Empowering Your Research Through External Grants

HPS faculty secured $27.3 million in external funding over the last five years. The benefits of an external grant are substantial: support for your research agenda, your summer salary, and your students. Yet, grant writing takes time and effort – its hard work! This program aims to provide resources to fund your efforts and increase your chances of success.

This Incentive Program is independent of whether the grant for which the faculty or staff member applied is ultimately awarded. We wish to reward effort. The program began on a trial basis in the 2021-22 academic year and will continue based on continuing good results and availability of funds.

 

Eligibility and Requirements

Faculty Eligibility
  • Open to HPS faculty with appointments in tenure-line, research-line, and clinical positions.
  • HPS Faculty Applicants must be the lead PI or sole PI on the project.
  • Collaborative projects with other departments or universities are encouraged if appropriate.
Proposal Submission Timeline
  • Faculty must submit a competitive grant proposal to an off-campus grant/contract agency within one year of the project's start.
  • Changes to this timeframe may be possible but must be discussed with the Associate Dean for Research
Ineligible Submissions
  • Pre-proposals, letters of intent, non-competitive renewals, and non-competitive contracts/sub-awards are not eligible.
  • For sponsors requiring pre-proposal/letter of intent approval before full proposal submission, this approval must be obtained prior to the disbursement of funds.
Project Focus
  • The project’s primary aim must be research, as the incentive program is designed to build research resources in the college

Funding and Financial Considerations

Program Funding Source
  • This program is funded by TRIP monies, which by Texas law must be spent on research. Proposals focused on programmatic, service, or teaching are not eligible.
Indirect Costs/TRIP Eligibility
  • Priority is given to projects where the funding agency pays 48.5% indirect costs (facilities and administration costs).
  • Exceptions: U.S. Department of Education and others, as approved by the Associate Dean for Research.
  • For foundation grants with little or no indirect costs, the grant must be TRIP-eligible, i.e., it must provide a minimum of $100,000 in at least one year of the project. For eligibility queries, contact UNT Corporate or Foundation Relations.
Grant Minimum Amount

The program aims to support high-risk/high-reward projects targeting larger or multi-year grants. Minimum amounts are intended to represent midsize to large grants from the respective agencies.
We anticipate that many projects would be collaborations with partners both inside and outside of UNT. These amounts shown would represent the total grant cost across all years, and include monies spent at UNT and at collaborating institutions (e.g. the monies do not need to be spent entirely at UNT)

  • NSF grants: $300,000+ (directs + indirect cost total)
  • NIH grants: $275,000+ (directs)
  • CDMRP/DOD: $500,000+ (directs)
  • Other federal or state: $300,000+ (directs)
  • Foundations: $100,000+ (directs)
  • Other sources: $100,000+ (directs)
Budget
  • The maximum budget for incentives, data/biospecimen costs, or travel to collect data cannot exceed $5,000. Monies cannot be used for faculty salaries or conference travel.

Incentives Available (please choose one):


New proposals:

  • Teaching buyout of one course (email showing approval from your Chair is required with submission).
  • 10 hour per week research assistant for one semester.
  • Monies for data collection travel, subject incentives, data, or biospecimen purchase and/or analysis.

Resubmissions where preliminary data were requested in the review (copy of review required):

  • 10 hour per week research assistant for one semester.
  • Monies for data collection travel, subject incentives, data, or biospecimen purchase and/or analysis.
Additional incentives may also be available. To discuss your specific needs, please reach out to the Associate Dean for Research.

Due Dates

  • Applications are due May 1st.

    Faculty Obligations

    • Faculty will submit the grant to the sponsor within a year of the start of the seed funding period. Any later RFA deadlines should occur in consultation with the Associate Dean for Research (ADR).
    • A No-Cost Extension (NCE) may be granted following discussion with the ADR. A NCE must be submitted to the ADR via email by April 30th of the second year following the receipt of the incentive grant.
    • If a faculty member uses the grant incentive and fails to submit a grant to the sponsor specified in the incentive grant application (or its equivalent) within one year, or within the one-year period including any NCE, they will be required to teach an additional course beyond their regular teaching load. The scheduling of the additional course will be discussed with the ADR and department chair.
    • Faculty member(s) whose proposal is not funded by the external sponsor is expected to revise and resubmit the proposal for the sponsor’s next deadline date.  Only one re-submit is required under this program.
    • Faculty member(s) receiving the incentive funds may be invited to serve on in-house review committees to review external grant proposals.
    • If funded, all applicants will be required to present proof of extramural submission.

    Evaluation

    All feasible projects are encouraged and will be considered, although new projects will be prioritized. Priority will be given to:

    • Applicants whose promotion or tenure would be most advanced by securing an external grant.
    • Larger projects, because those take the greatest faculty time and effort.
    • Projects that support UNT's goal of achieving NRUF status, including career training grants such as NSF Career awards and NIH K grants.

    Budgets will be critically reviewed. RFAs that have already been released, rather than forecasted opportunities, are strongly preferred.

Access the Application Form

Questions?

Email Tristan Wu, Associate Dean for Research.