The mission of the Research Development Services (RDS) team is to support the research growth of the University by increasing the competitiveness of proposals submitted by UConn/UConn Health investigators seeking external funding.  We prioritize support for proposals that align with one or more of the University’s strategic priorities.  We aim to provide targeted support of the proposal development process, using our skills and experience to extend and refine the capacity of UConn/UConn Health faculty to develop and submit larger and more compelling proposals.  Our goal is to provide high-level support in our areas of expertise, including:

• Technical writing and editing
• Interpreting and applying the requirements and proposal conventions of major funders, funding programs, and funding opportunity announcements
• Knowledge of grantsmanship strategies
• Project Management
• Familiarity with UConn/UConn Health research capacities, faculty, resources, and systems

Investigators are the driving force behind the writing and submission of grant proposals.  Without the scientific/scholarly expertise, ambition, and dedicated work of PIs, proposals don’t get done!  However, we also know that PIs rarely work alone as they seek external funding; proposal preparation and submission is usually a team effort.  Let’s take a look at the different players in the grantseeking process and see how research development fits in.

Scientific/Scholarly Team: The PI(s) and their team(s) of collaborators are the creative center of the grantwriting process.  Together, they set the direction of the work, draft technical sections of the proposal, and work to ensure that the research proposed is of high scientific/scholarly merit, consulting when necessary with other disciplinary experts.

Budget and Administrative Support: The staff in the investigators’ departments, school/college office, or in OVPR Faculty Services are essential members of the team who assist with the preparation of budgets, proposal assembly, and other administrative aspects of the proposal development process.

SPS Pre-award: The staff in Sponsored Program Services, while not involved in the creation of a proposal, are responsible for conducting a final compliance review and certification of the proposal, and in most cases are responsible for its final submission to the sponsor.

Research Development Services Support: The Research Development Services team provides an additional layer of proposal development support, filling gaps between what the PI team is responsible for and what the budget and administrative support team is responsible for.

• While not necessarily scientific/scholarly experts in the PI(s) field(s), the RDS team are experts in writing, editing, and organization and in the requirements/expectations of funders. The RDS team can join with the PI team to help produce proposal narratives that are clearer, more compelling, and better aligned with funder expectations—i.e. proposals that are more fundable!
• For larger and more complex proposals, the RDS team can provide a project management function for the proposal development process. RDS can help set and manage timelines, facilitate group interactions, assist with document management, and help coordinate connections among the differing areas of budget and administrative support that may be involved with a large/complex proposal.

The COVID-RSF Program is available to UConn / UConn Health faculty members, within the following parameters:

• UConn Primary Appointment: PIs must be full-time faculty whose primary appointment is at UConn/UConn Health. Investigators with primary appointments to CCMC, Jackson Labs, TIP companies, or other institutions are not eligible to lead projects, but they may be named as Co-PIs, collaborators, or consultants on an eligible PI’s project.  Proposals that include external Co-PIs should be careful to describe how responsibility for the project will be divided between institutions, and ideally they will include cost-sharing commitments from external partners
• Effort and Salary: Although no minimum effort level is required for COVID-RSF projects, a UConn/UConn Health PI/Co-PI must have departmental research time available during the award period or address in the application how they will handle the time commitment required by the project. PIs/Co-PIs must each make significant and distinct intellectual contributions to the design and direction of the project. Generally speaking, awards are only available to UConn/UConn Health tenure-track and clinical faculty and in-Residence faculty at the Storrs/Regional campuses. UCH in-residence faculty and research faculty are not eligible to apply as PI but can be named as Co-PIs, collaborators, or consultants on an eligible PI’s project.
• Application Limits: Eligible faculty may submit multiple proposals, so long as each are scientifically distinct. Investigators may serve as collaborator on multiple projects.

Proposals for COVID-RSF Awards should contain the following elements and follow the structure and guidelines indicated.  All length guidelines assume 1” margins, 11-12pt fonts, single spacing and single side pages.

• Cover Page: Title of Project, Principal investigator(s) with contact information, List of other team members, Specific funding mechanism targeted, Target submission date
• White Paper: Briefly describe the project, how it will be conducted, and anticipated outcomes. White papers should address the following areas and should not exceed 2-3 pages in length:
  • Core Research Questions to be addressed and their significance
  • Currently available resources and personnel and how they will support the project
  • Proposed activities under COVID-RSF Award and how they will advance the project towards the goal of impacting the fight against COVID-19.  If you have a specific funding mechanism in mind for follow-up funding, also address how the work under this award will improve competitiveness for that mechanism.
• Budget describing and justifying use of COVID-RSF funds.  You can use this budget template.
• Biosketches / CVs for all PIs and Co-PIs: Please include an updated biosketch consistent with NIH (max 5 pg)/NSF (max 2 pg) format.  If your field is not typically funded by NSF/NIH, please include a brief CV following your discipline’s conventions.
• NSF/NIH-style Letters of support from any facilities providing support during the COVID-RSF award period

Below are general guidelines regarding allowable/unallowable costs that are consistent with other OVPR internal funding opportunities.  Given the unique nature of the COVID-RSF mechanism, we understand that these guidelines may not include all budget items that are necessary to enhance competitiveness for your targeted external mechanism.  If you have a budget need that does not fit within these guidelines, you may include it, but we ask that you provide strong justification in support of the request.  You can use this budget template.

• Allowable costs include: graduate research assistant salary, Postdoc or other Research Assistant salary, Undergraduate Researcher salary, Course buyouts (approval letter from Department Head required), Fringe costs, equipment purchases, travel to conduct research or meet with collaborators (Provost approval may be required), materials and supplies, participant support costs, animal/animal care costs, contractual services
• Unallowable costs include: 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; travel to professional meetings to present the results of the 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.

• Timing – Is the project capable of spinning up immediately?
• Significance/Importance – Does this project address a significant scientific question / technical problem?
• Innovation/Novelty – Does this project approach the problem in a new/innovative way?
• Feasibility of Approach – Does this project have a clear and methodologically sound approach?  Is the plan of work described likely to succeed?
• Environment/Resources – Are available resources/facilities sufficient to successfully complete the work?
• PI/Team qualifications – Who will be working on this project, and how are they uniquely suited to accomplish this work?  Does the team have a strong track record of external grant success?
• Outcome – Does the project promise to produce significant value / high impact?
• Assessment – Does the project have a reasonable plan for measuring and determining success?
• Budget – Are funds to be used efficiently and effectively to achieve project goals?

• Reporting requirements: PIs will need to prepare a brief report summarizing project progress within six months.
• Further reports on project outcomes may be requested in the future to track return on investment.

The COVID-RSF2 Program is available to UConn / UConn Health faculty members, within the following parameters:

• UConn Primary Appointment: PIs must be full-time faculty whose primary appointment is at UConn/UConn Health. Investigators with primary appointments to CCMC, Jackson Labs, TIP companies, or other institutions are not eligible to lead projects, but they may be named as Co-PIs, collaborators, or consultants on an eligible PI’s project.  Proposals that include external Co-PIs should be careful to describe how responsibility for the project will be divided between institutions, and ideally they will include cost-sharing commitments from external partners
• Effort and Salary: Although no minimum effort level is required for COVID-RSF2 projects, a UConn/UConn Health PI/Co-PI must have institutionally-funded research time available during the award period or address in the application how they will handle the time commitment required by the project. PIs/Co-PIs must each make significant and distinct intellectual contributions to the design and direction of the project. Generally speaking, awards are only available to UConn/UConn Health tenure-track and clinical faculty and in-Residence faculty at the Storrs/Regional campuses. UCH in-residence faculty and research faculty are not eligible to apply as PI but can be named as Co-PIs, collaborators, or consultants on an eligible PI’s project.
• Application Limits: Eligible faculty may submit multiple proposals, so long as each are scientifically distinct. Investigators may serve as collaborator on multiple projects.
• COVID-RSF Resubmissions:  Faculty who submitted white papers for the previous COVID-RSF mechanism are eligible to resubmit if they wish, provided the white papers and budgets are appropriately reconfigured to be commensurate with a $10K award.

Proposals for COVID-RSF2 Awards should contain the following elements and follow the structure and guidelines indicated.  All length guidelines assume 1” margins, 11-12pt fonts, single spacing and single side pages.

• Cover Page: Title of Project, Principal investigator(s) with contact information, List of other team members, Specific funding mechanism targeted, Target submission date
• White Paper: Briefly describe the project, how it will be conducted, and anticipated outcomes. White papers should address the following areas and should not exceed 2-3 pages in length:
  • Core Research Questions to be addressed and their significance
  • Currently available resources and personnel and how they will support the project
  • Proposed activities under COVID-RSF2 Award and how they will advance the project towards the goal of impacting the fight against COVID-19.  If you have a specific funding mechanism in mind for follow-up funding, also address how the work under this award will improve competitiveness for that mechanism.
• Budget describing and justifying use of COVID-RSF2 funds.  You can use this budget template.
• Biosketches / CVs for all PIs and Co-PIs: Please include an updated biosketch consistent with NIH (max 5 pg)/NSF (max 2 pg) format.  If your field is not typically funded by NSF/NIH, please include a brief CV following your discipline’s conventions.
• NSF/NIH-style Letters of support from any facilities providing support during the COVID-RSF award period

Below are 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, you may include it, but we ask that you provide strong justification in support of the request.  You can use this budget template.

• Allowable costs include: graduate research assistant salary, Postdoc or other Research Assistant salary, Undergraduate Researcher salary, Course buyouts (approval letter from Department Head required), Fringe costs, equipment purchases, travel to conduct research or meet with collaborators (Provost approval may be required), materials and supplies, participant support costs, animal/animal care costs, contractual services
• Unallowable costs include: faculty member / professional staff 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; travel to professional meetings to present the results of the 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.

• Significance/Importance – Does this project address a significant scientific question / technical problem?
• Innovation/Novelty – Does this project approach the problem in a new/innovative way?
• Feasibility of Approach – Does this project have a clear and methodologically sound approach?  Is the plan of work described likely to succeed?
• Environment/Resources – Are available resources/facilities sufficient to successfully complete the work?
• PI/Team qualifications – Who will be working on this project, and how are they uniquely suited to accomplish this work?  Does the team have a strong track record of external grant success?
• Outcome – Does the project promise to produce significant value / high impact?
• Assessment – Does the project have a reasonable plan for measuring and determining success?
• Budget – Are funds to be used efficiently and effectively to achieve project goals?

• Reporting requirements: PIs will need to prepare a brief report summarizing project progress at the conclusion of the project.
• Further reports on project outcomes may be requested in the future to track return on investment.