Research Council - Interdisciplinary Research Grants

Awards will be for supporting new initiatives in interdisciplinary research, creative and scholarly activities to increase competitiveness of groups in applying for external funding and could also serve as ideas for future development for strategic initiatives.

Typically, awards do not exceed $20,000 for one year. However, in an effort to encourage ambitious proposals and truly multi-disciplinary initiatives, the Research Council is now accepting requests for larger amounts of funding. Awards may be renewed competitively for one additional year. Faculty salaries are not allowed in the budget.  The proposal should clearly identify the new area to be explored and how the project employs collaborative strategies.  The research should be a timely topic and the proposal should identify the potential sources of future external funding and the likelihood of obtaining such funding.  Recipients are required to submit a proposal for competitive external funding within 12 months of the end of the Interdisciplinary Research Grant period.

Evaluation:
In addition to the general criteria listed for reviewing proposals (/council/intdis_score.shtml), the proposals will be evaluated based on quality and the extent to which the project truly employs collaborative strategies.  In order to maximize their chances for success, investigators are strongly encouraged to check the Commonly Asked Questions maintained by the Research Council at /council/caq.shtml, and ensure that their proposal addresses the following issues:

1. Justification of interdisciplinarity:  provide a solid, detailed, and convincing justification of the interdisciplinary nature of the research.  This is perhaps the most common reason for rejection.

2. Readability of the proposal:  avoid technical terms and language difficult or even indecipherable for non-specialists in the field. This lack of clarity in the writing includes both jargon and extremely dense prose, as well as a failure to make clear what the significance of the research would be--particularly for readers from other disciplines.

3. Transparency of the budget:  explain precisely what all the funds in the proposed budget would be used for.

4. Statement of the responsibilities:  provide an explanation of the exact role and responsibilities of each of the listed investigators. It is of particular relevance for interdisciplinary grants to clearly justify how the expertise of each investigator supports the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed research and precisely specify the research tasks that each investigator is leading.

5. Explanation of results from previous support:  when the investigators have already received funds from the Research Council, it is important to briefly summarize the outcome of the supported research and explain how the proposals a relate.

6. Relating multiple proposals:  when the investigators are submitting more than one proposal to the various programs of the Research Council, it is important to explain if and how the proposals relate.

NOTE:  When the investigators belong to different colleges, all colleges must be listed on the application.

Eligibility:
Principal Investigator must be a UNL faculty member on a continuous appointment (tenure-leading or tenured with a rank of Assistant Professor or above), or a research (associate or assistant) professor or senior lecturer on the payroll of UNL. 

Other employees of the University (e.g., Extension Educators, Lecturers, and Senior Research Associates) will be eligible to apply for Research Council funds only if they can document all of the following:

(1) Their university appointment includes research responsibilities;
(2) They are eligible to be a Principal Investigator on a federally funded project in their role as a university employee;
(3) They have a multi-year appointment with the University such that they will have an appointment during the period when the proposed project will be conducted with the reasonable expectation of having an appointment should they apply for and receive a federal project;
(4) There is evidence that they have a long term commitment to the University;
(5) Their supervising administrator writes a letter supporting their eligibility for Research Council funds.

Visiting and adjunct appointees ranks are excluded from being the Principal Investigator.

Application:
The application should include:

• Completed application with required signatures.
• Five page statement of work (addressing what will be done, how it will enhance the investigators' research/scholarship efforts, time lines, expected outcomes, and future research and scholarship anticipated to result from the proposed project).
• Completed budget sheet (any travel by non-UNL faculty/staff must be clearly justified).
• Curriculum Vitae for each investigator (2 pages, including publications for the last 5 years, current and pending grants for the last 5 years).
• NEW: all new applications for funding must include a description of what has been done with previous Research Council funding within the last five years. The descriptions should include awards from Interdisciplinary Grants, Seed Grants and Grants-In-Aid.

Interdisciplinary Research Grant Evaluation Guidelines
Interdisciplinary Research Grant Commonly Asked Questions