepted, financial income derived from the project will be returned to the University, up to the amount of the award. This is not meant to conflict with university policies on patents, copyrights, and publications.

Post Award

AWARD SELECTION

University of Delaware Research Foundation grants are awarded based on eligibility and merit and administered by the UD Research Office. Evaluations of merit and award recommendations are made by the UDRF Research Committee, which is composed of engineers and scientists from the private sector in the region. The UDRF Board of Trustees makes the final award decisions at one of its semi-annual meetings.

POST AWARD ADMINISTRATION

Awarded proposals will be assigned an award number and purpose code for expenditures. Only successful awards should be entered into PeopleSoft by the PI’s department administrator for tracking and reporting purposes. Correspondence and post-award reporting should include the award number and purpose code. All proposals funded at a level different than what was proposed must provide a revised budget before the purpose code is established.

The UD Internal Seed Grant Request form must be used for re-budgeting and requesting no-cost extensions. The UD Seed Grant Final Report form must be used for submitting the required final report.

Rebudgeting: Budget changes exceeding 25% of the total award and re-budgeting of funds into categories not in the original budget require prior approval by the Research Office. Funds awarded for an REU stipend paid on account 146115 may not be rebudgeted.

No-cost Extensions: Requests for No-Cost Extensions must be submitted no sooner than 90 days and at least 30 days prior to the award end date. Requests should include the reason for and the duration of the extension. A maximum of one year is allowed per NCE request and total requests are limited to three per award.

Final Reports: A final report for the award must be submitted to the Research Office no later than ninety (90) days after the end date of the grant.

UDRF-SI

Chemours

DOE

RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT

K. Eric Wommack, PhD
Senior Associate Vice President for Research

Jennifer Doran
Administrative Assistant
Ph: (302) 831-6703

David Barczak
Communications Manager
Ph: (302) 831-8169

John McMillan
Computing Support Specialist
Ph: (302) 831-8621

Ciara O’Connell
Research Development Manager
Ph: (302) 831-7088

Jennifer Roth
Research Education Coordinator
Ph: (302) 831-3777

Research Development
Ph: (302) 831-7088

 

*NOTE: The University of Delaware’s Office of General Counsel oversees all legal services for the University of Delaware. Matters pertaining to research (including research-related agreements, research-related compliance, and research-related intellectual property) may be directed to the Research Office, which will coordinate with the General Counsel’s Office, as appropriate.