The Research Opportunity Seed Fund is an annual seed grant program that targets interdisciplinary, faculty-initiated research projects with potential for extramural support. The program focuses on new projects and/or new collaborative partnerships. This program is sponsored by the University of Florida Office of Research.
Projects for the Research Opportunity Seed Fund should be innovative, have strong potential for garnering future funding from external sources, or have outstanding commercial potential. Research Opportunity Seed Fund awards are not intended to support on-going projects — they should support new projects (not a supplement to current research) and/or new collaborative partnerships. The proposals must emphasize novel research.
To be competitive, proposals must be multi-/interdisciplinary and must involve faculty from at least two departments/units/colleges (see Review Criteria for more information on this criterion). Single-investigator proposals are not eligible. Proposals involving hypothesis-driven research should clearly and explicitly state the hypothesis. Proposals for equipment are allowed if the funds will be used for instrument development. The need for seed funding must be critical for the execution of the project.
Proposals may be submitted by any UF faculty member (PI) eligible to submit a proposal to an external funding agency (see Policy on Eligibility to Submit a Proposal for External Funding: https://research.ufl.edu/dsp/proposals/eligibility-to-submit-a-proposal-for-external-funding.html ). Courtesy, Adjunct, Visiting and OPS faculty; Assistant In, Associate In, Senior Associate In; Research Associates and Postdoctoral Associates are not eligible to be PIs on Research Opportunity Seed Fund awards. They may participate as co-PIs or co-investigators. To avoid potential conflicts of interest in the selection process, Deans at all levels (Assistant, Associate, etc.) are not eligible to participate.
Each year, the College of Medicine will announce an opportunity for faculty interested in applying to the Research Opportunity Seed Fund. Through an internal selection process, the college will select its best proposals and those will be submitted to UF Research and will undergo a uniform and centrally coordinated scientific review by ad-hoc faculty panels for final funding decisions.
If you have any questions, please contact Todd Barnash barnash@ufl.edu.