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The President’s Interdisciplinary Research Accelerator Challenge is a competitive prize that will yield funding for research teams to develop a funding proposal with professional support. This is a new program initiated by President Whitfield and the Division of Research to support interdisciplinary research development and team collaboration. The goal is to accelerate successful interdisciplinary grant applications and build team grant writing skills at UNLV by enlisting the guidance of professional proposal development experts. This award is not a research grant for data collection or other primary research or scholarly activities. It is an award that supports the development of a research proposal to an external funding agency. In recognition of the different needs on campus, the prize may support awards in the following categories:

• Planning or coordination grant - supports targeted planning or coordination activities designed to foster increased resource sharing, develop research/practice communities, coordinate planning for research activities or programs, and support communication and outreach. This grant type ensures adequate support, networks, and resources for flourishing research activities.
• Training grant - supports developing training programs for undergraduate students, graduate students, and/or faculty in a specific area. This grant type should include research activities to build expertise and capacity for research.
• Research grant  - supports the production of research/scholarship/creative activity.
• Center or Infrastructure grant  - supports the development of research centers/institutes or major infrastructure designed to support the research enterprise.

Eligibility

Teams may comprise faculty, staff, students, and/or external collaborators. However, the project must be led by a UNLV administrative or academic faculty member who is PI-eligible at the time of submission. The team is responsible for communicating how their project is interdisciplinary.

Submission Process

Teams will develop a proposal concept paper. This will constitute the initial application for the award. Based on the proposal concept paper, teams will be selected to move onto the Finalist Pitch stage. The concept paper should be no more than five pages, with double-spaced text. Proposal concept papers will be submitted through the platform managed by OSP by October 1, 2024. The concept papers should include:

• Project title
• Team member names, position, college/school
• Funding target(s) - specify agency/foundation, program, anticipated due date if known, funding levels. More than one funding target can be included. Concept papers containing only funding opportunities six months or less from November 1, 2024 will not be reviewed.
• Type of project. Please classify your project into one of the following categories:
  • Planning grant
  • Training grant
  • Research grant
  • Center or Infrastructure grant
• Project rationale (2-3 pages)
  • Section 1: Summary paragraph(s) outlining the purpose of the project and the primary goals of the project. Be sure to outline how the project is interdisciplinary.
  • Section 2: Importance statement
    • Describe the need for the project and how this project will impact UNLV/region/nation.
    • Align the project with existing college/school/university research initiatives, goals, or projects on campus.
  • Section 3: Readiness
    • Describe prior work or accomplishments of the team that would suggest this project is ready for proposal development support (e.g. pilot projects, previous publications, prior grant submissions).
• Team description (1 page)
  • Tell the selection committee who you are and why your team is poised to be successful in your work.
  • Describe your expertise and how you complement one another as an interdisciplinary team. Please note whether you plan to add any new collaborators to the project and why. Include a description of any partners external to UNLV if applicable. Describe how long you’ve been working together on this project.
  • Tell the committee about what type of support would be most useful for the team around this specific project. What are the gaps/needs that are most pressing for developing a competitive proposal?
  • Please indicate if the team has a specific professional agency they would like to engage with or if specific expertise areas are needed.

Selection Process

• Proposal Review
  • Panelist review of the concept papers will be completed with notifications of selection for the Finalist Pitch by October 15, 2024.
• Finalist Pitch
  • Up to 6 proposals will be selected to give brief pitches to a selection committee, including President Whitfield.
  • Teams must be present in person on October 28 at the Interdisciplinary Research Symposium to complete the pitch.
  • Details regarding the pitch content will be provided at the time of notification.