UNL interdisciplinary research teams seeking internal support to compete for major external funding are encouraged to attend a Jan. 21 town hall meeting to learn about the Big Ideas Grants Program.

The meeting will be 3:30-4:30 p.m., Whittier Research Center, Room 152. Prem Paul, vice chancellor for research and economic development, will outline program expectations and answer questions about the application process. A live webstream will be available via Adobe Connect.

The event is to help faculty prepare for the second round of competition for the Big Ideas program. Concept papers are due 5 p.m. Feb. 2. Full details are available in the Big Ideas Grants – Round 2 RFA.

The program was unveiled at the 2014 Interdisciplinary Faculty Retreat. It aims to support new interdisciplinary groups with preliminary or well-developed plans to pursue external research grants and contracts of $3 million or more, including major funding programs available through the U.S. Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Education.

Tenured, tenure-track and research faculty are eligible to be principal investigators on Big Ideas grants. Teams are encouraged, but not required, to address research themes discussed during the faculty retreat:

• Signaling, Sensing and Imaging at the Intersection of Engineering and the Physical and Life Sciences
• Enhancing Lives: Integrating Research and Practice Across the Social, Behavioral and Educational Sciences
• Integrating Big Data into Your Research Program at UNL

The Office of Research and Economic Development will fund up to $400,000 in Big Ideas Grants during the second round of competition. Teams can apply for two levels of funding: planning grants of up to $10,000 for one year, and accelerator grants of up to $100,000 over two years. Following review of concept papers, selected teams will be invited to submit full applications by April 13.

During the first round of competition in fall 2014, ORED awarded $150,000 to support five planning grant proposals and one accelerator grant proposal.