UConn faculty are eligible to apply for EMERGE Phase 3 funding if the following conditions have been met:

• Applicant is a full-time UConn Faculty member. UCH faculty are encouraged to explore the HCRAC Emergency Grant program.
• Applicant is the PI / Program Director of an externally reviewed and funded grant that has ended or is due to end in the next 3 months. Awards with end dates on or after 7/1/26 may be eligible.
  • For established faculty (Associate Professor rank and higher), the qualifying externally funded grant must have been funded for at least three years prior to ending.
  • For early career faculty (Assistant Professor rank), the qualifying externally funded grant must have been funded for at least one year before ending.
• A clear, specific, and feasible external funding plan is presented
  • Preference is for evidence that a new external funding proposal has already been submitted.
  • In place of a submitted proposal, applicants may provide an overview of their external funding strategy, including details about anticipated submissions (targets, timelines, analysis of competitiveness).
• Applicants who have more than $10,000 in unrestricted individual investigator accounts (IDC/DCA, Startup, research support, etc.) should use those funds to meet emergency needs before requesting an EMERGE Phase 3 grant.  *EMERGE award amounts will be adjusted down (up to 20%) based on the amount of available unrestricted funds above $10,000.  Exceptions for other urgent short term (within 6 months of application) needs may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

*Guidelines were updated 7/16/26

• EMERGE phase 3 awards will be proportional to the size of the base grant (the previously externally funded grant that has ended) or the pending grant (a new external grant that is being pursued). 6-month awards will be capped at 20 percent of average annual direct costs of the base grant, or 20% of estimated average annual direct costs of the pending grant, whichever is least. 
  • Example: A base grant had annual direct costs of $500K, and the pending grant is expected to have annual direct costs of $700K. The maximum amount available under phase 3 would be $100K for the 6-month period.  If the pending grant had annual direct costs of $400K, the maximum would be $80K.
• Renewal is possible for additional six-month periods upon further application if the applicant meets the required conditions. See below.
• Funds may be used for personnel salary (research staff, grad students, postdocs, special payroll), fringe benefits, supplies, animal care, participant costs, contractual services, etc.
• Funds may not be used for tenured/tenure track faculty salary, faculty summer salary, conference travel, publication costs, or course buyouts.
• If new extramural grant funds become available to the investigator during the period of the emergency award, any unspent balance in the EMERGE Phase 3 project will be returned.Awardees must report new external funding awards to the EMERGE committee.

1^st renewal (Second Six-month Period) Beyond the first six-month award, a second six-month award is conditional upon the demonstration of substantive progress toward the goal of re-obtaining extramural funding. Expected milestones will be established at the time of the initial award, and may include:  

• Submission of a new external funding proposal, if one hasn’t already been submitted (submitted proposal must be shared)
• Receiving strong reviews on new funding proposals (reviewer feedback or scores must be shared)
• Correspondence from their program officer related to the status of the grant (i.e. likelihood of funding).
• An overview of progress to date on efforts to restore external funding.

2^nd renewal (Third Six-month Period) Third six-month period bridge is available only in extreme circumstances with strong justification. If a third bridge is needed, the PI should reach out to the OVPR for guidance on the criteria needed for justification.

Applications may be submitted through the UConn Quest Portal, (you may be prompted to first log in and then to click the link again to access the application) and must include the following components:

EMERGE Phase 3 Application Form – available on the QUEST Portal

 Applicant Information

• Submitting PI Name
• Home Department
• School/College 
• Email
• PI Home Department
• PI School/College
• PI associated Center or Institute
• Faculty/Academic Rank

Application information

• Project title
• Briefly describe the emergency situation you are facing that justifies the request for bridge funding.  Please include a description of the costs/need you need to cover and an argument for why those items are critical for your team in the short term (next 6 months) and why they cannot be met through other means/sources.
• Amount requested for 6-month award period. EMERGE phase 3 awards will be proportional to the size of the base grant (the previously externally funded grant that has ended) or the pending grant (a new external grant that is being pursued). 6-month awards will be capped at 20 % of average annual direct costs of the base grant, or 20% of estimated average annual direct costs of the pending grant, whichever is least. To calculate this amount use the Total Institutional Direct Costs (of either pending or base grant, whichever is less) only (not subawards or indirect costs)
  • • Divide the Total Institutional Direct Costs by the number of periods (years of the grant not counting any no cost extension periods)
    • Multiply the number by .20 to arrive at the maximum amount that can be requested in this application.
    • Example: $800,000 (total institutional direct costs for the grant)/5 (periods/years)=$160,000 (average annual direct costs) x.20 =$32,000 (the amount that can be requested in the application)

• Attestation: By checking this box I attest that I am the PI/Program Director of a base grant of an externally reviewed and funded grant that has ended or is due to end in the next 3 months. I understand that awards with end dates on or after 7/1/26 may be eligible.

Eligibility justification: please select the justification that best fits this project

• Indicate by checking the box which one describes the applicant
  • Established faculty (Associate Professor rank and higher)
  • Early Career Faculty (Assistant Professor rank)
• Information about the ended external funding award
  • InfoEd Record Number of ended external funding award 
  • Start and end dates of prior external funding award
  • Prior External Funding Source 
  • Average annual direct costs of prior external funding award
• Information about new pending external funding proposals, if available
  • InfoEd Record Number of pending new external funding proposal
  • Anticipated start and end date of pending external funding proposal
  • Anticipated Pending External Funding Source 
  • Anticipated average annual direct costs of pending external funding proposal
• Describe plans for continuing to seek external funding opportunities you have targeted
  • Include sponsor, specific funding opportunity, targeted submission dates

Budget Spreadsheet, including justification for all expense items in the green justification column  (uploaded as PDF) Note: Use any budget sheet or download and save the Internal Funding Program EMERGE Phase 3 budget sheet template to your computer; EMERGE Phase 3-6-month budget template

• Eligible Personnel costs, including university fringe benefit rates, broken down by individual and a justification as to why it is needed (green column of budget spreadsheet)
• Other research-related costs (materials and supplies, equipment, animal costs, participant costs, contractual fees, facility use fees, etc). and a justification as to why it is needed (green column of budget spreadsheet)
• Itemize any contributions from PI, department, school/college, affiliated centers/institutes.  (Note: area contributions are not required for EMERGE Phase 3)
• Separate sheet listing all active PI accounts, including foundation accounts, indicating:
  • Current balance
  • Overlap with current request if any
  • Existing short/near term commitments for available funds if any
• Note: Applicants who have more than $10,000 in unrestricted individual investigator accounts (IDC/DCA, Startup, research support, etc.) should use those funds to meet emergency needs before requesting an EMERGE Phase 3 grant.  *EMERGE award amounts will be adjusted down (up to 20%) based on the amount of available unrestricted funds above $10,000.  Exceptions for other urgent short term (within 6 months of application) needs may be considered on a case-by-case basis. *Guidelines were updated 7/16/26

 Appendix (uploaded as PDF)

• Letter of support commitment from department head/chair or center/institute director (if applicable). The letter of support to the EMERGE Committee, no more than 1 page in length, needs to address the importance of the project both as an investment in the PI and in the unit and any support (not required) each unit may provide.

• After submission, the request will be routed to Department, Center/Institute, and School/College leadership for review and approval. 
• The EMERGE Review Committee, which consists of at least 5 members with representation from the following groups: OVPR Research Development, Center/Institute directors, Associate Deans for Research, and Deans, will review the applications.  If they need additional information, they will contact the applicant prior to issuing a decision.

Decisions will be based upon the following criteria: 

• Meeting the eligibility criteria set forth in the EMERGE Phase 3 guidelines
• All available accounts related to the request will be reviewed. For PIs, uncommitted fund balances above $10K (cumulative across all unrestricted accounts) must be included as part of the PIs contribution to the bridge project.
• 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 their support for the proposed bridge project in their letter confirming support included with the application.
• Reviews will be performed every 2 weeks with a goal for decisions within 3 weeks of submission. The three weeks begin once the application has been approved by unit leaders, as described above in #1.
• Awards will be dependent on availability of funding