The Office of Research Development operates several proposal support grant and seed grant programs to support JMU researchers in forming interdisciplinary collaborations and applying for external funding.
Revise and Resubmit Program
This program supports PIs who have previously applied for an external funding opportunity and were not funded as they revise their proposal for resubmission. The purpose is to strengthen the competitiveness of the next resubmission by supporting limited new data collection, targeted analyses, methodological refinements, and/or specialized consultants/editors to address reviewer critiques.
Peer Review Grant Program
Do you have a grant proposal that needs a second set of eyes? The Peer Review Grant Program provides funds for external or internal area-specialist peer reviewers to improve proposal competitiveness for principal investigators. PIs nominate suitable reviewers; ORD engages and pays them to provide sponsor‑aligned critiques on near‑final drafts.
Interdisciplinary Research Team Grant Program
To encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, we offer these grants to facilitate the formation of research clusters and foster collaboration across different colleges to develop competitive proposals for large-scale, multi-investigator external funding opportunities.
These grants support planning activities such as team formation, preliminary data collection, concept development, and proposal preparation for center-level or program-project grants.
We currently have three tracks:
Track A: Seed Grants to Support Interdisciplinary External Proposals for Pilot Funding
These grants are designed to support inter-disciplinary, cross-college teams that are at the initial stages of collaboration in pursuing external grants for early-stage (pilot) projects. Teams should involve at least four faculty from at least two colleges and already have a project idea and have identified an external pilot grant. Pilot grants are small, short-term funding designed to support preliminary or exploratory research projects. They are typically used to generate initial data or test new ideas that can provide the basis for larger, longer-term research projects.
This seed grant will provide up to $1000 to support:
- Formation of detailed research agenda and collaboration plans
- Proposal development for an external pilot grant
You must provide a detailed plan explaining how the funding will be used to progress to proposal submission. Note that funds cannot be used towards salary support. Funds may be used to support preliminary data collection and/or concept development as necessary for proposal development, but this grant is not itself a research seed or pilot grant. Sample uses of funds include methodological consultations, prototyping, limited grant writing & editing support.
During the course of the grant, you will be required to:
- Work with ORD to develop a one-pager and share it with relevant program officers.
- Work with ORD to develop a detailed funding workplan, with specific milestones, responsibilities, and a timeline.
- Have regular check-ins with ORD (continuing through to submission)
At the end of the grant, you must submit your detailed research agenda, collaboration plan, and funding timeline, as well as a detailed accounting of how funds were spent. Within six months of the grant, you must submit to at least one external funding opportunity and send confirmation of submission to ORD.
Track B: Seed Grants to Support Interdisciplinary Proposals for $250,000+ in External Funding
These grants are designed to support inter-disciplinary, cross-college teams that are targeting $250,000+ grants. Frequently (but not always) teams have prior experience working together and successful small-scale studies demonstrating feasibility and are targeting grants implementing a larger-scale project.
To be eligible, teams should consist of at least four faculty members representing at least two colleges. Teams should already have a detailed research agenda and collaboration plan. You must identify at least one targeted external funding opportunity and provide a definite funding workplan, with milestones, responsibilities, and a timeline.
This seed grant will provide up to $3500 to support proposal development. Funds may be used to support preliminary data collection, concept development, prototyping, and similar as necessary for proposal development, but this grant is not itself a research seed or pilot grant. Sample uses of funds include methodological consultations, resolving fieldwork logistics, limited external reviews, prototyping, limited grant writing & editing support. Note that funds cannot be used towards faculty salary support; student assistants may be supported if justified.
You will have monthly check-ins with ORD regarding progress and continuing needs regarding proposal development. At the end of the grant, you must submit a detailed accounting of how funds were spent. Within one year, you must submit a proposal for at least $250,000 for external funding and send confirmation of submission to ORD.
Track C: Seed Grants to Support Interdisciplinary Proposals for $1,000,000+ in External Funding
These grants are designed to support inter-disciplinary, cross-college teams that are targeting $1,000,000+ grants. Typically these grants are center-grants or other large-scale programs. Teams typically have prior experience working together.
To be eligible, teams should consist of at least four faculty members representing at least two colleges. Teams should already have a detailed research agenda and collaboration plan. You must identify at least one targeted external funding opportunity and provide a definite funding workplan, with milestones, responsibilities, and a timeline.
This seed grant will provide up to $5000 to support proposal development. ORD will also provide assistance with proposal review, editing services, graphic development, and other services as appropriate; needs will be determined in consultation with ORD. While there are fewer restrictions on the use of funds in this program, applicants must provide a detailed description of how their planned use of funds will concretely move the proposal to submission.
You will have monthly check-ins with ORD regarding progress and continuing needs regarding proposal development. At the end of the grant, you must submit a detailed accounting of how funds were spent. Within one year, you must submit a proposal for at least $1,000,000 for external funding and send confirmation of submission to ORD.