Below are answers from URI’s Division of Research and Economic Development on submitting proposals for our 2023 URI Plastics Seed Program.
The “proposal must demonstrate research translation…at local, state or regional scales.” Will international levels be considered?
The purpose of these seeds is to strengthen local and regional collaboration. International projects are allowed by the funds if URI faculty are exploring local to global questions/solutions and include local/regional stakeholders.
“URI Plastics Seed Grant program funds cannot be used to support projects in fulfillment of advanced degrees…” but we say that work of graduate students can count as part of the educational component required for each proposal. These two points appear contradictory and can lead to confusion. What does it mean exactly that the program cannot be used to support projects in fulfillment of advanced degrees?
The meaning of “cannot be used to support projects in fulfillment of advanced degrees” is that you cannot use the funds to support an advanced degree as an outcome of the project. However, you are allowed to hire a graduate student to carry out the research on the proposed project.
Can a collaboration forming workshop be incorporated in the call (i.e. lightning talks, etc.)? A workshop could avoid the reinvention of the wheel in terms of techniques and multi-year investment in research labs.
The workshop can be part of a research translation activity as long as the workshop communicates research performed at URI or you are engaging a new collaborator to continue working on a project based on information generated at URI. Workshops provide awareness and input to research and can be very important in cultivating relationships and collecting data to further research and solutions.
Is preliminary data encouraged or required in these applications?
The spirit of the seed program is not to support fundamental research; the idea is to communicate/apply/transfer research/information generated at URI with stakeholders at the local or regional level. However, the seed funds can be used to generate data through or with stakeholders or generate a space to share URI data with stakeholders to have an impact.
Can you propose $25k-$30k or $35k for a project? Smaller projects are easier to manage within the one-year time frame.
The solicitation specifies a range of funding. Any proposal within the range listed in the solicitation will be considered for funding.
Can the upper limit of funding be increased to $50-$60k? An increase might attract more applications towards the call. Staffing is often the most critical aspect of delivering grants and can be expensive, especially with applied or lab processing work which can require significant time.
The purpose of this program is to provide seed funding to translate research and develop new collaborations between URI researchers and stakeholders. The proposed funding range seeks to allow disciplines with diverse projects to apply to the program.
The proposal states, “Participants must come from at least two colleges to demonstrate interdisciplinary collaboration.” Do I need to find collaborators from at least two other colleges outside URI? Do collaborators from URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography or College of Pharmacy qualify?
We hope these proposals support interdisciplinary research. The colleges must be at URI. For example, it could be one researcher from Pharmacy and one from GSO.
Do I need to allocate a budget for collaborators?
The solicitation encourages stakeholder engagement to support the translation of your research. If a collaborator is doing work in the proposal, then yes, I would suggest you work with the collaborator within the funds allotted to consider allocating budget — whether it be a small stipend or the resource of the graduate student to share.