The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) invites UB faculty to take advantage of the following funding opportunities to initiate or enhance their research and scholarly efforts.

The OVPR invites proposals from scholars in the Arts, Humanities, Social, and Natural Sciences for research and creative activities demonstrating or leading to creative and academic excellence. We are particularly interested in supporting research aligned with one of the UB2020 strategic strengths and projects that will enhance the level of scholarly and creative activity at UB. The purpose of these grants is to foster the development of truly innovative work by the faculty at UB. This program is intended to provide resources needed to support academic excellence where such resources are not available from the department, school or college. These awards cannot be used for faculty salaries and will range from $500-$15,000.

• See past awards

IRDF will provide resources to stimulate interdisciplinary research that will enhance the competitiveness and success of investigators seeking new external support in areas identified as UB2020 strategic strengths. IRDF support, awarded on a competitive basis, will catalyze collaboration among faculty across disciplines in order to increase the probability of attracting external UB2020 related grant support. A minimum of two faculty members from different disciplines must collaborate. Awards will be made to teams that can make a convincing case that an external proposal can be submitted within 18 months of the award date. An annual progress report detailing the project's progress and listing external proposals submitted/planned plus a presentation at the annual IRDF workshop will be required. The maximum award will be $50,000 and can be used for salaries or technical support (student salaries, post-doctoral associate or technician salaries), supplies and equipment. The funding cannot be used for faculty or administrative salaries, tuition or conference travel.

• See past awards

Advances in science and engineering increasingly require the collaboration of scholars from different fields. The OVPR will assist investigators in the formation and support of research teams to develop multi-investigator and multi-disciplinary (center-level) grants applications. Support may include:

• Management of team formation and proposal development process
• Incentives for participants
• Funding to generate preliminary data when needed
• Support for justified travel to funding agencies or collaborative sites
• Provision of institutional data needed for the application
• Formulation of the program/center management plan
• Support that demonstrates institutional commitment for the applications

The criteria for Multi-Disciplinary Proposal Support include an external funding target in excess of $1 million/year in total costs, an interdisciplinary approach that crosses college and school boundaries and a project designed for submission of a major grant proposal to an external agency. The funding will be provided in two installments. The second installment will depend on convincing progress towards proposal submission.