Office of Research Offers Second Round of $1 Million Seed Funding to Faculty

The UCF Office of Research and the Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs have pooled $1 million in seed funding to help faculty conducting research, which could lead to greater success in attracting federal and private grants. This is the second time UCF has offered this kind of funding.

Last September, the two offices launched a pilot $1 million seed funding program to help enhance the visibility and recognition of faculty members and help them be more competitive in attracting external funding.

More than 140 teams of interdisciplinary faculty competed for the funds that are divided into two categories: Exploratory Research and Interdisciplinary Research. Twenty-nine principal investigators and teams were awarded funding in December.

Instructions for applying and details can be found here. Applications must be submitted through the InfoReady portal.

Past recipients of the Seed Program are not eligible. There are several deadlines depending on the type of award. The first deadline is Oct. 1.

Exploratory Research Awards are intended to fund UCF researchers to initiate new high-risk, high-reward activities, which will strengthen faculty credentials and make them more competitive by allowing them to prepare preliminary data for submission of external grant-funding applications appropriate to their discipline. The awards are also available for principal investigators to apply for time on shared-research facility equipment to gather preliminary data for proposals, editorial review comments, or test the feasibility of partnerships with industry.

Interdisciplinary Research Awards focus on new or expanding teams to engage in convergence activities that lead to externally funded grants requiring preliminary data and proof of established multi-PI engagement. This program will promote research that can only be achieved through collaboration.

Reinhart will lead a virtual Q&A session about the program at 10:00 a.m. Oct. 15. To register and get access to the zoom session, visit https://bit.ly/35X9S7c. For questions not answered on the website, email Reinhart at debra.reinhart@ucf.edu.