Call for proposals: 2025-26 W&M Seed Funding Application
Summary
The W&M Seed Funding Research Grant program promotes an increase in total external research funding at W&M. The program is also designed to help W&M faculty establish self-sustaining, independent funding for research. A requirement for awardees in this program is that the proposed work must lead to submission of one or more proposals for follow-on external funding to maintain sustained future efforts. Submissions are due MARCH 7, 2025. Questions about this application should be directed to the Chair of the Faculty Research Committee, Margaret Saha, (mssaha@wm.edu).
Full Description
Applications for the W&M seed are due March 7th, 2025 to this Box link. You must use this document for your application. You must be logged in with your W&M credentials to access the document (i.e. VIMS email addresses can't be used to view the document.) |
About W&M Seed Funding
Seed funding may supplement start-up funds or other funding streams already established by proposers. The seed funds can be used to gather additional data, acquire necessary equipment, master a needed skill, access special materials, or in other ways that are compliant with W&M policies, that will lead to future external funding. To maintain continuing eligibility for this program, awardees must submit at least one proposal to an outside agency, foundation, or corporation within 18 months of award of seed funding. This follow-on external proposal submission may be for a new proposal for one to five years of funding at $150k/yr. Alternatively, the proposal may be for a multi-year renewal of a current, existing award where the new yearly funding level exceeds the existing yearly funding level by at least $100k/year. Meeting these objectives may require expanding the number of co-investigators or students engaged in the work.* *We encourage applications that combine the efforts of faculty from two or more departments or faculty from two or more schools.
Program Scale
- For 2025, we expect to award either 2 grants up to $60K per grant or (depending on the array of proposals received) 2 grants up to $50K and 1 at $20K, independent of the number of investigators in the proposal.
Who May Apply
- Faculty members at W&M who are in good standing and who have been authorized by their chair, director, dean, or the VPR, to conduct research within their unit.
- An applicant can only be listed as a Faculty Investigator on a single submission.
Evaluation Criteria
Applications will be evaluated by the Faculty Research Committee and must address the following items:
- Does the proposal state the objectives in plain English that may be understood by non-experts?
- Does the proposal articulate how the objectives will be achieved, describing what has already been accomplished in the field, and then specify what is new in the proposed approach? Does the proposal explain how the novel approaches increase the chances for success and the impact on the proposed fields of work?
- Does the proposal explain why the chosen personnel are likely to succeed? Does it discuss the potential pitfalls/risks and outline alternative paths to overcome intermediate failures?
- Does the proposal discuss broader social impact, including possible alignment with the strategic plan of W&M or one of its units?
- Does the proposal identify one or more potential external funders for at least one subsequent proposal that builds upon the work of the seed proposal and stipulate why, if the work succeeds, those external funders will be more likely to fund the subsequent proposal?
- Does the proposal appendix list prior proposals (source, title, amount, and year) that may leverage support for the present project or related work?
Conditions and Expectations for Seed Funding Grants Program:
- Grants are made with the expectation that the recipient will remain in the service of W&M. A recipient who resigns from W&M (or is not retained for other reasons) will be required to relinquish the grant and any unexpended portion thereof.
- Grants are made with the expectation that the recipient will execute the work plan described in the proposal, perform the work within the proposed period, and submit at least one follow-on proposal within 18 months of award. Failure to submit a proposal within 18 months of award may cause the recipient to be ineligible for future grants. Other supported research, or paid or unpaid teaching, may also be done by the recipient during the period in which this grant is received as long as work is adjusted to meet federal effort reporting requirements.
- Recipients of research grants should acknowledge the support of W&M in subsequent publications W&M arising from funded research.
- Recipients must provide a 1–2-page summary report discussing their efforts to complete the proposed work and to seek external funding. The report should include the status of the proposal (s) submitted. The PI shall submit copies of this final report to the Unit lead, Department Chair, Dean, Vice Provost for Research, and Provost at the end of the grant period. Failure to submit this report promptly may cause the recipient to be ineligible for future internal grants.
Application Instructions
The applicant should read the W&M Seed Funding Research Grant Call for Proposals, above, before completing the application.
Question 3 on the application guide was amended 01/15/2025. Please make sure to use the updated version.
Requirements
- Please complete items 1-9 of the application (green box above), including the research description. The research description must address the Evaluation Criteria on pages 1-2 of the Call for Proposals to maximize the probability of an award. The research description should include a high-level budget (e.g., specific amounts for all funding categories).
- The research description (essentially the proposal) should not exceed 1500 words, be single-spaced and double-spaced between paragraphs, have a minimum of one-inch margins, and use at least a 12-point font.
- Please combine the application (pages 4–6), research description, references/figures, current & pending support for this work and short-form CVs into a single pdf document. The appendices will not count against the maximum total of 1500 words.
- Submit the application and the appendices as a single pdf file to this Box File link. Submissions are due MARCH 7, 2025. Please do not include pages 1-3 of this document. The pdf file name should include the word Seed, investigator last name, and a department/unit name. For example, “seed_smith_english.pdf”.
- After submitting, please email frcgrantapp@wm.edu to confirm your submission. If you don't receive an email acknowledging receipt within 2 business days of your submission, please send a follow-up email to frcgrantapp@wm.edu.
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Questions about the application should be directed to the Chair of the Faculty Research Committee, Margaret Saha
Application Checklist
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Application Information (pages 4 and 6) |
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Research Description (starts on page 7 – maximum 1500 words) |
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Appendix - References cited and any figures |
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Appendix – List of current and pending support for this work |
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Appendix – Short form (two pages) CV for all investigators |
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Submit as a single pdf file to the Box File link - see file name instructions above |