Members of the UW Research Community:
This is to announce the Autumn 2018 round of the Royalty Research Fund (RRF) grant program. The RRF proposal submission and review process is electronic - all proposals are submitted using SAGE (System to Administer Grants Electronically). Proposals are due Monday, September 24, by 5:00 PM. Awards will be announced by January 15, 2019.
Unlike agency-funded grants, RRF grants are not awarded to supplement or continue existing successful research programs. The purpose of the RRF is to advance new directions in research, particularly:
- in disciplines for which external funding opportunities are minimal, and/or
- for faculty who are junior in rank, and/or
- in cases where funding may provide unique opportunities to increase applicants’ competitiveness for subsequent funding.
Proposals must demonstrate a high probability of generating important new creative activities or scholarly understandings, new scholarly materials or resources, significant data or information, or essential instrumentation resources that are likely to significantly advance the reputation of the university, lead to external funding, or lead to developing a new technology. Proposals from all disciplines are welcome, with well-justified budgets up to $40,000.
All proposals will be peer reviewed through one of the three RRF Review Committees. The evaluators are faculty colleagues and therefore will not necessarily be specialists in the applicant’s subfield. Thought should be given, therefore, to crafting the proposal so that a wider audience may understand it. Although technical field-specific information will be expected, the major features of the proposal should also be accessible to non-specialists.
The RRF application instructions, including specific directions for completing the eGC1, are currently available at the Office of Research web site located at:
http://www.washington.edu/research/or/royalty-research-fund-rrf/
As a reminder, Deans, Directors, and Chairs should only approve RRF applications for faculty and professional staff with PI status who are eligible for the program. Faculty with acting, affiliate, temporary, or visiting appointments are not eligible. In addition, if a UW faculty member holds an eligible rank but is based at another institution (e.g. Seattle Children's or Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center), all of his/her extramural grants must be run through the UW in order to be eligible for an RRF award.
Should you elect to apply, please note the following additional details:
- Carefully read and follow all instructions. Applications that do not adhere to program rules will be returned for immediate correction and resubmission if time permits; otherwise they will not be considered for funding.
- Find out how much lead time is required by each unit which needs to approve your proposal and monitor it throughout the approval process. (For example, the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s office requires that proposals reach them via SAGE by 5:00 pm on the Thursday prior to the RRF deadline.) Applications not fully approved by the deadline will not be accepted – NO EXCEPTIONS.
- On the Details page of the eGC1, make sure that you choose the Research Area that is most appropriate for your specific project. This will not necessarily match your official departmental affiliation, so you should review the membership of the three RRF committees (each of which covers two Research Areas) to confirm that you are making the best choice. Your proposal has a better chance of being successful if it is appropriately aligned with the expertise on the committee.
- Use the sample budget template on our website as a guide when preparing your proposal budget, making sure that a) you round all figures to whole dollars, b) you group items by object code, and c) you provide a subtotal for each object code.
Don’t hesitate to contact the RRF administrative staff if you have questions about the program; new applicants should contact Peter Wilsnack, doogieh@uw.edu, (685-9316) and existing awardees should contact Barbara Thompson, bthompso@uw.edu, (616-9089). Questions about SAGE and the eGC1 should be directed to oris@uw.edu, (685-8335).
Please forward this information to all interested parties.
Katherine Stovel
Professor, Sociology
Chair, Royalty Research Fund