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Research Support

Find policies, support documents, and additional resources for researchers in the Mary Frances Early College of Education.

Grant Funding Opportunities

Office of Research and Graduate Education personnel work with other UGA administrative and fiscal units including the Office of the Vice President for Research for grant and contract submission and management. Contact Grace Thornton for information on conducting research in the Clarke County School District. Information needed to complete an Institutional Review Board application to conduct research using human subjects can be found at the Human Subjects Office.

Mary Frances Early College of Education Funding

Early Career Faculty Research Grant Program

This funding opportunity is strongly focused on developing research initiatives of new, tenure-track assistant professors in their first five years of employment in the College. Only one proposal may be submitted by an individual per funding cycle. Faculty may only receive funding once through this grant program.

Deadline to apply: Second Friday of February

Pushing the Grant Forward

The MFE COE has allocated funding to support faculty in improving the quality and competitiveness of their grant resubmissions. Successful applications to the Pushing the Grant Forward Competition will result in an improved grant proposal to be submitted during the current or following academic year. All MFE COE faculty who submitted an external research or training grant during the previous two years are encouraged to submit a proposal. Funds up to $15,000 per grant will be allowed.

Deadline to apply: Second Friday of August

UGA Funding and Resources

Important Offices

Sponsored Projects Administration provides the following proposal preparation and submission links:

Funding Resources

Inter-Institutional Funding

University of Georgia-Georgia Regents University Seed Funding Program

External Funding

Pivot and Other Searchable Databases

Assistance with Grant Proposals and Contracts

The Office of Research and Graduate Education is here to help faculty develop successful applications. If you plan to submit a grant or contract proposal, please notify Grace Thornton of your plans to submit a research proposal as early as possible. Provide a funding agency and funding announcement information. They will…

  • Review funder guidelines, check for eligibility and limited submission restrictions, and discuss the agency submission process.
  • Determine if you need approval from UGA’s Corporate and Foundation Relations and will seek clearance if so (applies to some private foundations and corporations).
  • Make arrangements for budget meetings and discuss required proposal components. Office of Research and Graduate Education personnel will assist with the completion of application forms and will enter your proposal into the eResearch Portal, UGA’s electronic research administration system.

This is Important

Sponsored Projects Administration requires that complete proposals be submitted to their office at least five (5) days business days in advance of the sponsor’s deadline. Therefore, all proposal components must be submitted to the College’s Office of Research and Graduate Education no later than ten (10) business days prior to the due date. This will allow sufficient time for internal review, processing, and obtaining required pre-submission approvals from the PI, Co-PI(s), department head(s), and dean(s)/director(s).

Be sure to inform your department head or center director early of your intent to submit, update them on the progress, and alert them to potential impacts to the department.

Caution: The closer we receive a proposal to the deadline, the less we are able to assist you. This may jeopardize the outcome, as there may not be time to fix potentially fatal errors, or the proposal may not be submitted by the agency deadline.

Additional information on the grant proposal process from finding the right funding opportunity to writing, budgeting, and submitting your proposal as well as managing your award is available through the Office of Research and Graduate Education.

Intensive Research Semester

To support faculty members in their lifelong development as scholars, the Mary Frances Early College of Education provides an opportunity for faculty members to engage in pursuits that improve their scholarship, revitalize their creative energy, and inform them of new and innovative knowledge and practices with the ultimate goal of developing and enhancing their scholarship through a research semester.

To support this development, a faculty member may request one semester for intensive research in which they are released from instruction (up to two courses) and institutional service activities. Where needed, the College will replace the instruction to avoid the loss of credit hour production, and the department head will coordinate the coverage of other duties.

Who is Eligible?

Tenured faculty members who have been employed by the Mary Frances Early College of Education for at least five years are eligible to apply. Administrators (department heads, associate deans) are not eligible.

Please note that an individual may receive only one research semester every five years.

Certain conditions apply: Prior to departure, the faculty member will work with the department head to facilitate a smooth transition of instruction and service responsibilities to others. This may include the sharing of syllabi, reading lists, lectures, and other materials necessary to teach the courses and records related to student advisement and committee responsibilities, as appropriate. It is expected that the faculty member will continue to work with doctoral students for whom they are a major professor.

A faculty member who is granted a research semester under this policy will not be paid by another institution during that period, except as allowed under the university’s consulting policy. The faculty member may not earn extra compensation (in the form of salary or a draw account) during the research semester (e.g., First-year Odyssey, outreach workshops, Peabody Awards judging).

After completion of the research semester, the faculty member must submit a written report to the Office of Research and Graduate Education. This two-page report is due one month after the start of the next academic semester following the research semester. Faculty will also be expected to present their research at the MFE COE Research Conference.

Application Information

Application deadline: Proposals for a Fall research semester must be submitted by Feb. 1, and proposals for a Spring research semester must be submitted by July 1. All proposals from a department must be rank-ordered and submitted by the department head to the Office of Research and Graduate Education.

Proposal requirements: The proposal components must be written in 12-point font with 1-inch margins. A complete proposal consists of the following elements:

  • Cover sheet: The first page of each proposal must be the Faculty Research Program Cover Sheet (PDF).
  • Proposal: Limit of three single-spaced pages. The prospectus explains the project in terms that an educated reader from outside your field can understand and must include:
    • Purpose and significance: Describe the nature and significance of the work to be undertaken.
    • Work to be accomplished: Describe specifically what you plan to do during the research semester and where you will do the work. Identify persons, if any, with whom you will work. It must be clear that the work to be accomplished exceeds that which would be accomplished in absence of the research semester.
    • Projected outcomes: What tangible results will your research semester have, what form will they take, and how and where will you share your results with others? Expected outcomes include publications or creative works submitted to high-impact, peer-reviewed venues, and/or proposals for extramural funding. It is expected that the amount/quality of the tangibles will exceed that which a successful faculty member would produce without the research semester.
  • Justification: Limit of two single-spaced pages addressing how the research semester fits into the arc of your career. How does it build on or take a new direction from your prior work, and what are the projected near-term and long-term benefits to your career? How would time away from the normal activities of teaching and service enable you to meet your goals?
  • Other sources of funding: Limit of one single-spaced page. Detail any additional funding from other sources as a part of the research semester activities. This includes the use of grant funds awarded to UGA as well as funds received from other institutions or organizations during the period of the research semester.
  • Curriculum vita: The proposal should include a list of your professional publications, creative and/or professional works, and any other information relevant to appraising the proposed research objectives. Faculty research productivity and obstacles that may have hindered productivity will be considered in the selection of faculty awarded a research semester.
  • Statement from the department head: The department head must provide a written statement or chart explaining how the faculty member’s instructional and service responsibilities will be covered. When more than one faculty member is applying for a research semester, describe the total impact on the department and its instructional needs, and rank order applications if more than one is submitted.
  • University leave paperwork: If the research work is to be done at another location, the request falls under the University’s Educational Leave Policy. In this case, applicants should submit Form A and Form B with the College paperwork. If you are selected, the relevant paperwork will be forwarded to Faculty Affairs by the Office of Faculty and Staff Services.

Criteria for Selection

Applications will be reviewed based on the following criteria:

  • Adequacy and feasibility of the project in relation to the length of the research semester
  • Project’s potential for contributing to the faculty member’s development
  • Likelihood the project will contribute to the quality of the research and instructional program in the faculty member’s discipline and/or to the implementation of the College and University’s strategic plans
  • Quality, quantity, and consistency of academic products in relation to the field and years of academic service
  • Clarity that the proposed work exceeds that which a faculty members might normally produce in a single semester.
    • Evidence that the faculty member has the background to accomplish the proposed work or that the proposed work will allow the faculty member to broaden their skill set so that the faculty member can improve upon the quality of their research.

Indirect Cost Recovery

April 2023

This statement describes the College’s policy and procedures for distributing indirect cost returns to the generating unit and principal investigator (PI).

Background

Research or other scholarly activities such as instruction, public service/outreach, or cooperative extension are often funded by sponsors (e.g., federal agencies, foundations, etc.) through formal contracts and grants, which have two distinct cost types:

  1. Direct Costs: The majority of a project budget will be costs that are directly related to the unique needs of a project. These costs must be allocable, allowable, and reasonable. Typical examples include personnel (salary and fringe), materials and supplies, travel, and equipment.
  2. Indirect Costs (IDC): In addition to the above, costs are also incurred by UGA to support sponsored projects that are non-allocable and relate to the environment and infrastructure. These indirect costs are also commonly termed Facilities & Administrative (F&A) reimbursement. Examples of these costs are laboratory space, utilities (e.g., water, electricity), library operations, and accounting support. The F&A reimbursement included on the project’s budget is calculated as a percentage of a project’s direct costs modified for unique items (e.g., equipment). UGA has detailed policies and distinct rates to manage F&A costs.

F&A Return (IDC Return/​Recovery) – Allocations:

Because F&A expenses are incurred at several levels of university administration, UGA has a process whereby a portion of the IDC is returned to the generating unit(s) to reimburse this cost. This financial distribution and accounting process is commonly termed F&A return or IDC recovery. Additional detailed information regarding F&A/​IDC is available from Sponsored Programs Administration within the Office of Research.

  1. University to Generating Unit: The UGA policy is that 80% of a project’s F&A return remains in the institutional-level budgets -central campus- with the remaining 20% being passed through to the generating unit(s) - College of Education- in equal amounts from two distinct accounts. These accounts, defined below, are both managed by UGA accounting and follow state procurement policies but differ in their carry-forward policies.
    • UGA Research Foundation (UGARF; independent research organization, 10%): These funds can be carried over from one fiscal year to the next (fund type 20300).
    • Instructional Budget (General Operating Budget, 10%): Funds greater than 10% cannot be carried over to the next fiscal year (fund type 15000).
  2. Generating Unit to Department and PI: Currently, there is no policy at UGA mandating how, or even if, F&A returns should be shared within a generating unit – Department/Center. The current F&A return policy within the College is that of the 20% of the IDC returned from central campus, 10% remains in the Dean’s Office, 45% is returned to the Department/Center, and 45% is returned to the PI (see charts in the pdf at the link below). Departments/Centers may choose to allot more, but not less, to the PI.

F&A Return (IDC Return/​Recovery) – Important Considerations & FAQs:

  1. Limited Opportunity Sponsored Projects: F&A return is different for projects that required UGA to be an applicant by limiting the opportunity to land grant institutions or institutions of higher education only. Generating unit still receives 20%, but all funds are transferred to the Instructional Budget.
  2. Multiple Investigator Teams: Many sponsored projects involve individuals from different generating units (e.g., colleges) or departments within the College. Thus, F&A return is often split among the PI team based on facility/equipment needs and administrative support for the project. These decisions must be made at the time of the proposal submission and are entered into the Grants Portal and approved by all investigators and their unit heads (i.e., department heads, deans, etc.) on the transmittal form. F&A return will be distributed based on this allocation designation.
  3. Distribution of Funds (Timing & Access to PI): F&A returns are based on incurred research expenditures; therefore, IDC funds are only available after corresponding direct funds are spent. Importantly, timing and access to these funds also depend on account type [i.e., UGARF vs. Instructional Budget (IB); see Figure above] as funds are allocated to UGARF or Instructional Budget at different times for the same grant.
    • The UGARF account uses real-time revenue accrual: As the monthly expenditure totals and IDC charges hit the contract/grant account, the 10% UGARF IDC returns become available for use at the beginning of the following month. Thus, revenue and operating budgets adjust automatically, and funds can be spent immediately.
    • The Instructional Budget account uses an advance with a true-up process: Units start the Fiscal Year (FY; July 1st – June 30th) with a budget based upon the previous calendar year. In January, there is a true-up process whereby budgets are adjusted to the calendar year that just ended. This process allows funding to be available to support personnel, especially Graduate Assistants, and plan for expenditures. It is recommended not to spend over 66% of the IDC before the true-up process occurs in order to be certain of the actual funds available.

Business Managers and Post-Award personnel can support and advise PIs with their budget planning, especially regarding IDC use. Post-Award personnel manage and update the UGARF funds, and departmental Business Managers manage and update the Instructional Budget IDC funds.

References

Should there be a dispute regarding the distribution or use of funds from indirect cost return, the dispute should be referred for resolution to the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education.

Revised: April 2023

Additional Research Resources