[Faculty] Request for Proposals - Chancellor’s Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program

VCREDadmin VCREDadmin vcredadmin at ucr.edu
Tue Oct 6 08:47:11 PDT 2026 

Dear Colleagues,

To accelerate UC Riverside's leadership in addressing society's most
pressing challenges, the Office of the Chancellor and the Office of
Research and Economic Development (RED) are launching the Chancellor's
Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program. The program is designed to catalyze
bold collaborations that position UCR faculty to compete successfully for
large-scale external research funding while advancing the university's
strategic priorities.

Up to $1 million will be available on a competitive basis to support
interdisciplinary teams of UCR faculty who submit compelling proposals.
Subject to the availability of funds, it is expected that this competition
will be repeated every two years.


*Key Dates*
*Letter of Intent Due:* Sunday, November 1, 2026, 11:59 pm PST - submit via
email to vcredadmin at ucr.edu.

*Full Proposals Due:* Tuesday December 1, 2026, 11:59 pm PST - submit via
EasyChair <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cisgp2026>.


*Read the full RFP below or review at research.ucr.edu
<https://research.ucr.edu/funding#new-chancellors-interdisciplin>.*

------------------------------


TO: Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, and Faculty

FROM: S. Jack Hu, Chancellor, and Rodolfo Torres, Vice Chancellor for
Research

RE: Chancellor’s Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program

To accelerate UC Riverside's leadership in addressing society's most
pressing challenges, the Office of the Chancellor and the Office of
Research and Economic Development (RED) are launching the Chancellor's
Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program. The program is designed to catalyze
bold collaborations that position UCR faculty to compete successfully for
large-scale external research funding while advancing the university's
strategic priorities. Projects should address significant scientific,
technological, societal, environmental, economic, or health challenges that
cannot be solved within a single discipline. Illustrative challenge areas
include, but are not limited to, precision agriculture, infrastructure
resilience, security, One Health, climate and environmental sustainability,
brain and behavioral sciences, interdisciplinary biomedical and social
science research, and data science and artificial intelligence. *This
program is specifically intended to build interdisciplinary teams capable
of securing transformational large external awards and establishing
long-term research leadership in areas of strategic importance for UC
Riverside. Individual research projects are not suitable for this new
initiative.*

Up to $1 million will be available on a competitive basis to support
interdisciplinary teams of UCR faculty who submit compelling proposals.
Subject to the availability of funds, it is expected that this competition
will be repeated every two years.

Applications may include external collaborators from academia, government
agencies, or the private sector, but any funds awarded through this program
must be spent at UCR. Proposals must describe work that will position teams
to be competitive for specific, externally funded, multi-investigator
and/or multi-institution awards in the near future. Matching support from
schools/colleges and/or industry is encouraged, but not required.

*Funding and Eligibility: *Awards may range from $75,000 to $150,000 per
proposal, with actual amounts based on itemized and justified budgets.
Funds may be used for any activity directly related to the conduct of the
research, scholarly, creative, or outreach activity, e.g., salaries and
benefits for staff, undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral
researchers, or similar position; software or supplies; small pieces of
equipment (less than $5,000); facility recharge; travel to meet with
funding agencies, attend proposer workshops, coordinate with collaborators,
and conduct field work; or other research expenses required to facilitate
preparation of external proposals. Faculty summer salary is capped at one
month. Funds may not be used to support conferences, seminars by visitors,
external collaborators, or course buyouts.

Awarded funds will be available May 1, 2027 and must be expended by October
31, 2028.

Faculty may participate in more than one application this funding cycle,
provided that each application is for a scientifically distinct project.
Faculty may not submit proposals that represent the continuation of
projects previously funded through internal or external sources. The PI and
co-PIs must be UCR individuals eligible to serve as Principal
Investigators. (For additional information on PI eligibility see Policy
#527-3 <https://redit.ucr.edu/OrApps/RED/Policies.aspx?k=6>). Additional
personnel may include postdocs, students, and staff.

*Letter of Intent (LOI):* Teams must submit a short LOI by November 1,
2026. The LOI should include the title, list of team members and their
affiliations, and an abstract. Please limit the LOI to two pages. The LOI
helps identify reviewers for the full proposals. Applicants who do not
submit an LOI will not be approved to submit a full proposal. The LOI
should have the themes of the full proposal being considered, potential
impact of the proposed research, external funding opportunities, basic
information about the team, including names of PI and Co-PIs and brief
description of their area of expertise and expected contribution to the
team project.


*Letters of Intent should be submitted to vcredadmin at ucr.edu
<vcredadmin at ucr.edu>.*
*Full Proposal: *Teams who have previously submitted an LOI may submit a
full proposal by midnight *December 1, 2026*. Late proposals will not be
considered.


*Full Proposals should be submitted through the "EasyChair" system via this
link <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cisgp2026>.*
The submission website will be open for proposal submission immediately
following the LOI deadline. Proposals must include:

   - Project title.
   - Identification of the relevant theme (e.g., a societal challenge to be
   addressed).
   - Name, affiliation, and email of the contact PI (must be one single
   individual). Name, affiliation, and email of all other co-PIs. A minimum of
   three PIs from at least two different schools/colleges are necessary to
   qualify for the interdisciplinary grant.
   - Project summary, written in such a way that it is understandable to
   non-experts and not to exceed half a page.
   - Work plan (body of proposal). What will the team do? Will it build on
   prior interactions (e.g., whether the team received Office of Research
   pre-seed funding)? What are the anticipated outcomes? Be as specific as
   possible. The work plan narrative must not exceed 4 single-spaced pages
   with a minimum 12-point font and one-inch margins. Proposals not meeting
   these formatting requirements will not be reviewed.
   - Identification of future external funding opportunities the team
   intends to pursue (funding agency, anticipated award size, and submission
   timeline). Outcomes of any previous internal funding award in the last 5
   years. All previous award reporting requirements by all participants must
   have been fulfilled at the time of application.
   - Qualifications: For each PI/co-PI, a brief (at most half-page)
   paragraph describing their relevant experience and accomplishments and a
   2-page CV (may use standard NSF style CV). Faculty may participate in more
   than one proposal.
   - Itemized budget using the template that will be provided on the
   submission site.

*Review:* Proposals will be reviewed by a team of UCR faculty and
administrators. The review criteria will include:

   - The degree to which the proposal addresses the specified challenge;
   - The extent of interdisciplinary collaboration;
   - The strength of the team and its leadership;
   - The soundness of approach; and
   - The strength of the proposed pathway to competitive external funding,
   including the appropriateness of the identified funding opportunity and the
   likelihood of success.

Winning proposals will be announced in March 2027. Every funded project
should be expected to generate a competitive proposal for a major external
grant within 12–24 months.

Please direct any questions regarding the program to vcredadmin at ucr.edu.

We anticipate continuing this Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program on a
two-year cycle, depending on fund availability, return on investment, and
interest of faculty.

RED will provide proposal development support to funded teams, including
supplemental proposal development funding (up to $50K), coordinating
proposal development, and red-team review, to strengthen competitiveness
for external awards. The additional funds at this stage may be used for
one-course buyout for the PI during the quarter in which the proposal is
developed and submitted.


*Rodolfo H. Torres       *

Vice Chancellor

Research, Innovation, and Economic Development

University of California - Riverside
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