The College Research Activities (CRA) Award program is designed to enhance the research enterprise of the College of Communication and Information by assisting faculty in developing and advancing their programs of research, particularly research that is extramurally funded. The source of funding for the CRA account is the indirect costs generated by extramurally funded projects received by faculty in the College, so targeting these funds to enhance success in extramural funding is warranted.
The CRA award program will support (a) faculty research activities, (b) limited international travel and (c) awards to incentivize grant/contract application submission. In each case, awards are made contingent on fund availability. This policy may be revised in future years as warranted by changes in funding climate and budget model.
PLEASE NOTE: The information you need to apply for research project support and international travel appears below in the following sections: Support Categories, Review Criteria, Application Deadlines and Application Process. Please read through this information to guide the preparation your application, especially Application Process. If you still have questions, contact the ADR.
SUPPORT CATEGORIES
Faculty Research Project Support
Up to $2,000 may be requested for research projects that support extramural grant and contract development. Faculty members need to indicate in their CRA application the targeted source of extramural funding, and their final report to the ADR must indicate the status of the application. Allowable expenses for research projects include purchase of research supplies (e.g., software, photocopying), research subject payment, research assistant payment and travel for data collection. Preference will be given to activities furthering the career development of nontenured faculty members, then associate professors and finally full professors. Only one project per faculty member may be funded per fiscal year.
Travel Funding
Up to $1,000 in travel support may be requested by faculty who are traveling to conferences to present peer-reviewed papers (first or presenting author; if multiple authors from the College are co-presenting, the $1,000 must be shared). The following stipulations apply:
- Award will support travel to a nationally recognized meeting for individuals in their division/area of study or who are mentored by a faculty member in the division.
- Individual must be presenting original research/scientific/quality improvement findings as first or listed as presenting author.
- Priority will be given to presentations at the annual meeting of the flagship association for the researcher’s area of study. National specialty and society meetings will be given next priority.
- The request must be made on the form provided, and submitted first to the Unit Head. Upon Unit Head approval it will then be submitted to the ADR. A copy of the accepted abstract should be included.
- All other funding sources (faculty development funds, grants, conference travel funds offered by the meeting or society, other UK internal fund sources, etc.) must be exhausted or otherwise unavailable, and the faculty member must attest to the fact.
- A maximum of $1,000 may be requested within one fiscal year. The amount requested is not guaranteed and any amount up to $1,000 may be approved at the discretion of the ADR based on available funds.
- The Head of the requesting faculty member’s unit/department MUST provide funds matching the requested dollar amount (so if $1000 is requested from ADR, $1000 must be provided from the Unit/Department).
- To assist with budgeting for these additional funds each year, requests should be made as far in advance as possible, ideally on / around Sept 1 for travel in the fall and Jan 1 for travel in the spring / summer.
- Past Academic travel support requests will be taken into account when current requests are being reviewed for appropriateness, and subsequent approval.
Awards for Extramural Grant or Contract Submission
Effective February 1, 2014, faculty members who submit extramural grant or contract applications meeting certain criteria are eligible to receive a monetary award from the CRA fund. The award will consist of an amount that will be set at the beginning of each fiscal year but that is anticipated to be at least $250. The award amount must be spent within one year of receipt.
Criteria:
- The faculty member must be the PI of the grant (or subaward if the grant is to another institution) or contract.
- The faculty member must have research effort on his/her DOE.
- Direct costs must average a minimum of $50,000 per project year.
- The project must generate indirect costs.
- Faculty members may receive no more than two awards per fiscal year.
- Resubmissions do not count; competing continuations do count.
The Associate Dean for Research will monitor grant/contract submissions for the College and make awards on a rolling basis. For faculty research projects and international travel support, please note the following review criteria, application deadlines and application process.
REVIEW CRITERIA
Faculty Research Project Proposals
The CRA review committee, which consists of a representative from COM, ISC, JAM and SIS, will review all faculty research project proposals and make funding recommendation decisions to the ADR. The following criteria will be considered in reviewing applications:
- Activities furthering the career development of untenured faculty members, then associate professors and finally full professors.
- Applicants who have not previously received support, followed by those who received support least recently.
- Applicants who provide matching funds or who have generated indirect costs.
Review committee members will provide a written review of each proposal, noting strengths and weaknesses, investigator qualifications and appropriateness of budget, and they will provide a priority score ranging from 1 (excellent) to 5 (not fundable). The ADR will make funding decisions based on the reviews and will provide a summary statement to the applicant along with the funding decision.
Travel
Applications for travel will be reviewed by the ADR. To be eligible to receive support for travel, a faculty member must meet the criteria listed above.
Assuming fund availability and stipulations are met, requests will receive support. The intent is to cover as many requests as funds allow in consultation with the faculty member's Chair/Director. To apply please review the instructions and fill out the form at the following link: https://ci.uky.edu/forms/travelsupport
Awards for Extramural Grant or Contract Submission
- The faculty member must be the PI of the grant (or subaward if the grant is to another institution) or contract.
- The faculty member must have research effort on his/her DOE.
- Direct costs for the project (or subaward) must average a minimum of $50,000 per project year.
- Faculty members may receive no more than two awards per fiscal year.
- Resubmissions do not count; competing continuations do count.
APPLICATION DEADLINES
Faculty Research Project Proposals
The proposal deadline is October 10 by 5 p.m. eastern time. Awards will be made before the end of the calendar year, and funds must be spent by May 31 of the following year.
Applicants must build in sufficient time for review/approval of proposals by their Chair/Director. In the case of multiple submissions from the same unit, the Chair/Director will prioritize proposals before submission to the Associate Dean for Research.
Travel
Individual applications for travel will be accepted on a rolling-receipt basis
Awards for Extramural Grant or Contract Submission
These awards will be allocated at the beginning of the fiscal year following the submission of the grant/contract.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Research Proposals
The research proposal is to contain the following:
- Cover sheet. (Contact the ADR for a copy of the cover sheet.)
- Abstract of proposed work (up to 250 words).
- Research plan: Specific aims, background and significance, preliminary studies (if applicable), research design and methods and a section explicitly addressing how the proposed work will advance your research.
- Targeted source of extramural application whose development the project is designed to support.
- Detailed budget and budget justification.
- Reference section.
- Brief biosketch of principal investigator – such as NIH or Community of Science/Community of Scholars.
The research plan (item 3, above) is limited to 5 pages (12-point type, single spaced). While IRB approval may be pending at the time of proposal submission for projects involving human subjects, it must be obtained before any awarded funds will be released. The cover sheet is available from the ADR upon request. PLEASE be sure to paginate your application, beginning with the abstract as page 1.
All awardees should file a brief report with the Associate Dean for Research detailing the outcomes of the project, including the status of the extramural grant/contract application, within 90 days of its completion.
Travel
Please complete the form at the following link: https://ci.uky.edu/forms/travelsupport
Upon completion, the application will be reviewed and you will be notified if there are any questions during the process. Upon approval or denial, a notification will be sent to the applicant and their Unit Head.
Awards for Extramural Grant or Contract Submission
There is no need to apply. The ADR monitors grant application submissions and will make these awards automatically.