Interdisciplinary Research Grant Program
Round 1, 2016
Guidelines
Submission Deadline: Friday, March 4, 2016
Introduction
Societies across the globe are confronting numerous challenges related to the environment, human
health, technology, infrastructure, and the ever-changing modes of social organization. Addressing
these complex scientific and societal challenges requires problem-solving approaches that
transcend individual disciplines and integrate a diverse range of skill sets and expertise. As the
largest urban public university in the United States, CUNY boasts a highly diverse faculty with the
requisite knowledge and competencies to address these global challenges.
The University is introducing a new Interdisciplinary Research Grant program that seeks to support
and encourage faculty researchers who will tackle global challenges or problems that affect the
needs of urban populations. We encourage applications that address specific challenges in ways
that can be approached by combining expertise across disciplines ( such as the natural sciences,
social sciences and humanities).
The program is envisioned as providing seed funding for projects that will become eligible and
competitive for external funding. The current program replaces the long-running Collaborative
Incentive Research Grant Program.
We anticipate that there will be approximately 8-10 one-year awards of $40,000 made in 2016.
Eligibility
I.
Only tenure-track or tenured faculty at CUNY campuses are eligible to apply. Research
professors, lecturers, adjunct faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and full-time Higher Education
Officers are not eligible.
II.
Proposals must involve an interdisciplinary collaboration between two or more faculty
members from different departments from the same or different CUNY colleges to address
a single research question.
III.
Only authentic interdisciplinary research projects are eligible. Web or media development,
workshops, book authorship, or similar types of initiatives that do not pose a researchable
question are ineligible.
IV.
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) must approve research involving human subjects prior
to the release of any funds. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) must
approve all research involving animals. Without IRB/IACUC approval funding will not be
allocated for any human or animal subjects research. For more information about IRB and
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Interdisciplinary Research Grant Program
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Guidelines
human subjects research, visit http://cuny.edu/research/compliance/human-subjectsresearch-1.html
V.
All awardees must submit a report at the completion of the funding period. Future
eligibility for this program is contingent on compliance.
Submission Guidelines
The full proposal document includes the following:
1. Proposal Summary. 200 words maximum. Please include project title and the names and
affiliations of the PI and co-PI(s).
2. Narrative description of the project. The project narrative is a maximum of five pages
single-spaced, exclusive of references and citations, with one-inch borders and 12-point
type.
Applicants should clearly describe the global challenge being addressed and must detail why
their collaborative approach is unique and poised to produce tangible results that impact
society on a large scale. The interdisciplinary nature of the collaboration must be clearly
described in a separate statement of up to 200 words.
We require that PIs contact grants officers at federal funding agencies (e.g. DOE, NEH, NIH,
NOAA or NSF) prior to submission to assess the potential of the project for further funding.
Please specify in the proposal narrative the agency and program officer that was contacted.
3. Biographical sketch. Each participating faculty member must submit a 2-page biosketch in
NSF or NIH format.
4. Proposed budget. See detailed budget guidelines below.
5. Budget justification. Indicate the distribution of resources among the investigators and
campuses (or departments) and the role played by each investigator. Faculty serving
primarily in a consulting capacity are not eligible to be collaborators.
6. List of current and pending funds. Each investigator must submit a list of active research
funding including startup funds. This section must indicate the percent effort committed to
existing/pending grants for all investigators, and the percent effort proposed for the
Interdisciplinary Research Grant project.
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Guidelines
Complete proposals must be submitted via the online proposal submission form, which can be
accessed through the following link:
http://www.cuny.edu/research/faculty-resources/internal-fundingprograms/collaborative-incentive-grant.html
Note: The Signature page, full proposal and summary page are all available for download as
Microsoft Word documents but must be converted into PDF format for submission via the online
system (link provided above).
7. Signature page: a scanned copy including college Grants Officers and Campus Endorsement
signatures (e.g. Chairperson, Dean, etc.) from each participating institution (note: you may
use multiple signature pages but they must be uploaded as one [multi-page] pdf).
File name: IRG1_LastNameOfLeadPI_signature.pdf
8. Full proposal: to be submitted on the proposal template available for download online. See
full requirements below.
File name: IRG1_LastNameOfLeadPI_proposal.pdf
9. Proposal summary: a copy of the 200-word project summary submitted as a 1-page PDF
(note: the project summary must also to be included in the full proposal).
File name: IRG1_LastNameOfLeadPI_summary.pdf
Budget & Budget Justification
Budgets of up to $40,000 will be considered. The funding period will be September 1, 2016 – June
30, 2017. Funds will be disbursed as a mixture of tax-levy and Research Foundation funds. We
anticipate up to 10 awards will be made in 2016.
No-cost extensions will be considered only under special circumstances for any RF funds not spent
during the funding period.
Funds can be requested in any of the following categories:
 Other Than Personnel Services (OTPS) including: research supplies, equipment,
travel and field expenses
 Personnel costs: Research Associates and Research Assistants
 Summer Salary: All investigators may request summer salary, but the cumulative
maximum cannot exceed $10,000 for all investigators on a grant
 Fringe benefits
Important budgetary notes:
I.
Specific funds for course release may not be requested in the budget.
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Guidelines
II.
All student research assistants funded by Interdisciplinary Research Grant awards must
complete Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training in compliance with federal
requirements. For further information, see the CUNY Research Compliance webpage:
http://www.cuny.edu/research/compliance/training-education/citi-training.html
III.
Funds may not be used to purchase laptop computers or any other handheld electronic
device (digital storage, e.g. flash drives or hard drives, is permitted). Funding to hold or
promote conferences, consortiums, events, and workshops are also disallowed.
IV.
Funding levels for successful proposals will depend on the budget request, the Committee’s
view of budgetary need, and the ranking of the proposal. In all instances, funding is subject
to the availability of funds and budgetary approvals.
Proposal Evaluation
All eligible proposals will be evaluated by a review panel composed of faculty experts drawn from
within CUNY and from external institutions.
Awards from this program should be viewed as seed funding for a project that will be developed
into a full proposal suitable for submission to an external funding agency. Proposals will be
evaluated in part on the basis of the likelihood that the research will continue to evolve and flourish
beyond the funding period.
Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of three criteria:
1. Creativity and innovation of the interdisciplinary approach
2. Technical quality and feasibility
3. Potential to receive external funding.
The review panel will be asked to look for a demonstrated record of scholarly achievement and
promise. Senior faculty will be judged on their publications and external funding record; junior
faculty will be judged on the promise of their individual research programs and on the role they play
in the collaboration.
The reviewers will rank the proposals according to the following numerical values:
1 – excellent
2 – very good
3 – good
4 – fair
5 – poor
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Interdisciplinary Research Grant Program
Round 1, 2016
Guidelines
The final awards will be decided by the review committee, and will be based on the numerical
rankings and reviewer comments.
Submission Timetable
Complete submissions must be uploaded no later than 5:00 PM on Friday, March 4, 2016
Please direct any questions to:
Avrom Caplan, PhD
Associate University Dean for Research
avrom.caplan@cuny.edu
646-664-8904
We anticipate that funding decisions will be made by the end of August 2016.
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