uconn

Scholarship Facilitation Fund Guidelines

The Office of the Vice President for Research is pleased to announce that the Scholarship Facilitation Fund (SFF) will now be running on its pre-FY26 schedule.   The SFF provides financial support up to $2,500 to faculty across all disciplines, on a competitive basis, to promote, support, and enhance the research, scholarship and creative endeavors of faculty at UConn. The SFF is designed to assist faculty in the initiation, completion, or advancement of research projects, scholarly activities, creative works, or interdisciplinary initiatives that are critical to advancing the faculty member’s scholarship and/or creative works.  The SFF is open to faculty who do not have access to any investigator accounts with balances over $500.00 (salary savings, IDCs, and startup funds) and work at the Storrs / Regional Campuses only. Faculty at UConn Health are not eligible.

Apply using the UConn Quest Portal. (you may be prompted to first log in and then to click the link again to access the application)

Application Deadlines and Review Timelines:

Deadlines for the Scholarship Facilitation Fund will be as follows (deadline is 12 noon on each due date):

  • Spring SFF deadline: December 1 for projects initiated between January 1 and June 30th
  • Fall SFF deadline: : June 1 for projects initiated between July 1 and December 31

The SFF review process takes roughly one month to complete, and does not begin until the deadline for that cycle.  Applications received between deadlines will be held for review after the next deadline.  All applicants should expect to receive a notification about the status of their application between three and five weeks after the deadline.

Applicants that have urgent requests emerge in the months between deadlines should submit an application and then contact the OVPR (research@uconn.edu) to discuss options.

Eligibility

  • Assistant/Associate/Full Professors in a tenured/tenure-track position
  • Clinical and extension faculty
  • Assistant/Associate/Full Professors-in-Residence
  • Non-eligible: (Adjunct, Research Professors, UCH faculty)
  • The SFF is open to faculty who do not have access to any investigator accounts with balances over $500.00
  • Storrs and Regional campus faculty only. UConn Health faculty are not eligible

Funding Categories

  • UConn-hosted conferences, symposia, seminars, colloquia or workshops (support for planning and implementation but not attendance; events funded under this category must have a faculty facing research/scholarship focus; professional development/teaching development workshops are not eligible).
  • Small start-up/pilot data projects in support of applications to external sponsors
  • Test new procedures/methodologies
  • Creative/scholarly projects in support of gallery shows or exhibitions
  • Library/archival research leading to book/monograph
  • Costs to bring book-length manuscripts to publication (textbooks not eligible)
  • Publication costs (including open-access journal costs, copy-editing, etc.)
  • Sabbatical projects
  • Contractual services (including statistical consulting, graphic artists, website design, etc.)
  • Other categories: any activity that does not fall under one of the categories above may be considered, provided a sufficient rationale is given.

 

Application Guidelines

Requests for SFF support must be submitted through the UConn Quest Portal’s online application form, and should include:

  • Project Description (Limit: 2000 characters/250 words). Describe the activities you wish to undertake in the project, the scholarly products (publications, grant applications etc.) that these activities will enable, and your proposed timeline for these activities.
  • Budget and Justification (Limit: 2000 characters/250 words). Break down (itemize) the costs related to this project and provide justification as to why each is necessary and reasonable for the work described in the project description.  It is important to list each cost separately and provide information regarding how cost estimates have been reached.
    • The following items cannot be requested: faculty, 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 research; travel to explore extramural funding opportunities. SFF budgets must specify how funds will be used to advance/complete a specific aspect of a faculty project; SFF funds will not be granted solely to provide support or gap funding for personnel.
  • Funding Need (Limit: 2000 characters/250 words). Please detail your efforts in finding other sources of funding for this project and include all other sources of funding you may have available for this project. You should include external funding earmarked for this project, available start-up or IDC funds, and any cost-matches that have been offered by department or school/college. Please also describe the importance of SFF funding for the continuation/success of the project. Providing some level of explanation of the funding need (even if there are no other resources available) is critical for contextualizing SFF requests.  Requests that do not address funding need will have lower funding priority.
    • Detail your efforts in finding other sources of funding for this project
    • Include external funding earmarked for this project and what it will cover
    • Discuss existing start-up or IDC funds and what they will cover or why they are not available for the project
    • Describe any cost-matches that have been offered by department or school/college. The effort by the PI to request funding from and the willingness of other units to contribute to the costs of the project will be viewed as a positive factor when evaluating SFF requests
    • Describe the importance of SFF funding for the continuation/success of the project.

Award Details

  • Requests are generally for a 1 year period, however, funds will be deposited into the PI’s IDC account, and will not expire. It is expected that funds will be used as described in the original application. Major changes to how the funds are to be used should be discussed with the OVPR before proceeding. Small amounts of leftover funds (after the SFF project is complete) may be used by PIs for other research-related costs at their discretion.
  • Additional documentation may be required such as evidence of manuscript acceptance, book contract, exhibition date, etc. prior to award being made.
  • SFF budgets must specify how funds will be used to advance/complete a specific aspect of a faculty research/scholarly project
  • Salary support for faculty members (AY or summer) is generally not an allowable cost on SFF awards.
  • Student-led research projects are not eligible for SFF funding.
  • Projects focused on curriculum development or teaching are only eligible if they contribute to a program of pedagogical research and lead to appropriate scholarly products.
  • SFF funds will not be granted solely to provide support or gap funding for personnel.
  • Funds will not be granted retroactively (i.e. for activities that take place before the award period)
  • If your project is approved, a project report must be submitted by the PI at project completion, and the OVPR will request annual updates on project outcomes for a few years following the award.

Selection Criteria

Awards are made based on the strength/completeness of the project description/budget, the applicant’s existing funding resources, imminent need, and recent internal funding history. Applications from early career investigators are given slight priority over applications from more established faculty members.

Postaward Reporting

Reporting requirements:

  • Reporting requirements: PIs will need to prepare a brief report, using this Award Report Template to summarize project progress within one month of posting final expenses unless an extension from the OVPR has been received.
  • Further reports on project outcomes may be requested in the future to track return on investment.

Program Contact

  • Administrative contact: Charlotte Nelson, OVPR Internal Funding Coordinator. research@uconn.edu

IBC Contacts

For information or assistance with research activities, contact the:

  • IBC Program Director with questions regarding the IBC review and approval process, compliance with the NIH Guidelines, or other biosafety compliance concerns;
  • IBC Chairperson for information on committee actions and decisions;
  • Biosafety Officer with questions regarding recommended containment levels, biosafety practices, or other scientific aspects of research projects

 

Name Title Phone Email
Danielle Delage, CPBCA IBC Program Director 860.486.1838 danielle.delage@uconn.edu
Mary Anne Amalaradjou, PhD, DVM IBC Chairperson 860.486.6620 mary_anne.amalaradjou@uconn.edu
David Cavallaro, MS, RBP, CBSP Biosafety Officer 860.486.3180 david.cavallaro@uconn.edu

HRPP/IRB Administration

Office of the Vice President for Research
Research Integrity & Compliance
438 Whitney Rd. Ext., Unit 1246
Storrs, CT 06269-1246
irb@uconn.edu

 

Name Title Phone Email
Andrea Collins Director Human Research Protection Program ancollins@uchc.edu
Lisandra González IRB Manager lisandra.gonzalez@uconn.edu
Doug Bradway Senior Administrative Program Support doug.bradway@uconn.edu
Joan Levine Education & QA/QI Specialist joan.levine@uconn.edu
Nicole Ferrari IRB Program Specialist nicole.ferrari@uconn.edu
Jocelyn Springfield IRB Program Specialist jocelyn.springfield@uconn.edu
Jeanelle Graham IRB Program Specialist jeanelle.graham@uconn.edu
Elizabeth Locke IRB Program Specialist elizabeth.locke@uconn.edu
Gabrielle Dayacap IRB Program Specialist gabrielle.dayacap@uconn.edu
Carrie Clarady IRB Program Specialist carrie.clarady@uconn.edu
HRPP/IRB Office Main Line 860.486.8802 irb@uconn.edu
HRPP/IRB Office Fax Line 860.486.5381
Technical Support
Research IT Help Desk 860.486.7944 era-support@uconn.edu

For questions about:                                                                                                        Contact:

InfoEd Submissions
Technical Questions/Troubleshooting Research IT Help Desk
Non-Technical Questions – submission components, routing, InfoEd data entry questions/concerns and expiration and reminder notices irb@uconn.edu
IRB Submission Type
Full Board Review (H26-XXXX) Jocelyn Springfield
Exempt (X26-XXXX), Limited (L26-XXXX), and Expedited (H26-XXXX) Review Doug Bradway

Jeanelle Graham
Amendments, including PI changes Jocelyn Springfield

Jeanelle Graham
Protocol Deviations, Adverse Events, Reportable Information Joan Levine
Not Human Subject Research Determinations (D26-XXXX, NHSR26-XXXX) Doug Bradway
46.118 Approvals Lacking Definite Plans (Just-In-Time/118) Doug Bradway
Personnel Changes (Except PI or Non-UConn Personnel) irb@uconn.edu 
Involvement of Other IRBs/Non-UConn, External Investigators
Non-UConn investigators listed on protocol submissions/Use of Individual Investigator Agreements/Reliance Agreements/IRB Authorization Agreements/Cooperative Agreements, Coded Data Agreements/UConn Investigators listed on Non-UConn protocol submissions irb-reliance@uconn.edu
Permission to Recruit at UConn for External Investigators

Please note, use of this form also applies to cross-campus recruitment requests (e.g., UConn Storrs requests to recruit from UConn Health).

 Online Request Form
Training
General Human Subjects Training and Education, Requests for Training, Workshops, and Presentations Joan Levine
Signatory Requests and Funder Requirements
Certificates of Confidentiality, Institutional Certifications, dbGAP Access Assurance irb@uconn.edu

 

FCOI Contacts

Central email: fcoi@uconn.edu

Name Title Phone Email
Michael Centola, MHS, CIP Associate Vice President-Research Integrity & Compliance centola@uchc.edu
Meg Johnson, JD, CIP Director, Conflicts of Interest and Research Integrity 959.262.4139 meg.johnson@uconn.edu
Kristen Tremblay, MPH, CCRP Research Compliance Monitor 860.679.3276 kristen.tremblay@uconn.edu
Gus Fernandez-Wolff, DVM, CHRC Research Compliance Monitor 860.679.8125 gustavo.fernandez@uconn.edu

For Public Accessibility requests for information regarding FCOIs related to Public Health Service-funded research, please complete the Public Accessibility Request form.

IACUC Contacts and Leadership

Committee Contacts

Name Title Email
IACUC Office iacuc@uconn.edu
Cong Tian, PhD IACUC Specialist uma26002@uconn.edu
Joe LoTurco, PhD IACUC Chair joseph.loturco@uconn.edu
Morty Ortega, PhD IACUC Vice-Chair morty.ortega@uconn.edu
Ramaswamy M. Chidambaram, BVSc, MSc, PhD, DACLAM Attending Veterinarian ramaswamy@uchc.edu

 

Leadership Contacts

Name Title Email
Michael Centola, MHS, CIP Associate Vice President – Research Integrity & Compliance centola@uchc.edu
Melanie Lucas, MS, CPIA Director of Research Compliance – Animal Research and Safety melanie.lucas@uconn.edu

Storrs-UConn Health F&A

Because Storrs and UCH are two separate entities both from the standpoint of the state and for federal grants (and have different financial systems), this places us in a situation similar to the University of Maryland, University of Massachusetts and Cornell University. We used the Cornell model to develop guidelines to promote intercampus collaborations between Storrs and UCH and placed them on our website earlier this year. This has assisted researchers in understanding the procedures at the other campus and resolved issues that in the past have been a concern.

We currently have a global MOA between Storrs and UCH and create individual agreements for each project. They are simple and are put in place quickly.

Additionally the current practice is for the prime recipient to waive F&As on the first $25K of the sub-award if including them would diminish proposed direct costs.

In situations where amount of project cost funding is capped and the subrecipient’s F&As are included in the total direct costs, the subrecipient organization will not include its F&As in the budget. Once awarded, the prime recipient will share its F&As with the subrecipient proportionately to the awarded direct costs. This will be implemented for all future grants.

Awards

In addition to being the University’s authorized representative for grants, contracts and other agreements from government agencies, private industry, and non-profit foundations and the central point of coordination for sponsored projects, Sponsored Program Services administers grants and contracts on behalf of the University.

Activities include establishing new awards and budgets in the University’s accounting system (KFS) and assisting with pre-award coding requests, approving and processing re-budgets of expenditures, cost transfers, no-cost extensions and preparation of final financial reports.

Awards Management also provides guidance and consultation on issues such as applicable regulations, allowable costs, cost share and match requirements as well as monitor account activity for adherence to terms and conditions of awards and applicable policies and regulations.

All grant management policies at the University are derived from Federal, State and University policies and regulations such as Office of Management and Uniform Grant Guidance.

FCOI Glossary

PLEASE NOTE: 

  • Investigator is defined as “The principal investigator and any other person (regardless of title or position) who is responsible for the design, conduct or reporting of research or educational activities. This may include faculty and research staff (research associates and assistants, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, visiting scientists engaged in research conducted at the University) as well as consultants.”
See below for additional FCOI terms and definitions:
Business
Any corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, firm, franchise, association, organization, holding company, joint stock company, receivership, business or real estate trust, or any other legal entity organized for profit or charitable purposes.
Clinical Investigation (PHS)
Any experiment in which a drug is administered or dispensed to, or used, involving one or more human subjects. An experiment here is any use of a drug, except for the use of a marketed drug in the course of medical practice.
Clinical Investigation (FDA)
Any experiment that involves a test article and one or more human subjects, and that either is subject to requirements for prior submission to the Food and Drug Administration under section 505(i) or 520(g) of the act, or is not subject to requirements for prior submission to the Food and Drug Administration under these sections of the act, but the results of which are intended to be submitted later to, or held for inspection by, the Food and Drug Administration as part of an application for a research or marketing permit. The term does not include experiments that are subject to the provisions of part 58 of the chapter, regarding non-clinical laboratory studies.
Entity
Any domestic or foreign, public or private, organization (excluding a Federal agency) from which an Investigator (and spouse and dependent children) receives remuneration or in which any person has an ownership or equity interest.
Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI)
A situation in which significant financial interests in a business, or other personal considerations provided by a business, may compromise, or have the appearance of compromising, an Investigator’s professional judgment in conducting or reporting research, the results of which could affect the aforementioned business, either directly or indirectly. An FCOI exists when the University, through its designated official(s), reasonably determines that an Investigator’s Significant Financial Interest is related to a research project and could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct or reporting of the research.
Human Subject (from PHS regulations “Protection of Human Subjects” 45 CFR Part 46)
A living individual about whom an Investigator conducting research obtains data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or identifiable private information.
Human Subject (from FDA regulations 21 CFR 50):
An individual who is, or becomes, a participant in research, either as a recipient of the test article or as a control. A subject may be either a healthy human or a patient.
Immediate Family
The Investigator’s spouse/domestic partner and dependent children.
Institution
Any domestic or foreign, public or private, entity or organization (excluding a Federal Agency) that is applying for or that receives NIH research funding.
Institutional Responsibilities
An Investigator’s professional responsibilities on behalf of the University, which include research, teaching, and service as, e.g., outlined in the Policy on Faculty Professional Responsibilities
Intellectual Property
A product of the intellect that has commercial value, including copyrighted works, patents, business methods, and industrial processes.
Investigator
The principal investigator and any other person (regardless of title or position) who is responsible for the design, conduct or reporting of research or educational activities. This may include faculty and research staff (research associates and assistants, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, visiting scientists engaged in research conducted at the University) as well as consultants.
Relatedness
This is the first step for institutions in determining whether a financial conflict of interest exists. A significant financial interest is related to the research if an institution, through its designated official(s), reasonably determines that the significant financial interest could be affected by the funded research, or is in an entity whose financial interest could be affected by the research.
Remuneration
Salary and any payment for services not otherwise identified as salary (e.g., consulting fees, honoraria, paid authorship); equity interest includes any stock, stock option, or other ownership interest, as determined through reference to public prices or other reasonable measures of fair market value.
Research (from PHS regulation 45 CFR 46.102(d))
A systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. Activities which meet this definition constitute research for purposes of this Policy, whether or not they are conducted or supported under a program which is considered research for other purposes.
Significant Financial Interest
Click here for a detailed definition.
Sponsor
An individual company, or any entity which takes responsibility for the initiation, management, and/or financing of a research project, but which does not actually conduct the investigation.

Post-Award Forms

Re-Budgeting Request Form
Used to request that the expenditure budget for a sponsored project account be revised to meet project needs.

 

No-Cost Extension Request Form *Now in Jira*
Used to request extra time to complete work on a sponsored project without additional funds being provided by the sponsor.

 

Cost Transfer Request Form

Used to request that a previously recorded expenditure be moved to or from a sponsored project account.

 

Pre-Award or Advance Account Request Form

Used to request that a KFS account be established prior to the start date of a project or receipt of the award notice.

Does Evaluation Require IRB Review?

Research studies involving human subjects require IRB review.  Evaluative studies and activities do not.  It is not always easy to distinguish between these two types of projects and projects frequently have elements of both.  Therefore, the decision about whether review is required should be made in concert with the IRB.

If you think that your project is limited to evaluative activities and therefore not subject to IRB oversight, please contact the IRB office at 6-8802 to discuss. 

The regulatory definition of research is defined as:

A systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.

Evaluative studies are defined as:

Systematic collection of information about the activities, characteristics and outcomes of programs to make judgments about the program (or processes, products, systems, organizations, personnel, or policies), improve effectiveness, and/or inform decisions about future program development.

Below are elements that are common to evaluation and research projects.  This list is not intended to be comprehensive and not all elements are required in order for a project to be considered research or evaluation.  Rather, this list of elements can be used to assist faculty in determining whether an activity involves research requiring IRB review.

Common Elements

Evaluation

Research
Determines merit, worth, or value Strives to be value-free
Assessment of how well a process, product, or program is working Aims to produce new knowledge within a field(designed to develop or contribute…)
Focus on process, product, or program Focus on population (human subjects)
Designed to improve a process, product, or program and may include:

-needs assessment

-process, outcome, or impact evaluation

-cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analyses

 May be descriptive, relational, or causal
Designed to assess effectiveness or a process, product, or program Designed to be generalized to a population beyond those participating in the study or contribute broadly to knowledge or theory in a field of study (designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge)
Assessment of program or product as it would exist regardless of the evaluation May include an experimental or non-standard intervention
Rarely subject to peer review Frequently submitted for peer review
Activity will rarely alter the timing or frequency of standard procedures Standard procedures or normal activities may be altered by an experimental intervention
Frequently, the entity in which the activity is taking place will also be the funding source May have external funding
Conducted within a setting of changing actors, priorities, resources, and timelines Controlled setting (interaction or intervention) or natural setting (observation which may or may not include interaction or intervention)

 

Informed by:

Coffman, J.  (2003).  Ask the Expert: Michael Scriven on the Differences Between Evaluation and Social Science Research.  The Evaluation Exchange, 9(4).  Retrieved January 8, 2012 from https://madvilletimes.com/

National Center for Justice Planning. (2012) Research and Evaluation Overview.  Retrieved on November 28, 2012 from https://www.ncja.org/

National Institutes of Health (2012). Evaluation Basics. Retrieved on November 28, 2012 from

Oklahoma State University Institutional Review Board.  IRB Toolbox.  Program Evaluation: When is it Research? Retrieved on November 28, 2012 from

Patton, M. Q. (1997). Utilization focused evaluation: The new century text. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Scriven, M. (1991). Evaluation thesaurus (4th ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

U.S. Government Accountability Office.  (2005).  Performance Measurement and Evaluation.  Retrieved January 8, 2012 from https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-05-739sp

Source material for this policy guidance was provided by Oregon State University. The UConn IRB gratefully acknowledges this support.

Back to Researcher’s Guide

Pre-Award Or Advance Account Request

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  • Team 1 - M. Niewinski, D. Parciasepe, B. Dauphinais, S. Corbin
    Team 2 - M. Niewinski, L. Abell, C. Wells, K. St.Onge
    Team 3 - M. Niewinski, D. Parciasepe, J. McNeal, D. Ives
    Team 4 - D. Parciasepe, C. Rodgers, S. Parker, A. Sierra

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      Research Excellence Program / Scholarship Facilitation Fund - Matthew Mroz

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