uconn health

MPS Seed Grant Program

The OVPR’s MPS Seed Grant Program is to provide funding support for UConn/UCH researchers to use the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences’ Javelin MPS (microphysiological system or organ-on-a-chip platform), recently acquired thanks to a generous gift by UConn Aluma Jane Hirsh, to generate preliminary data in support of grant submissions.

The OVPR is providing one-time matching funds in response to Ms. Hirsh’s gift because of the strong potential MPS and other new approach methodologies (NAMs) offers for reducing the need for animal studies in human health research and speeding up the development of new therapeutics. The use of MPS and other NAMs in health research is in strong alignment with FDA, NIH, and international efforts to develop ethical, human-specific non-animal methodologies. OVPR offers this seed investment to enable UConn/UCH researchers to effectively leverage these new approaches for high-impact research that can establish the University as a leader in this promising area.

Award Details

The MPS Seed Grant Program will award 8-10 grants up to $25,000 each to cover the experimental costs described below.

Proposed research projects should include the design and the execution of Javelin’s organ-on-a-chip platform studies that addresss high-value questions such as.

Population and species differences in metabolism
Mechanisms of off-target toxicity
Optimization of dosing regimens using human-relevant models
Efficacy, ADME, or toxicity assessment for promising therapeutics

Awards include funds to support up to two rounds of experiments. Budgets can only be used to support the following costs:

Chips from Javelin
Reagents and other supplies needed to carry out experiments using the Javelin platform

Expected outcomes

External fund proposals seeking NIH, FDA, and foundation support for alternative testing strategies. Applicants need to name their targeted external funding opportunities and provide details about expected submission timelines.
Peer-reviewed manuscripts, conference presentations at regional and national meetings focused on MPS and pharmacology.
Other visible outputs that will reinforce UConn’s reputation as a hub for innovative, ethical drug development science.

Timeline

Full proposals must be submitted by 4/6 at 12 noon via the UConn Quest Portal (you may be prompted to first log in and then click the link again to access the application)
Notifications of results will be announced by May 15^th, 2026
Awardees will be announced publicly on the OVPR’s Internal Funding Program website and through UConn Today.

Funding Period

Awards will be made for a 6-month period, with the expectation is experiments will be completed within 6 months unless a compelling justification is made by the PI(s) for an alternate funding period. Standard award period will be June 1 to December 31. Projects that are expected to take more than 9 months to complete are not encouraged.

Budget

In the application, please indicate how many chips (each chip costs $850.00) are needed and the amount of funds needed for reagents. (total amount not to exceed $25,000.00)

Lead faculty PI needs to be a UConn/UCH faculty member

Faculty must be tenure-track, tenured, Research, and in-Residence faculty with Assistant Professor rank or higher with an active research program. Investigators need to have institutionally-funded research time available to devote to the project.
Faculty may only submit one proposal as lead PI. Investigators may serve as collaborators on multiple projects.

Multi-PI, interdisciplinary projects are encouraged. Faculty are encouraged to use the School’s website or Lincus, a search engine that will assist in identifying specific faculty expertise at all UConn campuses, including UConn Health. You can also reach out to OVPR Research Development Associate Quinn McAdam at mcadam@uconn.edu.

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

Please be sure to read all the guidelines thoroughly. Each item/section should be prepared, labeled, and ordered as indicated below. Some information will need to be entered into a form on the application site. Other documents will need to be uploaded. See below for details.

Proposals must be submitted electronically through the UConn Quest Portal by 4/6 and will require the following information:

Faculty Applicant Information Form (some information may pre-populate into the form)

Submitting PI Name
Home Department
School/College
Email
Phone
Faculty/Academic Rank
Primary Employer
Question - is your position contingent on grant funding?

MPS SEED GRANT APPLICATION FORM

Faculty Applicant Information

Special Reviewer Expertise (optional): If your project requires reviewers to possess specific expertise within the context of your discipline (i.e. familiarity with a specialized approach or methodology), please specify.
Size of Team: 0-8
Key Personnel: Co-PIs, department affiliation, role on project
Project Title:
Total Amount Requested for Reagents and Chips: (not to exceed $25,000.00)
Total Amount Requested for Reagents:
Total Cost of Chips: (each chip costs $850.00)
Project Abstract / Lay Summary: Succinctly state (for a non-specialist audience) the objectives, methods to be employed, and the significance of the proposed activity.
Future Funding and/or Activities: The applicant should specify where extramural grant proposals will be submitted and/or the high-level disciplinary accomplishments that will result from the MPS Seed Grant Program award.
Keywords: List 4-5 keywords relevant to project

Project Plan (PDF upload)

The Project Plan should be 2-3 pages in length (12-pt font and 1” margins). The Project Plan should address each of the areas below in sufficient detail using the headings provided. Proposals should be written in straightforward language, keeping in mind that reviewers will possess general content knowledge but not necessarily specialist expertise. Proposals should avoid the use of technical jargon. Acronyms that are not universally understood should be spelled out the first time they are used. References should be included in the project plan document, but they do not need to be counted against page limits

Significance/Importance: Provide a clear and compelling scientific rationale for the proposed project and how using the MPS platform will accelerate research progress in your chose area of inquiry. Narratives should address both the significance of the scientific questions being explored and the significance of using MPS techniques in the project.

Approach and Feasibility: Describe the plan for carrying out the proposed activities, including research aims, design, work plan, and methodological approach.

Overview of future work enabled by these pilot studies:

- Identify the external funding opportunities you are targeting (sponsor, specific funding opportunity, targeted submission dates).
- Briefly describe the team that you will gather for the external submission.
- Describe other expected research products (publications, presentations, etc.) that you expect to emerge from the project.
- Describe how the preliminary data produced using this funding will improve your competitiveness for external funding.

Biosketches/CVs (PDF upload, single document)

Please include biosketches/CVs (formatted as appropriate for your field) for all PIs/Co-PIs. Include your most recent publications or those most relevant to the work proposed. Also include current/pending support from external sponsors and UConn sources (including start-up funding). This may be appended to the end of the CV/biosketch or integrated within it, if your discipline format already provides space for current/pending.

Appendices (PDF upload, single document)

Additional information may be included when it is truly essential for adequate peer review of the proposal.

Review Process

All proposals will be evaluated by the OVPR for eligibility, then assigned to reviewers whose expertise aligns with the proposals. The reviewers will in turn recommend proposal(s) for funding to the Faculty Co-chairs who will make final funding recommendations to the OVPR.

The Faculty Co-chairs provide reviewer suggestions to be invited to review specific proposals. (2 reviewers for each proposal)
The OVPR will invite reviewers based on disciplinary areas consistent with the proposal category, scholarly reputation, and expertise and specialization consistent with the proposal topic.
Once the reviews are complete, the Faculty Co-chairs will review the recommendations by the reviewers, identify the strongest proposals for funding, and select the proposal(s) to be recommended for funding, keeping the review criteria in mind.

Review Criteria

Using a 5-point rating scale from 1 (Excellent) to 5 (Poor), reviewers will rate and evaluate 3 criteria (Significance, Approach/ Feasibility and Overview of future work enabled by these pilot studies in alignment with the MPS Seed Grant Program mission to support innovative and collaborative research using Javelin’s MPS (organ-on-a-chip platform).

Significance/Importance

Does this study clearly address an important scientific problem in a way that successfully leverages the MPS platform?
If the aims of the project are achieved, will scientific knowledge, technical capability, clinical practice, and/or social conditions be advanced in meaningful ways?
Does the proposed project significantly contribute to the concepts, theories, methods, technologies, applications, treatments, outcomes, services, and/or preventive interventions?

Approach/Feasibility

To what degree does the proposal outline a clearly articulated and well-reasoned plan of action that includes activities, research aims, design and work plan?
To what degree are the proposed approaches appropriate for the aims of the project? Do they reflect intellectual rigor?
To what degree is the project, as described in the proposal, achievable? Are there any concerns about feasibility?
Does the environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success?

Overview of future work enabled by these pilot studies

Are the identified external funding opportunities targets within the next year?
To what extent are the selected funding opportunities appropriate for the proposed project?
If the proposed project is successful, to what extent will the team’s competitiveness for the targeted external funding opportunities be improved?

UConn Policy on Participation in Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs

The Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment (MFTRP) Program Participation Policy at UConn and UConn Health aims to safeguard the integrity of federally funded research. In alignment with the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, the policy emphasizes international collaboration but prohibits covered individuals involved in UConn research from participating in malign foreign talent recruitment programs which pose research security risks.

Participation in a MFTRP is prohibited for those seeking funding from US federal agencies (such as the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DOE), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), etc.). The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits MFTRP participation looking back for the past 10 years. Researchers must certify they are not involved with a MFTRP at proposal submission and annually thereafter. Violations may result in disciplinary actions or disqualification from federal research funding.

A Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (FTRP) is an effort by a foreign government (including affiliated institutions of higher education and other affiliate entities) to recruit science and technology professionals and students. While participation in a FTRP will not necessarily impact a researcher’s ability to obtain U.S. federal grant funding, participation in a Malign FTRP will impede receipt of federal grant funding.

A Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (MFTRP) is any program, position, or activity that provides compensation (including in-kind compensation such as research funding, complimentary foreign travel, honorific titles, access to laboratory spaces, and other forms of renumeration) by a foreign collaborator on a U.S. restricted party list OR a foreign country of concern, or an entity based in, funded by, or affiliated with a foreign country of concern (including institutions of higher education or government designees), in exchange for the individual conducting “malign” talent activities.

Currently, the listed countries of concern are China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, although more countries could be added (or removed) in the future.

Activities that constitute “malign” talent activities can include:

transferring intellectual property developed through a U.S. federal research grant to a foreign country;
an obligation to recruit students, trainees, or researchers to the foreign institution of higher education;
establishing a laboratory or company in a foreign country in violation of a federal research award;
accepting a faculty position or other employment or appointment in violation of the terms of a federal research award;
being unable to terminate the FTRP contract except in extraordinary circumstances;
being limited in capacity to carry out a federal research award due to effort required for the FTRP;
providing work that substantially overlaps or duplicates a U.S. federal research and development award;
being required to submit research grant applications to foreign funding agencies on behalf of the foreign sponsoring organization;
being required to omit acknowledgment of your U.S. home institution or U.S. federal funding agency;
begin required to not disclose participation in the FTRP; or
having a conflict of interest or commitment contrary to a federal research award.

Disclosure Requirements

More than anything else, federal funding agencies stress transparency in a researcher’s disclosure of participation in activities abroad. Individuals must disclose participation in a FTRP by:

Updating the UConn and UConn Health Conflict of Interest (COI) disclosure form within 30 days of participation; and
Working with UConn and UConn Health Sponsored Program Services (SPS) to update Current & Pending (Other) Support Pages to ensure disclosure to appropriate federal sponsors.

If you suspect involvement in or have been approached by a MFTRP, contact UConn’s Research Security and Compliance Office immediately at researchsecurity@uconn.edu. Fraudulent statements or claims (including intentional omissions) in violation of this policy may result in criminal, civil, administrative or university penalties.

UConn offers a 3 minute overview training on Malign Foreign Talent Program Participation:

If you have questions regarding compliance or need further clarification on policies related to MFTRPs, please reach out to the UConn Research Security and Compliance Office at researchsecurity@uconn.edu.

Research Security Training

The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 requires that PIs and senior/key personnel complete annual research security training on an implementation schedule to be driven by federal funding agencies. Each individual identified as a “covered individual” (defined below) must certify that they have completed the requisite research security training within 12 months prior to proposal submission.

To meet this research security training requirement, all Principal Investigators and key personnel included on a sponsored program proposal must complete research security training by October 1, 2025 or before any proposal submission thereafter.

The Department of Energy (DoE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) first implemented the research security training requirement for new proposal submissions effective May 1, 2025.
The National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have all released research security training and disclosure of other support requirements effective either October 2025, January 2026, May 2026 or, in the case of the USDA, effective immediately at the discretion of the agency.
Once the training requirement is implemented, any new covered individuals added to the project must also certify that they have completed the research security training within 30 calendar days of joining the project.
A particular RFP may include additional training requirements specific to that award, such as requiring training for all participants (not just covered individuals) on the project. Please review your RFP for any such requirements or ask SPS.
Going forward, research security training must be refreshed annually to certify completion within twelve months prior to proposal submission.

UConn’s Sponsor Program Services (SPS) cannot submit a proposal unless all covered individuals have received training by the deadline required by the federal sponsor.

The training is currently open to all UConn and UConn Health employees and will facilitate your readiness for this requirement upon implementation by your targeted funding agencies.

Applicability: The law introduces a new term of “covered individuals” subject to this research security training requirement. A covered individual is an individual who:

Contributes in a substantive, meaningful way to the development or execution of the scope of work of a project proposed for funding by a federal agency; and

Is designated as a principal investigator (PI), project director (PD), coprincipal investigator (Co-PI), co-investigator (Co-I), co-project director (Co-PD), project manager, key personnel, and any individual regardless of title (inclusive of consultants, graduate students, or postdoctoral associates) that is functionally performing in one of these named roles.

At proposal, covered individuals will default to PIs, key personnel, anyone identified as responsible for the design, conduct or reporting of the research, and anyone else identified by the PI as a contributing in a substantive, meaningful way on the Internal Proposal Routing form.

Training: Research security training is designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to understand behaviors that have led to improper or illegal transfers of U.S. government-supported research and development (R&D) based on incidents reported by federal research agencies. The training will also highlight the critical role of U.S. researchers in global scientific discoveries and the importance of attracting international talent to U.S. research institutions.

The UConn is using the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program’s “Research Security Training (Combined)” module to meet this training requirement. This CITI training module has been developed specifically for IHE researchers as a condensed version of NSF’s four-hour Research Security Training modules. Please allow yourself 1.5 hours to complete the CITI training. You can complete the training in stages and save your progress.

To complete the training, follow these steps:

Storrs and Regional Campuses:

Register for the training through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program.
To create an account in CITI, click on the Register button in the upper right.
- Returning users may log in in the upper right corner.
Click on “Log in through my Organization” at the top of the page.
Enter “UConn – Storrs and Regional Campuses” in the search box.
Select “Continue to SSO Login/instructions.” The CITI Single Sign-on (SSO) will use your UConn NetID and password for your account (the system will ask you if there is another CITI account you would like to associate with your NetID account, and this option can be used to merge an old account with your new SSO account).
Follow the prompts to create an account.
Once you are logged in and under the UConn affiliation, on the page under your “Active Courses” and “Courses Ready to Begin,” scroll down to the gray box labeled “Learner Tools for UConn – Storrs and Regional Campuses” and select “Add a Course.”
Under the “Select Curriculum” webpage, scroll to the bottom of the webpage and tick the box for “I would like to review the Research Security”
Under the “Select Curriculum – Research Security” webpage, tick the box for “Research Security Training (Combined).”
Complete the training.

UConn Health:

Register for the training through the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program.
Click on the “Register” tab on the right side of the top screen.
- Returning users may log in in the upper right corner.
Click on “Select Your Organization Affiliation” – In the box to “Search for organization,” enter “University of Connecticut Health Center,” selecting this option when it becomes available. (Note: Be sure to include Health Center in your selection)
Follow the prompts to create an account.
Course Enrollment Procedure –Once logged into CITI, under “Institutional Courses” to the right of “University of Connecticut Health Center,” click “View Courses” to see any assigned courses.
Click “Add a Course.”
You will see multiple questions on the CITI course enrollment page. For the purposes of the Research Security Training requirement, you will need to scroll down to Question 11, Research Security. Please check the Research Security Training (Combined) course to satisfy the Research Security Training requirement.

—————————–Question 11——————————-

Research Security

Please select a Research Security from the options below:

- - Research Security (Combined)

Complete the training.

Your Completion Report will automatically be shared with SPS and will also be accessible to you and SPS at any time from the CITI Program.

If you experience problems locating or logging on to the training, please email researchsecurity@uconn.edu.

For more information on Research Security and Export Controls, please visit the OVPR Research Security Training page.

Thank you for your attention to this important new requirement. Your cooperation is essential in meeting these new research security requirements and maintaining the highest standards of compliance at UConn.

External Funding Resources Overview

The Research Development Services team offers several resources to assist faculty in finding external funding opportunities for their research and scholarship.

Listservs

Sign up for our Funding Opportunity Listservs to receive periodic emails with funding opportunities in topic areas of interest to you.

Databases

UConn subscribes to two grant funding search engines:

Pivot-RP, encompassing state, federal, corporate, non-profit, and foundation sponsors. Create an account to identify potential funding opportunities, receive weekly funding alerts based on your research profile, and identify potential collaborators within UConn using Pivot Profiles.

Foundation Directory Online, specializing in private and corporate foundation funding.

Specific Topic Areas

UConn is a key member of the QuantumCT initiative. Our team has curated funding opportunities specific to research, workforce development, and education related to the quantum sciences.

ARPA-H – a new research funding agency focused on transformative biomedical and health breakthroughs. See our ARPA-H funding resources page for more information.

OVPR’s Technology Commercialization Services maintains a listing of industry funding opportunities relevant to UConn faculty.

Contact our team!

For assistance with any of these tools or questions regarding external funding opportunities, please contact the RDS team at ovpr-rds@uconn.edu.

ARPA-H Current Funding Opportunities

The RDS team suggests contacting us for support on ARPA-H submissions well before submitting a solution summary or proposal, as their programs and requirements frequently change. We are keeping up to date with these changes and can help your submission meet current requirements.

Background

Mission: The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) accelerates better health outcomes for everyone by supporting the development of high-impact solutions to society’s most challenging health problems.

Who They Are: ARPA-H advances high-potential, high-impact biomedical and health research that cannot be readily accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity. ARPA-H awardees are developing entirely new ways to tackle the hardest challenges in health.

Contact

This contact form can be used to connect with ARPA-H directly.

Mission Office ISOs

The four current ARPA-H focus areas translate to four mission offices. Each mission office has its own Innovative Solutions Opening (ISO) to replace the previous Open BAA. Interested applicants should submit their proposal to the Mission Office ISO that best fits their subject matter.

All Mission Office ISOs require solution summaries prior to a full proposal and have a closing date of March 3, 2029.

Health Science Futures (HSF)

Expanding what’s technically possible. Accelerating advances across research areas and removing limitations that stymie progress towards solutions. The tools and platforms developed apply to a broad range of diseases.

Proactive Health (PHO)

Keeping people from being patients. Reducing the likelihood that people become patients. Preventative programs will create new capabilities to detect and characterize disease risk and promote treatments and behaviors to anticipate threats to Americans’ health, whether those are viral, bacterial, chemical, physical, or psychological.

Resilient Systems (RSO)

Building integrated health care systems. Developing capabilities, business models, and integrations to endure crises such as pandemics, social disruption, and economic instability. Resilient systems need to sustain themselves between crises, from the molecular to the societal, to better achieve outcomes that advance American health and wellbeing.

Scalable Solutions (SSO)

Reaching everyone quickly. Addressing challenges that include geography, distribution, manufacturing, data and information, and economies of scale to create programs that result in impactful, timely, and equitable solutions.

Current Programs and Exploration Topics

Note: Solution summaries and full proposals are due at varying times of day on due dates depending on the program. Be sure to confirm these times on each program’s program page, linked in the table below.

Funding Opportunity Listservs

Quantum-related Funding Opportunities and Resources

Advances in quantum science have the potential to have transformative social and economic impact. New technologies are poised to revolutionize major industries, creating opportunities for new applications that will fuel economic growth.

To meet these challenges, UConn has partnered with Yale University and other key stakeholders to lead the Quantum-CT Regional Innovation Engine project. Quantum-CT is an effort to build an innovation ecosystem of researchers, educators, industry, and state/local stakeholders to harness the economic impact of new quantum-enabled technologies through technology development, innovation and entrepreneurship, and advances in STEM education and workforce development.

Want to contribute to the quantum revolution? We strongly encourage interested faculty in all disciplines to partner together and with Yale University, other regional academic/educational institutions, corporate/industry stakeholders, and community partners on research projects that will:

Develop use-inspired applications of quantum technologies;
Transform STEM education and workforce training to create a quantum-ready workforce; and
Investigate the societal and economic impact of new quantum technologies;

To support the success of the Quantum-CT effort, we encourage

All grant submissions
Cross-institution applications, not only among UConn and Yale, but also with other schools and colleges that represent a variety of communities within our state
Submissions for projects whose education and workforce development component may be provided by partnering with the QuantumCT workforce and education team
Submissions for the development of education materials with a quantum science theme that can be facilitated by partnering with a QuantumCT research team

To assist faculty in finding funding opportunities to support their quantum-related research, OVPR Research Development Services has curated a list of relevant funding opportunities, below, which is updated monthly (last updated 4/10/2026).

March Remote RCR Training 3/26

Posted on March 15, 2024March 21, 2024 by Ellen Ciesielski

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Program within Research Integrity & Compliance in the OVPR hosts monthly remote RCR training sessions. For our March remote event, we will be discussing several case studies. This 1-hour event will count towards the 8-hour in person requirement for NIH, however all those who conduct research are strongly encouraged to attend!

For more details about RCR requirements, please visit our RCR Program website.

For questions, please contact Research Compliance Monitor, Ellen Ciesielski or Karen Moré, Director of Research Compliance.

What: March RCR remote training session featuring case study discussions

When: Tuesday, March 26th from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Where: Remote WebEx Registration Link

Research Communications

What We Do

The UConn Research Communications team is responsible for promoting and disseminating research conducted at the university. Our primary functions include:

Public Relations
- We write and distribute press releases and manage media inquiries related to research conducted at UConn.
Science Communication
- The team works to translate complex research findings into accessible language for the general public, especially by producing content for the university’s house media outlet, UConn Today.
Social Media and Web Presence
- Research Communications manages social media accounts (X, LinkedIn, and Instagram), the university’s research websites (internal and external), and online publications to keep the public informed about ongoing research projects and their outcomes.
Event Promotion
- Research Communications helps organize and promote events related to research, such as lectures, seminars, and conferences. This helps in engaging the public and other stakeholders.
Internal Communications
- In addition to external communication, our team ensures that research findings and news are effectively communicated within the university community.
Graphic Design and Multimedia
- Our talented graphic designers and multimedia specialists help create visually appealing materials to accompany research communications, such as infographics, videos, and other visual content.
Media Training
- We provide media training to researchers and UConn service units to help them effectively communicate their work to the public and the press.

Get in Touch

Need our services? For internal inquiries (UConn researchers/faculty/staff), submit a ticket with the specifics of your request. This helps us streamline our response and will ensure the quickest turnaround.

For external inquiries and other requests, email us.

Communications Support Request Form

The Research Communications team supports UConn faculty and researchers with the following communications deliverables and services:

UConn Today Stories
Press Releases
Website update (for ovpr.uconn.edu and ovpr.uchc.edu only)
Social Media Posts or Graphics
Design Project
Presentation Decks
Photography/Videography
Social Media Training
Communications Etiquette Training
Other Special Projects

To request any of the above, please fill out our support request form, and our team will be happy to assist you.

Internal Funding Budget Guidelines

The proposal budget is the financial plan of action that reflects the costs required to perform the proposed work statement. The following information has been prepared to help you develop your budget plan. It is important to demonstrate that the budget proposed is reasonable.

A budget justification should be submitted to allow for each budget category to be explained relative to the proposed research. The budget justification explains how the estimated costs for the categories were derived and explains the need for the cost. Budgets should be prepared for the entire proposed project.

While our budget sheet template has been designed to make it easy for an applicant to complete it on their own, we encourage all applicants to consult with their local grant administrators to ensure that budgets are correctly completed. Faculty in CLAS are asked to reach out to clasgrants@uconn.edu to work with the Grant Management Services (GMS) team to complete the budgets for internal funding program applications.

Download and save the budget sheet template to your computer: FINAL_OVPR_Internal-Funding_Budget-Template_FY26-for-FY25-competitions

The following categories are generally included in the preparation of a proposal budget:

Salary: List all personnel, including the names and roles devoted to the project.
Fringe benefits: Automatically computed on the budget sheet template except for ‘other,’ refer to Storrs/Regional Fringe Benefit Rates and UCH Fringe Benefit Rates.
Equipment: Tangible, non-expendable, individual property having an anticipated life of one year or more with a unit acquisition cost of $5,000 or greater. For information see equipment definitions on the accounting website.
Travel (transportation & Per Diem): Includes any travel necessary to conduct research (in support of specific project aims). For information on travel procedures and processes, see the travel website.
Materials & Supplies: Any consumable not falling into the category of equipment, as defined above.
Participant Support: Indicate incentives, travel, and other subsistence costs necessary for the project.
Animals/Animal Care: Animal costs should reflect the type of animal, the number of animals and the unit cost per animal. Per Diem costs should list the number of days of Per Diem. Please refer to OAC for per diem rates.
Contractual Services: Fees and charges for specialized services, such as library access fees, laboratory analysis fees, consultant fees, subject fees, etc.

General guidelines regarding allowable/unallowable costs that are consistent with other OVPR internal funding opportunities. If you have a budget need that does not fit within these guidelines, please reach out to the OVPR Research Development Internal Funding team at research@uconn.edu to discuss options.

Allowable costs include:

Graduate Research Assistants
- AY Graduate Research Assistantships (20 hour/week). Can choose GA level and specify percentage effort on the project.
- Summer. You may request up to $2000 per student per annum.
Postdoc or other research assistant/technician salary
- Postdoc stipends should follow the NIH NRSA stipend levels. You may enter the base salary of each postdoc and record the postdoc’s effort percentage on this project.
Student Labor. Undergraduate student labor is paid on an hourly basis, plus fringe benefits. Please refer to the student employment website for levels of experience and compensation. Please enter the total amount you are budgeting for all undergraduate student labor costs
Summer Fellowships. Storrs/regional campus faculty members on nine-month appointments may receive salary during the summer months. A maximum of $3,000 per award (plus fringe) may be requested for single PI proposals and $5,000 per award (plus fringe) for Multi-PI proposals (limit $3K per PI). The request for summer funds must be carefully justified. For more information, contact the OVPR.
Course buyouts
- Course buyout may be requested for Storrs/regional campus faculty, but the PI must explain why release time is vital to the project. Faculty requesting funds for course buy-outs must include a statement of support from the department head.
  - ‘The department supports a course buyout for ‘PI name’s’ application for the ‘award name’ program entitled ‘project title,’ under the OVPR’s terms for the inclusion of course buyouts in internal funding awards.’
- Amount requested cannot exceed the minimum per-credit adjunct rate for the course being replaced. For more information, contact the OVPR.
- Limit of one per PI (Principal Investigators) per project
- Please refer to the payroll department.
Fringe costs
Equipment purchases
Travel to conduct research or meet with collaborators (travel approval may be required)
Materials and supplies
Participant support costs
Animal/animal care costs
Contractual services (including fee-for-service contracts with partner institutions)

Unallowable costs include:

Subawards to partner institutions
Faculty member salaries
Clerical or administrative personnel salaries
Including personnel whose primary purpose is to explore funding sources and/or prepare grant applications
Service/maintenance contracts on equipment
Laboratory renovations, or other infrastructure renovations
Institutional memberships in professional organizations
Computers, laptops, tablets, or other standard office equipment (computers that serve a specialized research function beyond what standard office equipment can provide are allowable)
Costs related to attendance/participation in professional meetings to present the results of research
Travel to explore extramural funding opportunities
Costs associated with the publication of results of the research including page charges, purchase of reprints, or journal costs.

SPS Guidance During Federal Government Shutdown

UPDATE 02/02/2026

The federal government is currently in partial shutdown. As a result, federal government operations will vary by agency. While some agencies (listed below) will not be affected, the Department of Health & Human Services, which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health, is among those directly impacted. Staff members for affected agencies (including Grants Management and Program Officers) may be unavailable to assist with issues and questions during a shutdown.

Agencies funded separately and unaffected by the shutdown:

Department of Commerce
Department of Justice
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
Department of Energy
Department of the Interior
Environmental Protection Agency
Forest Service
Indian Health Service

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) maintains a live operating status for all federal agencies in Washington, D.C. here. Additional links to current federal agency implementation plans may be found at the bottom of this page.

As in previous shutdowns, researchers with active federally sponsored grants and contracts will generally be instructed to continue work unless the project requires significant involvement of federal employees. Investigators may receive instructions from their contracting or program officers; if you receive such information, please notify your SPS award management contact immediately (links below).

Based on past shutdown experience, SPS anticipates the following potential impacts on sponsored programs operations:

Proposals and Application Systems

We expect that some agencies will not be available to process proposals and that others will retain submitted proposals for processing when normal operations resume. If you are preparing an application or progress report for an upcoming submission deadline, please continue to prepare those documents for an on-time submission; however, we encourage you to monitor further updates for specific guidance and the potential for those deadlines to be extended.

Proposal preparation systems are expected to remain online during a shutdown, though proposals may not be processed by agencies until normal operations resume. Watch for announcements from agencies for extensions of deadline dates. There is a possibility that the Grants.gov Contact Center will remain available; however, it is unclear if all Help Desk systems will remain functional.
Peer reviews and study sections are not expected to occur, which may impact faculty who serve as reviewers, and may result in potential delays in start dates for those whose proposals are awaiting review if the shutdown is prolonged.
Agencies will likely not issue new notices, awards, or other actions during the shutdown.

Award Management

In general, researchers with active federally sponsored grants and contracts will be instructed to continue work, but the following exceptions are noted:

Personnel working in federal labs/facilities, and possibly on cooperative agreements and joint awards may receive notification that they are not permitted to work on associated awards during the shutdown.
Faculty working at a federal agency on an interagency personnel agreement (IPA) should immediately contact the agency to determine next steps.
“Stop Work” orders may be implemented for federal contracts, in which case employees can no longer be paid with federal funds allocated to that contract.
Final reports should be submitted on time if sponsor systems are operational.

Federal personnel WILL NOT be available, though each agency may articulate emergency contact procedures. Federal personnel will not be available for scheduled campus visits or project status meetings.

Agency Contingency Plans:

Additional resources:

Department of Energy: Lapse Plan Summary Overview
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Shutdown furlough guidance
National Institutes of Health: Information for the Extramural Community During the Lapse of Federal Government Funding (NOT-OD-26-004)
National Science Foundations: Assistance and Contract-Related Policy and Systems Issues During a Lapse in Appropriations
OMB: Frequently Asked Questions During Lapse in Appropriations

SPS will continue to monitor agency-specific communications regarding a potential shutdown and provide detailed updates and specific guidance via this page and email.

Storrs SPS Contacts

UCH SPS Contacts

Award Report

After awards are made and the project has been completed, the OVPR (Office of the Vice President for Research) would like to evaluate project progress and to learn more about the impact of the work that has been done. Please email research@uconn.edu with a 1–2-page narrative that includes the following:

Cover: title, team, funding mechanism, date of award, etc.
Summary (brief): of the project aims/goals and the results to date.
Project Outcomes (if relevant): publications, grant applications, grant awards, invention disclosures, patents, other “products.”
What has this award enabled you to do that you would not otherwise have been able to do without it?

SCRO Forms and Submission Deadlines

Submission Deadline: For new registrations, please submit all required materials at least 4 weeks prior to the scheduled meeting date.

SCRO Application Form

SCRO Amendment Form

SCRO Closure Form

SCRO Meetings: The SCRO Committee is scheduled to meet quarterly but can be convened as needed in between scheduled meetings.

2026 SCRO Meeting Dates

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Wednesday, December 2, 2026

SCRO Policies, Regulations & Guidance

The roles and responsibilities of human stem cell users are outlined in the University policy for Human Stem Cell Research Approval. For a detailed description of UConn/UConn Health SCRO Committee policies, please consult the SCRO Policy Manual document.

For additional resources, please check out the following links: