Internal support available for research, scholarship, and creative projects

Central Investment Fund for Research Enhancement (CIFRE)

CIFRE is primarily designed to provide support to tenure-track faculty and to research scientists and engineers of any rank in all areas of the University, including arts and humanities, biological sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, and social sciences. Funding decisions will be based on the merit and promise of the proposal and, where appropriate, the potential for attracting new funding. Preference will, in general, be given to applicants in the early stages of their careers. Proposal budgets up to $10,000 will be considered.

Collaborative Interdisciplinary Projects (CIP)

The Collaborative Interdisciplinary Projects initiative has been designed to support the types of activities identified by the provost’s “SWARM groups” on interdisciplinary scholarship, as well as the interdisciplinary objectives of the University’s strategic plan. Projects funded through this initiative are designed to support collaborative (noninformatics) interdisciplinary projects and to provide competitive support for a small number of medium-scale research initiation projects. Proposal budgets up to $25,000 will be considered.

Iowa Informatics Initiative (I3)

The Iowa Informatics Initiative was created following a faculty and staff study of the various needs and existing activities on the Iowa campus in the field of informatics. The purpose of the I3 is to foster interdisciplinary interaction and collaboration in the application of informational, computational, mathematical, and statistical sciences to problems in a broad array of disciplines; to establish and maintain a critical mass of expertise in the applied information and computational sciences; and to build and nurture an internationally competitive computational community and culture at the University. Several categories of support will be available: graduate student support (administered through the Graduate College), seed grants (including equipment), and support for collaboration development.

Iowa Research Experiences for Undergraduates Initiative (IREU)

Undergraduate exposure to and involvement in research programs and activities represents an opportunity, uniquely available at research universities such as Iowa, to enhance the overall undergraduate experience. The intention of this initiative is to encourage more of these types of undergraduate experiences. Proposal budgets up to $3,000 will be considered. Eligible expenses are student stipends and/or expenses associated with the actual research work (up to $1,500 of the award may be used for expenses). Funding decisions will be based primarily on two criteria: (1) existence of a suitable context for involvement of an undergraduate in a research or scholarly activity, and (2) prospects for a meaningful student experience. Unlike the other initiatives described, proposals for IREU will be reviewed twice each semester.

Social Sciences Initiative (SSI)

The Social Sciences Initiative provides seed funding to strengthen the University’s social science infrastructure and activities, to assist in developing new initiatives or directions in the social sciences, and to enable breakthroughs at national and international levels. Proposal budgets of about $30,000 are targeted, though exceptional requests for larger amounts may be considered. Eligible expenses include equipment, supplies, project-related travel, limited summer salary support, research personnel support, and computer and other related services.

With the exception of the IREU program, completed applications are due in the Office of the Vice President for Research by 5pm on Oct. 15.

Additional information and application materials for these funding programs are available at www.vpr.uiowa.edu/ifi. Information on additional internal funding programs in the Office of the Vice President for Research is available by clicking “Research and Tech Transfer” on the University’s homepage and following the links.