Faculty URC Grants

Faculty can apply for both one travel and one research grant per semester

• Up to two grants can be received per year

Faculty who receive URC funding, for either travel or research, may not apply the following cycle

• Faculty are not eligible to receive funding two terms in a row to ensure fair distribution of resources among all faculty

Funding is unavailable for:

• Computer equipment, accessories, hardware or software
• The costs of books
• Summer salaries
• Per diem costs greater than seven days

The URC will look at the applicant’s restricted accounts to assess the applicant’s ability to help support the proposed research

• Please justify if the amount of your contribution does not match your proposal

Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the committee will not consider requests that allocate discretionary funds to other scholarship activities

The following are eligible for funding:

Faculty with endowed positions that do not have access to discretionary funds

Faculty with endowed positions that have access to discretionary funds, but those funds are not sufficient to cover the proposed research

• Requires statement justifying their access to discretionary funds and how they are not sufficient
• Ex: A faculty member has access to $5,000 in annual discretionary funds, but their proposed project has a budget of $15,000. That faculty can request an additional $10,000 to cover the remaining balance

All full-time, research active faculty

• Tenure track, non-tenure track, and active faculty emeriti

* Student support is not allowed unless it can be demonstrated that the work of the student is essential to the project *

The entire application must not exceed 10 pages total. Submit a single PDF file through the online application, including:

• A brief proposal (See proposal information below)
• Curriculum vitae
• Clear articulation of how the grant will benefit the university
• Make clear if there is current or pending funding for the project

If you need assistance combining your documents into a single PDF, please contact the help desk at 214-768-HELP (4357)

Fall application for URC Travel and Research grant: CLOSED

The proposal is a section to be included in the application, see application information above

The proposal must not exceed five pages of the total application, and must include the following:

• Detailed budget, including sources for expenses (Airfare, hotels, conference fee, per diem, equipment, etc)
• If assistants will be used, be clear about what their duties and hourly wages will be
• Research plan, schedule, and objectives
• IRB approval status (If applicable)
• Significance and relevance of faculty member’s research program
• Originality and significance of your research to committee members outside of your field of study
• Previous URC grants (Date of award, amount of funding, and purpose)

Applicants should arrange for a confidential letter of support to be written by the department chair or the dean and emailed to orurc@smu.edu

• Same Spring and Fall submission deadlines as grant submission deadline (See above)
• Must be addressed to Suku Nair, Vice Provost for Research and Chief Innovation Officer