Volume 15, Number 11: May 6, 2009

FUNDING TIPS

Recovery Act Funding vs. Regular Grant Programs: Advice for Applicants

- Bob Lowman, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research

The research community is being overwhelmed with funding opportunities from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Billions of dollars will be spent on research in a relatively short time, and faculty members are justifiably excited about the intellectual opportunities those dollars represent. While not wanting to throw cold water on anyone's plans, it is worth considering a couple of facts about the current funding situation.

ARRA money is, first and foremost, recovery money. Merit review will be combined with geographical considerations because Congress wants the dollars spread across the whole country. For programs such as the just-past Challenge Grants at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there will be $200 million divided fifty ways. NIH staff members have been suggesting that we can expect about five grants per state. Based on the number of proposals submitted just by faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill, the success rate for Challenge Grant applications will probably not exceed 2 percent.

On the other hand, the federal budget for fiscal year 2009 was not signed into law until March. It contained large funding increases for NIH and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Furthermore, because most of the government had been operating on a continuing resolution that limited spending to fiscal year 2008 levels, all the new money in the budget has to be spent between now and September 30. Some NIH institutes have already pushed their pay lines up as many as 10 percentile points for the remainder of the fiscal year. This means that right now you probably have a better chance of being funded with a regular grant proposal to NIH or NSF than you do with an ARRA proposal.

Should you ignore ARRA? Absolutely not. Instead, look at ARRA as an additional-not an alternative-source of research support, and keep submitting proposals to the regular research programs at federal agencies relevant to your interests.

Funding Advice for Junior Investigators

Daniel Calto and Josine Stallinga, in their article "Increasingly Complex Funding Realities Are Creating a New Playing Field," offer some excellent advice for junior faculty and postdoctoral scholars trying to secure research funding. Here is an excerpt:

Target the opportunities that you apply for carefully: Anything that can be done to narrow the search and find the most relevant funding opportunities can be very beneficial in terms of success rates and saving time.

Look backward to look ahead: Junior researchers need to gain perspective by spending some time reviewing past grant entry winners to get a sense of what may have made them successful. They should also speak with their peers and senior colleagues who may have applied for and won awards for similar programs in the past.

Think multidisciplinary: Today's research world is increasingly multidisciplinary, and collaboration across fields can help give proposals the competitive edge needed to win funding.

Source: April/May 2009 NCURA Magazine, pp. 10-11

Your COS Profile Can Move with You

If you are a new faculty member at Carolina , the COS expertise profile that you created at your previous academic institution can be updated to reflect your new appointment. Likewise, if you are leaving Carolina, your profile can be transferred to another institution. To update your institution, login to your COS Workbench and click on "Current Position" in the "Manage Your Profile" section. For assistance, contact the GrantSource Library (962-3463).

For instructions, click here (pdf).

NC Biotechnology Center Grant Deadlines Set for 2009-2010

Deadlines for all North Carolina Biotechnology Center grant programs have been set for the fiscal year July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010. Updated guidelines and application instructions will be posted on the program-specific web pages in the coming months. Some of the programs with deadlines coming soon include:

Potential applicants are encouraged to contact the Biotech Center program staff to discuss the proposed project before submitting a proposal. Pre-submission review by program staff is required for the RDG.

Grantmaking by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

Although the value of its assets has decreased in the current economy, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation's grantmaking is likely to dip only slightly in 2009. But grantmaking will go down in 2010 and more in 2011, says Leslie Winner, executive director of the foundation.

"It means we're less likely to do grantmaking around the edges of our focus areas," says Winner. The foundation's focus areas are:

KB Reynolds Trust to Limit Grantmaking

The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust is honoring all its current commitments, but will curtail new funding in fiscal year 2010. Planned cuts for 2010 include:

No "responsive" grantmaking by the Poor and Needy division
Only one grant cycle in the Health Care division
Shortening the duration of grants from both divisions
Holding back some grant dollars for emergency funding

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