The Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (OVPRI) announces the 2025 Research Seed Grant competition. This program is designed to provide seed funding to researchers to acquire preliminary data and to develop a competitive proposal for significant external funding.

Two tracks are available: Track 1 for awards for up to one year of funding with a $25,000 award limit, and Track 2 for multiple-investigator awards with up to two years of funding and a $50,000 award limit. Researchers are expected to submit at least one external proposal related to the seed grant within six months of project completion. Funds can be spent on a wide variety of costs, such as travel, equipment, salary for graduate students and other researchers, and faculty summer stipend or course release (as per departmental policies and guidelines).  

The program’s goal is to help researchers prepare for an application to an outside funder. For example, a Track 1 proposal might support work to gather preliminary data needed for an application to the National Institutes of Health for a major research grant such as an R01, or to help them organize a team of scholars to submit an application to the National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research grant. Track 2 awards would be for larger, more complex projects that might seek funding for a center or a major collaborative research project. 

Eligible applicants include tenure-track faculty and career research faculty with 0.50+ FTE appointments during the academic year(s) of the research award, and with the classification of research associate, research professor, research scientist, research engineer, principal research scientist, librarian, or professor of practice (with primary duties in research).  

The deadline for this year’s applications is January 21, 2025. More details and the request for proposals can be found on the OVPRI’s Research Seed Grant webpage.

— Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation