The University of Connecticut EMERGE Program provides short-term (<12 months) essential support when external funding for an investigator has been interrupted due to circumstances (broadly related to recent changes in federal policies and priorities) beyond the investigator’s control.
This program is provided through a collaboration among faculty, departments, and schools/colleges, centers/institutes, the OVPR, and the Provost’s Office. The distribution of EMERGE funds is contingent upon contributed funds from faculty, departments, schools/colleges, and/or centers/institutes based on existing unrestricted funds available.
EMERGE funds will be available in two phases. Phase 1 is limited to emergency, non-cancellable, university-obligated costs that are not recoverable as unavoidable costs on the project. Phase 2 provides bridge or seed funding to support an investigator in pursuing alternative funding mechanisms.
The EMERGE program will accept applications on a rolling basis. Reviews will be performed every 2 weeks with a goal for decisions within 3 weeks of submission. The three weeks begins once the application has been approved by unit leaders
Eligibility
EMERGE program requests must meet several conditions:
- The program is intended for cases where current, active grants or contracts have been terminated or interrupted (i.e., paused) for reasons beyond the investigator’s control. Other situations may be considered on a case-by-case basis, provided that recent changes in federal funding policies and practices cause the funding gap to be addressed.
- Phase 1 funds Funding priority is for the base salaries and fringe of graduate students, postdocs, and other externally funded personnel costs up to the amount currently funded on the impacted grants or contracts. Other critical research expenses outside of salaries may be considered with justification. Summer salary is excluded from EMERGE requests.
Phase 2 funds: Can include any costs in Phase 1, plus other expenses needed to support an investigator in the pursuit of new external funding through pilot projects and/or completing critical aims/tasks from terminated projects and/or helping a graduate student complete their degree.
- Contributions from PI, Co-PI, department, school/college, and/or Center/Institute funds are expected based on available unrestricted fund balances (startup, IDC, salary savings, or any other accounts that may be used for research costs). Faculty, department heads/chairs, deans, and directors are empowered to work collaboratively on plans to make funds available for contribution. Contributions for emergency needs will vary based on the local funds available. Where available balances allow, local and school/college contributions will likely need to exceed the third/third/third model previously used for OVPR matches. This will allow the OVPR to reserve limited central funds for units with low discretionary balances. This allocation of university resources is also imperative given the state’s attention to the university’s unrestricted account balances. The OVPR has cut programs/resources (e.g., internal seed grants, research development and communication resources) to pay costs associated with the EMERGE program.
- PIs applying for EMERGE funds should work with their department, center/institute, and school/college leadership while preparing their financial and action plans.
- All financial resources available to the applicant should be examined. For example, if the investigator has over $10,000 in start-up or other discretionary funds, the OVPR expects the investigator to deplete those funds below $10,000 collectively as part of the financial plans.
- The role of the department head / dean / director is to render their best judgment regarding the applicant’s need for emergency funds in the context of the applicant’s other support and department / school / college / center / institute resources, and the applicant’s plans for restoring funding.
- All applications for EMERGE funds will be routed to the department head, dean and/or director for approval (the same approvals as IPRs).
- If extramural grant funds (for the project in question) become available to the investigator during the period of the EMERGE award, any future unused funds must be returned. For example, it is expected that graduate student/staff supported by EMERGE funds would be transitioned back to external funding on reinstated or new related awards.
- Requests to the OVPR must be initiated through the EMERGE intake application (available through the UConn Quest Portal). Applications may be submitted by the PI, the Department/Center, or the Dean’s office.
Phase 1 – Application and Review Process
Applications may be submitted through the UConn Quest Portal, and must include the following components:
Note: Phase 1 and Phase 2 applications may be submitted together, if desired; however, we recommend taking time to fully consider phase 2 plans before submitting a phase 2 application.
- Application Form – available on Quest Portal
- Applicant Information
- Background information regarding request
- Financial contribution overview
- Request Details (*uploaded as PDF – no more than 3 pages). Please include the following sections:
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- Reason for request
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- Immediate university-obligated / non-cancellable costs
- Stipends/salaries for graduate students, post-docs, research-funded faculty/staff
- Include notice requirements for those affected
- Other critical research expenses to close out the project
- Stipends/salaries for graduate students, post-docs, research-funded faculty/staff
- Immediate university-obligated / non-cancellable costs
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- Action Plans, with timelines
- Ability of the funds to support the project’s scope of work (in cases where project was close to completion)
- Sunsetting – plans to wind down / closeout work no longer being supported
- Action Plans, with timelines
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- Staffing plans
- Overview of impacted staff
- Vulnerability of staff, students, and faculty due to consequences of termination (e.g., international considerations, benefits)
- Staffing plans
- Budget Spreadsheet (uploaded as PDF) - Note: we have not yet established a particular format for the budget spreadsheet.
- Eligible Personnel costs, including fringe at university fringe benefit rates, broken down by individual
- Other critical costs that are required and/or cannot be deferred, in detail (e.g., animal care, equipment maintenance)
- Itemize contributions from PI, department, school/college, affiliated centers/institutes
- Separate sheet listing all active PI accounts, including foundation accounts, indicating
- Current balance
- Overlap with current request
- Existing short/near term commitments for available funds, if any
Phase 1 Review Process
- After submission, the request will be routed to Department, Center/Institute, and School/College leadership for review and approval. Unit leaders will need to sign off on action plans and financial commitments.
- Requests will then be reviewed by the OVPR, along with a representative of the EMERGE committee in the case of Storrs and Regional Campus submission and HCRAC for UConn Health submissions.
- All available accounts related to the request will be reviewed. For PIs, uncommitted fund balances above $10K (cumulative across all unrestricted accounts) must be put toward funding needs related to the terminated project.
- Action and staffing plans will be reviewed to ensure that they are complete and well-justified.
- Reviews will be performed every 2 weeks with a goal for decisions within 3 weeks of submission. The three weeks begins once the application has been approved by unit leaders, as described above in #1.
- Awards will be dependent on availability of EMERGE funding.
EMERGE Committee will be comprised of at least 5 members with representation from the following groups: OVPR Research Development, Center/Institute directors, Associate Deans for Research.
Phase 2 – Application and Review Process
Applications may be submitted through the UConn Quest Portal, and must include the following components:
Note: Phase 1 and Phase 2 applications may be submitted together, if desired; however, we recommend taking time to fully consider phase 2 plans before submitting a phase 2 application.
- Application Form – available on Quest Portal
- Applicant Information
- Background information regarding request
- Financial contribution overview
- Request Details (*uploaded as PDF – no more than 3 pages). Please include the following sections:
-
- Reason for request
-
- Action Plans, with timelines
- Proposed short-term research plan and milestones
- Future funding plans to pursue new external funding
- How this funding will help investigator(s) win future funding
- Action Plans, with timelines
- Budget Spreadsheet (uploaded as PDF) Note: we have not yet established a particular format for the budget spreadsheet.
- Eligible Personnel costs, including fringe at university fringe benefit rates, broken down by individual
- Other research-related costs (materials and supplies, equipment, animal costs, participant costs, facility use fees, etc).
- Itemize contributions from PI, department, school/college, affiliated centers/institutes
- Separate sheet listing all active PI accounts, including foundation accounts, indicating:
- Current balance
- Overlap with current request
- Existing short/near term commitments for available funds, if any
Phase 2 Review Process
- After submission, the request will be routed to Department, Center/Institute, and School/College leadership for review and approval. Unit leaders will need to sign off on the merit of proposed research, the likelihood of future external funding, and all financial commitments.
- Requests will then be reviewed by the OVPR, along with a representative of the EMERGE committee in the case of Storrs and Regional Campus submission and HCRAC for UConn Health submissions.
- All available accounts related to the request will be reviewed. For PIs, uncommitted fund balances above $10K (cumulative across all unrestricted accounts) must be put toward funding needs related to the terminated project.
- Research and future funding plans will be reviewed to ensure that they are complete and well-justified. OVPR will rely upon the judgements of unit leaders regarding the intellectual merit of the proposed research.
- Reviews will be performed every 2 weeks with a goal for decisions within 3 weeks of submission. The three weeks begins once the application has been approved by unit leaders, as described above in #1.
- Awards will be dependent on availability of EMERGE funding.
- EMERGE awards will be made for 6 month increments. Demonstration of progress is required to receive a subsequent allocation, if needed, and if funds are available.
EMERGE Committee will be comprised of at least 5 members with representation from the following groups: OVPR Research Development, Center/Institute directors, Associate Deans for Research.
Contact
Contact: If you have questions about the application process, the materials needed, or regarding a funded request, please contact the OVPR Triage Team at research@uconn.edu.