OVPR-Administered Opportunities

• Applicants must be tenured or tenure-track faculty.
• A faculty member may receive either an RCG or Special Research Grant (SRG), but not both, in a given academic year (September 1, 2024, through August 31, 2025).
• Applicants must be in residence during the period of the award.
• Professors and Chairs with balances greater than $50,000 in chair, professorship or other discretionary funds are ineligible.
• Faculty with any remaining start-up funds are ineligible.
• Each faculty member may submit only one proposal during each funding cycle.
• Applicants cannot receive RCGs for the same project in multiple award cycles. Applicants submitting a proposal closely related to a previously RCG-funded project must demonstrate that the new application is substantially different.
• Applicant PI must be committed to, leading and actively engaged in the proposed project.
• Faculty who received 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, or 2023-2024 RCG awards are ineligible for 2024-2025 RCG funding. 2020-2021 recipients will be eligible again for the 2025-2026 cycle.
• Current members of the Review Committee are not eligible to apply for RCG funding.

• Faculty development—activities such as learning a new technique, language, methodology or completing a thesis or dissertation. 
• Institutional research—studies related directly to the operation of the university that are not generalizable and have little application beyond UT. 
• Public service and consulting. 
• Departmental curriculum development, such as the preparation of curriculum materials, curriculum modifications and student interest surveys. (Curriculum Development that includes empirical studies of the effectiveness of new program formats, or techniques and content that are generalizable and have application beyond UT may be considered research for this grant program.) 
• Edited work. Although the process allows for collaboration, the research or creative project must be the work of the named applicant.

Deadline for Submission: Wednesday, August 28, 2024, 5:00 p.m.

Announcement of Awards: Anticipated mid-October 2024

Period of Performance: Receipt of Award to August 31, 2025

Encumbrances must be cleared by: September 30, 2025

Final Report Due Dates: February 13, 2026; February 12, 2027

Proposals must be submitted online via InfoReady by the deadline.

Applicants will select the panel under which they would like their project to be reviewed: 

• Panel 1: Arts, Humanities and Law
• Panel 2: Social Sciences, Business, Communication and Education
• Panel 3: Life Sciences
• Panel 4: Biomedical Sciences
• Panel 5: Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering and Information

Proposals will include the following (to be submitted in the following order as a single PDF). Proposals not meeting these guidelines will be returned:

1. Title must include the panel number, e.g. “Panel 3: Title Here.”
2. PDF File Name must read “Last Name_First Name_Panel Number.”
3. Brief (150-word maximum) project abstract. These will be used for promotion and announcement purposes. Please write for the non-specialist.
4. Project Plan (Maximum of six single-spaced pages). All proposals should clearly explain the merits of the research project relative to advancement of his/her discipline or field of work. Include need for compliance approval, such as IRB, IACUC and IBC.
5. Up to two pages (separate from the text of the project plan) for references and/or graphics (Optional). Please provide a link for any video examples.
6. Detailed budget and Justification. Budgets must be itemized and listed items must total no more than $10,000. If part of a larger project, such as a film, please provide a separate budget for the overall project.
7. Other support requested or received for the proposed project.
8. Uses and results of any previous OVPR Grant support.
9. Curriculum Vitae in outline form (two pages or less).
10. A list of any collaborators on this project.

Please be aware of the following:

• Proposals related to fields for which outside funding is likely should contain clearly defined plans to obtain future funding for this project, including funding agencies to which proposal(s) will be submitted, amount(s) requested, research topic(s) and anticipated timeline for submission and results.
• For applicants with existing external funding, the proposal must demonstrate that the funds will be used to initiate new research directions or new research projects separate from existing projects.
• The review panel will comprise faculty from various related disciplines. Please write so that a reviewer from any discipline can understand and evaluate it.

The maximum grant amount is $10,000. Proposals are not required to seek the maximum.

• Budgets must be itemized, and listed items must total no more than $10,000.
• If this request is toward a larger project, please include a separate, overall project budget.

Allowable Costs

• Research assistants
• Research-associated travel (for grant holder only)
• Research supplies and materials
• Small items of research equipment. Funds to purchase equipment can often be obtained from the applicant's dean or chair, so any equipment items requested must be fully justified.
• Software may be purchased only if it is highly specialized research software fully justified by the scholarly demands of the proposed work. General purpose software is not allowable.
• Computer hardware may be purchased only if it is highly specialized research hardware fully justified by the scholarly demands of the proposed work. General purpose hardware is not allowable.

Unallowable Costs

• Faculty salaries
• Any expenditure prohibited from an indirect cost account
• Student tuition, fellowships, scholarships or stipends
• Any pre-publication manuscript preparation expenses: copy editing, photos for publication, etc.
• Books, CDs, DVDs or videos
• Page charges, reprints or subventions for publication 
• Indexing
• Travel or registration expenses for attending professional meetings or symposia
• Tuition and fees
• Entertainment expenses (e.g. refreshments, etc.)
• General-purpose software
• General-purpose equipment—cameras, recording equipment, etc.
• Computer time, computer hardware or peripherals
• Conference registration or travel expenses
• Research-related costs incurred prior to the start date of the RCG award

Criteria

Competing proposals will be ranked by a committee of peers. All applicants will be judged on the following criteria: 

• Intrinsic, scientific, scholarly or creative excellence of the work. 
• Evidence of work plan soundness and investigator’s ability to carry out the project. 
• Importance of proposed work to the knowledge of the discipline. 
• Impact on the completion of the scholar’s creative activity. How much will this funding make the project better? How much will this impact the project? 
• Likelihood of obtaining external funding and/or generating activities consistent with the highest standards of the discipline will be given the highest priority. 
• A clearly-defined plan for using RCG funding to leverage future funding (for fields where external funding is likely). 

Review Process 

Applicants will request a specific review panel: 

• Panel 1: Arts, Humanities and Law 
• Panel 2: Social Sciences, Business, Communication and Education 
• Panel 3: Life Sciences 
• Panel 4: Biomedical Sciences 
• Panel 5: Physical Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering and Information 

Each panel will provide scores and comments using the following scoring scale: 

• Outstanding (Point value: 5): Vitally important project undertaken by a qualified investigator who can be expected to make substantial progress and has potential for generating activities consistent with the highest standards of the discipline. This rating should be reserved for truly excellent proposals but should be used when warranted. 
• Excellent (Point Value: 4): Proposal considered superior, both for the intrinsic merit of the project and the ability of the investigator. Should be supported. 
• Very Good (Point Value 3): Proposal considered superior, both for the intrinsic merit of the project and the ability of the investigator. Should be fully or partially supported with recommendation for scope or budgetary adjustment. 
• Good (Point Value: 2): Worthwhile project by a competent investigator, but routine in nature. May be supported if funds are available. 
• Fair (Point Value: 1): Proposal has serious deficiencies that decrease the probability of successful completion. Might merit consideration in future competitions if resubmitted with major changes.
• Poor (Point Value 0): Clearly not deserving of support or is written in language that prohibits adequate merit evaluation by reviewers. 

Applications with the highest average point value will receive funding depending on availability.

Awards and Conditions

• Funds will not be released until appropriate compliance approvals such as IRB/IACUC/IBC have been received (if applicable).
• In no case will approval be given for expenditures in excess of the total amount of the award or after the closing date of the grant period.
• Funds expire and must be used by August 31, 2025. All encumbrances must be cleared by September 30, 2025, after which remaining funds will be swept. No extensions or carryovers of these funds will be permitted, and unused funds must be returned to the OVPR. UT has end-of-fiscal-year deadlines for purchasing, which you must follow. Do not wait until mid- or late-August to make purchases or submit travel receipts for reimbursement. Fiscal regulations governing expenditure of UT and State funds must be observed, and all purchases must be made using University and State guidelines. More information and assistance are available at https://afm.utexas.edu or from your departmental accounting contact.
• This is not a cash award. OVPR will transfer funds to an account provided by your department and notify you when transferred.
• If the research leads to a submission and a positive funding decision during the award period, the remaining RCG program funds must be returned when external funding commences.
• Any and all changes to the funded budget included in a proposal must be approved in advance and in writing by OVPR. Please submit requests to modify with specific dollar amounts and justification via email to VPRcompetitions@austin.utexas.edu.
• Out-of-pocket expenses paid for with personal funds will not be reimbursed from RCG funds except in the case of PI travel outside the Austin area.
• All awards are subject to the intellectual property policy of The University of Texas System.
• Travel expenses paid from RCG funds are subject to State regulations, and are only allowed for the RCG holder. Please follow guidelines established per department for travel. The account number can be charged directly if the awardee chooses to arrange travel through one of the University’s approved travel agents.
• Any funds remaining after completion of the project will be returned to OVPR.
• Employment of personnel must be in accordance with established University regulations. Please note that fringe benefit costs are automatically covered, but ITS core data and network charges are not. Cost is calculated per FTE. Professors awarded RCGs may not be paid any monies from grants except reimbursement for travel per university regulations.
• RCG award recipients will be expected to serve as reviewers on future RCG review committees.

Reporting Requirements

A final project report will be due by February 13, 2026, with a follow-up report due February 12, 2027, using the report form assigned to awardees in InfoReady. This report will include results directly related to the RCG:

• Summary of results during the course of the project and how they addressed the goals stated in the application.
• Budget report outlining utilization of funds.
• Resulting publications, performances, conferences, exhibits, including titles, dates, venues, bibliographic information.
• Progress in applying for external funding, including titles, agencies, date submitted (past and future), amounts requested, status, awarded amount.
• Recognition: awards, honors, prizes, reviews.

Additional follow‐up information may be requested outside of the progress report to determine the ongoing efficacy of the RCG program. 

• SRG applications will be reviewed on the basis of merit to the discipline and relevance to the university’s research mission. 
• A SRG recipient can receive only one SRG per academic year and no more than three in any five-year period. Collaborative projects can only be funded once in the same academic year. 
• An applicant cannot receive both an OVPR Research and Creative Grant (RCG) and an SRG in the same academic year (i.e., September 1, 2023, through August 31, 2024). Applicants cannot receive SRGs for the same project in multiple award cycles.
• Applicant PI must be committed to, leading and actively engaged in the proposed project.
• SRG funds are not intended to supplement existing large funding mechanisms you may hold.

• Faculty development—activities such as learning a new technique, language, methodology or completing a thesis or dissertation. 
• Institutional research—studies related directly to the operation of the university that are not generalizable and have little application beyond UT. 
• Public service and consulting. 
• Departmental curriculum development, such as the preparation of curriculum materials, curriculum modifications and student interest surveys. (Curriculum Development that includes empirical studies of the effectiveness of new program formats, or techniques and content that are generalizable and have application beyond UT may be considered research for this grant program.) 
• Edited work. Although collaboration is allowed, the research or creative project must be the original work of the named applicant.

Budgets must be itemized, and all items listed must total no more than $2,000. Projects are funded based on approved itemized expenditures to which the PI will be held. Any changes to the approved budget will require OVPR approval. 

Allowable Costs 

• Travel to research site beyond the Austin area for the PI only. 
• Research equipment, supplies and materials. 
• Highly specialized computer software required for the project. Note that the University retains ownership of all equipment and/or software acquired with SRG funds, which will remain the property of the researcher’s department. 
• Salary for research assistants, translators, transcribers or technicians. 

Unallowable Costs 

• Researcher’s salary or fringe benefits. 
• Fellowships, scholarships, tuition, fees or student travel. 
• Books, journal subscriptions, music tapes, CDs or DVDs. 
• Any expense related to manuscript preparation or book publication including indexing, page charges, reprints, copy editing, photographs for publication or book subventions. 
• Any costs related to dissemination of the completed research. 
• Computer time, hardware, software (unless very highly specialized) or computer peripherals. 
• General-purpose computer equipment or software (e.g., laptops, Microsoft Word, etc.) 
• Travel or registration costs for professional conferences, meetings, classes or symposia. 
• Professional membership fees. 
• Entertainment expenses (e.g., refreshments, etc.) 
• Office supplies unless specifically required for the proposed projects. 
• Any expenses not allowed in an indirect cost account. 
• Expenses related to grant losses (e.g., losses as a result of currency fluctuations) 
• Expenditures before the award issue date.  

Disbursement of Awarded Funds 

SRGs become effective upon award notification. If applicable and an award is made, required IRB (human subjects), IBC (biohazardous material) or IACUC (animal subjects) approval must be submitted to OVPR prior to disbursement of SRG funds to the recipient. The funded project cannot begin until approval is granted by the appropriate institutional agent and proof of approval has been provided to OVPR. 

Administration of Awarded Funds 

• Any and all changes to the funded budget included in the proposal must be approved in advance and in writing by OVPR. Please submit requests to modify with specific dollar amounts and justification via email to VPRcompetitions@austin.utexas.edu.
• SRGs are not cash awards. Funds are made available through an indirect cost account established by the Office of Accounting in the department’s name specifically for containing OVPR awards. In expending these funds, all regulations governing expenditures of State funds must be observed. 
• Reimbursement for items purchased with personal funds is not permitted from SRG funds, except in the case of travel expenses (for the PI only). Travel expenses paid from SRG funds are subject to the same regulations as travel expenses paid from State-funded departmental travel accounts. Requests for Travel Authorization (VE5) require prior approval. 
• Employment of research assistants, technicians and other research support staff must be in accordance with established University regulations. Travel reimbursement is only available to the award recipient. 
• Production of fiscal documents (purchase orders, requisitions, travel vouchers, personnel appointment forms, vouchers, etc.) and accounting for the grant is the responsibility of the award recipient and his/her departmental accounting contact. 

A completed final report is due to the OVPR by Monday, November 25, 2024. A follow-up report is due one year later, by November 24, 2025. Both should be submitted through InfoReady and automated reminders with submission information will be sent from InfoReady. Missing final reports will make the awardee ineligible for future OVPR Special Research Grants and OVPR Research and Creative Grants.

For more information, please contact us. 

• Only Principal Investigators (any UT faculty or permanent staff with PI status) are eligible to apply. Adjunct and visiting faculty, postdocs, and research support staff are not eligible to serve as PI or Co-PI but may be named as investigators in proposals. Any individual investigator may participate in only one application per cycle.
• Proposing teams must include three or more PIs from at least two different disciplines (e.g. nursing and psychology, or biomedical engineering and aerospace engineering), but no more than seven PIs. Teams are kept small to ensure that all team members fully participate and remain accountable to their teammates.
• Proposals from all scholarly disciplines and methodologies will be considered. Note that different departments, colleges, schools, or units may be used as a proxy for different disciplines, but that teams still should articulate how the investigators’ areas of study differ from and complement each other in the context of the proposed research project of interest.
• Collaborations must have a central research question or scholarly goal at the core and have identified at least one external funding opportunity to which they plan to apply.

Incubator programming runs with the academic calendar year and funds teams on a rolling basis until incubator funds are exhausted.

All application documents should be formatted using 1-inch margins and no smaller than 11-point font. Recommended fonts are Arial, Georgia, Helvetica, and Times New Roman. The documents listed below are required, unless otherwise noted, and must be submitted by the application deadline.

Please submit the following items in the order specified below as a single PDF or Word document:

1. Lay Summary: In 200 words or less, describe for a general audience the proposed research idea and its potential impact.
2. Proposal: Limit to two (2) pages articulating your interest in participating in the Bold Inquiry Incubator program. Organize the proposal in the specified order using the section headings and content guidelines below. The reviewers will be UT faculty/investigators, but not necessarily experts in your field; please write this section to an audience of educated non-subject matter experts.
   1. Team: List team members and their affiliations (at least three but no more than seven team members).
   2. Potential for Impact: Briefly describe the research or scholarly vision or creative work the team intends to pursue. Explain the innovative nature of the proposed research approaches and describe the potential impact on the areas of study. Highlight what makes the project team and the nature of the research interdisciplinary. Describe why your team is uniquely suited to pursue your specific line of inquiry (e.g., what you think makes your team the best group to conduct this research, anything your team has done to prepare for this type of funding opportunity, prior collaborative experience, etc.).
   3. Work Plan: Explain why a planning grant is required to initiate your project, emphasizing the barriers (technical, procedural, etc.) that currently hinder your research progress and how a planning grant will impact the probability of research success in securing external funding or advancing scholarly pursuits.
3. Biosketch or Curriculum Vitae for each team member.
4. Budget and Budget Justification: Provide a high-level description of the anticipated budget, how those costs will support planning objectives, and justification for the funds requested.

Interested research teams can email the incubator director at vpr.rdt@austin.utexas.edu to assess if this opportunity aligns with their teams’ research needs. Applications are accepted online via the infoready submission portal.

The maximum grant amount is $20,000. Proposals are not required to seek the maximum allowable amount.

Provide a high-level description of the anticipated budget, how those costs will support planning objectives, and justification for the funds requested.

Allowable Costs

• Convening costs such as space rental (for space outside the OVPR suite), catering, speaker fees/travel, etc.
• Contracted or consulting expertise (if not available at UT and not in the form of a subaward)
• Materials/supplies/consumables
• Travel or registration expenses if strictly required to enhance collaboration, learn required skills, or gather intelligence to build out the team’s joint research agenda

Unallowable Costs

• Faculty salary (summer or otherwise)
• Fringe or overhead (funds are internally sourced, so these expenses do not need to be budgeted)
• Routine conference travel

A PI peer review panel will evaluate applications. Proposals should be written in a manner accessible to educated non-experts. The following evaluation criteria will be used and given equal weight:

1. Evidence that funding will enable the project team to overcome identified barriers and/or further develop the proof of concept thus increasing their competitiveness in the external funding landscape.
2. Innovation and interdisciplinary nature in the team’s approach to addressing the core scholarly question. It should be clear how the interdisciplinary approach provides a new approach not previously possible without each team member’s contribution.
3. Potential for research impact in the study area.
4. Sound merit and rationale of the proposed project, and the scope of the proposal is feasible for the performance period.

Incubator teams will produce mid-term progress reports and a final report detailing the results of their funding pursuits one year after program completion. Awardees may be asked to serve on a review committee for future Bold Inquiry Incubator competitions.

Incubator teams will be supported by a dedicated OVPR program director who will facilitate skill development opportunities and access to OVPR resources. Additional program benefits include:

• Priority external funding proposal development support from OVPR research development officers and Research Impact staff.
• Skill-building opportunities that are designed to position your team to be as competitive as possible in securing external research funding.
• Visibility to an audience of internal and external stakeholders through project presentations at a “demo day,” and through features/highlights in OVPR newsletters.
• Access to OVPR Research Development’s FAC meeting rooms, coworking space, kitchen, and common area for special meetings and Bold Inquiry Incubator events.

Below are brief summaries of the teams that have previously been selected to participate in the Bold Inquiry Incubator.

Developing Critical Research Tools to Evaluate Carbon Management Technologies

PIs: Hugh Daigle (Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering), Arvind Ravikumar (Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering), Sergio Castellanos (Architectural & Environmental Engineering), Benjamin Leibowiez (Mechanical Engineering), Andrew Waxman (LBJ Public Affairs)

This project will assemble an interdisciplinary team with experts from government, NGOs, academia, and industry to define critical research gaps that incorporate technological and societal aspects of carbon management building a network of external collaborators to identify key geographic regions where carbon management activities are anticipated to intensify.

Language, Mind & Ethics in AI

PIs: Kyle Mahowald (Linguistics), Harvey Lederman (Philosophy), Mark Budolfson (Geography and the Environment)

This project will convene interdisciplinary researchers with expertise in computer science, linguistics, philosophy of mind, economics and social sciences, public policy, ethics to accelerate research on the societally important questions of how to align AI with human goals during the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs).

Developing Evidence-Based, Sustainable Solutions for Advancing Homeless Services

PIs: Leticia Moczygemba (Pharmacy), Whitney Thurman (Nursing), Elizabeth Heitkemper (Nursing)

This project will convene UT and community researchers with expertise in homeless services, digital health, community-led, health informatics and public health to investigate how to best integrate social care needs of people experiencing homelessness into diverse healthcare delivery settings including hospitals, community clinics, and mobile/street medicine.

Promoting Healthcare Worker Well-Being by Leveraging Effective Communication and Leadership Behaviors

PIs: Greg Wallingford (Internal Medicine), Ethan Burris (McCombs Business), Mike Mackert (Moody Communication) Constantinos Coutifaris (McCombs Business), Molly Hamel (McCombs Business), Sujiet Iyer (Pediatrics), Gretchen Fuller (Emergency and Pediatric Emergency)

This project will adopt a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that unites leaders from healthcare, management, and health communications to build deep relationships and shared understanding that will enable development of scalable, innovative research to equip leaders in healthcare to tackle burnout through improved communication practices, cultivation of supportive organizational culture, and application of pertinent leadership skills.

Community-Engaged Research to Meet the Needs of Rural Communities After Mass Shootings

PIs: Monica Muñoz Martinez (History), Gloria González-López (Sociology), Noël Busch-Armendariz (Steve Hicks School of Social Work), Gregory Pogue (IC2 Institute), Matt Kammer-Kerwick (IC2 Institute), Bruce Kellison (IC2 Institute) and Caitlin Sulley (IC2 Institute)

This project brings together experts and professionals from various fields to address the multifaceted challenges posed by the aftermath of a mass shooting in a rural border community. This research seeks to determine the prerequisites and needed components for establishing well-being hubs and restorative responses tailored to the unique needs of rural border communities, as well as to understand impacts to social links, consumption of and (dis)engagement of resources, and short- and long-term economics for individuals, families, and communities.

Developing an Innovative Model for Treating Patients with Diabetes in Rural Mexican Communities

PIs: Ricardo Ainslie (Educational Psychology), Tim Mercer and Rebecca Cook (Population Health), Julie Zuniga (Nursing)

This project aims to develop a scalable, innovative, evidence-based community intervention model for detecting and treating diabetes in rural, economically marginalized communities in Puebla, Mexico. The team will explore novel models of care, barriers to treatment, and other variables that are critical for treating diabetic patients in ways that are culturally appropriate and scalable to other rural communities.

Assemblies of Technosolutionism

PIs: Iván Chaar López (American Studies), Amelia Acker (School of Information) and Edgar Gómez-Cruz (School of Information)

This project aims to foster a critical collective space to interrogate the development and implementation of technosolutionism in contemporary AI applications to solve a wide range of problems in our society. This team will convene an interdisciplinary research seminar series to promote communication across disciplines and examine emerging socio-technical phenomena to build theories and methods for understanding the social significance of AI.

Optimizing Deep Learning Approaches for Enhanced Detection of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) from Portable Echocardiograms

PIs: Shanti Nulu (Cardiology), Edward Castillo (Biomedical Engineering), Adam Bush (Biomedical Engineering), Michael Brode, (Internal Medicine)

This project will explore the design and validation of AI-enabled deep learning algorithms capable of interpreting the diagnostically challenging, low-fidelity echocardiographic videos acquired via portable echocardiography (PE) to facilitate earlier detection of RHD and precipitate timely therapeutic interventions. The distinct innovation of the approach derives from the combination of expertise in cardiology, medical imaging, and machine learning, enabling customized development of an AI system adapted to the constraints of PE and designed for a low-resource environment.

Development of 3D Interactive Digital Game Based on the Excavation of an Early Islamic Palace in Syria

PIs: Stephennie Mulder (Art History), Jessie Contour (Design & Creative Technologies) and Kate Catterall (Design & Creative Technologies)

This project seeks to develop a 3D digital interactive computer game based on an extant digital model of an 8th century early Islamic palatial complex excavated by an international scholarly team. The game will be based on current research and will serve to both introduce the rich heritage of early Islamic civilization to gameplayers as well as to recreate a now-lost aspect of Syrian heritage.

COPD Airway Warriors: Game for Better Breathing

PIs: Tanya Hutter (Mechanical Engineering), David Cohen (Design & Creative Technologies), Koonj Shah (Pulmonology & Critical Care)

This project aims to identify the extent to which patient compliance with home care management for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can be addressed by creating breathing-technique driven games. This team will incorporate smart analytics and integration of additional physiological sensors (e.g., heart rate and blood oxygenation) and will explore the degree to which an online community among patients participating in the game and sharing their progress can be as impactful as a current community care-based approach.