Research Resilience Bridge Funding Support Program

This webpage describes the purpose and process of applying to the Research Resilience Bridge Funding Support Program as part of the university's Research Resilience Initiative.

Overview and Program Goals

Historically, the OVPRI has operated a bridge funding program that was designed to ensure the continuation of research projects that have a demonstrated likelihood of continued federal funding but for which future funding has been delayed (e.g. an agency is experiencing unanticipated delays in funding decisions). This funding provided support for critical funding-contingent faculty members, research staff, as well as essential research supplies and core facility services needed for underlying projects.

Given the unprecedented increased need for bridge funding (due to delays in grant continuation awards and proposal review), this updated Bridge Funding Support Program is aligned with the university’s Research Resilience effort, seeking to ensure continuity in our research enterprise, protect and support our most high-impact programs and at-risk community members, and achieve our strategic vision for Oregon Rising.

Bridge Funding Support is not intended to provide “seed” funding or to furnish funding while PIs are developing applications for sponsored support. Attending the Open Forum on Research Resilience Thursday, August 28 from 1:30–2:30 p.m. is highly encouraged as it will provide important information ahead of the pre-submission consultation. A Zoom link for the forum was provided in an August 21 email to the research community.

More information on the goals and guiding principles of the Research Resiliency Funding Programs can be found in this webinar. Use the code, "=ECN2m.V" to access the webinar.

Timeline

  • Pre-Submission Consultation: Must be completed before application submission.
  • Application Deadline: Rolling
  • Notification: As soon as possible, ideally within 30 business days.
  • Final Report: 30 days after the end of the bridge funding project period. Note the project period is for the bridge funding period, not the period of external grants.

Request for Proposals and Templates

Unit Head Form

Eligibility

Pre-Submission Consultation: To reduce overall administrative burden for applicants and the review committee, anyone interested in submitting a proposal must first complete a pre-submission consultation with Research Development Services prior to submission (email rds@uoregon.edu). This may consist of a brief meeting or asynchronous discussion. 

Eligible Principal Investigators (PIs): Eligible PIs are tenure-track faculty and career research faculty with the classification of research associate, research professor (any rank), research scientist, research engineer, principal research scientist, librarian, or professor of practice (with primary duties in research), and with a 0.50+ FTE appointment during the academic year(s) of the research award. 

Ineligible Applicants:

  • Career research assistants
  • Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars (Note: support for these individuals should be requested by their advising PI)
  • Visiting professors
  • Faculty who do not have paid university faculty appointments for the academic year following the year for which Bridge Funding is requested

Budget & Use of Funds

Amount: Requests should be limited to the minimum funding necessary to maintain a defined project over a short duration between the project end date and the date of anticipated award of pending applications or notice of grant action. We expect researchers to leverage all other available resources, including C&I or departmental support prior to making this request (NOTE: contributions should be noted in current and pending support). Requests are not expected to cover the maintenance of an entire lab or all current personnel. The PI is expected to utilize all other available resources to maintain continuity. Please consult the Research Resilience "Guiding Principles" when developing your request.

Length of project: 12 months or less

Allowable costs:

  1. Salary/fringe of postdocs, graduate students, or other vital research staff
  2. Essential salary for career research faculty
  3. Core/shared user facility fees: Please note that OVPRI funds will be transferred directly to the Core (funds for all other costs will be transferred to a faculty-managed departmental/C & I index for the award)
  4. Essential supplies
  5. 9-month salary, summer salary, or course release for tenure track faculty

Ineligible costs:

  • Replacement funding for projects that are completed
  • Travel, seminar, or conference registration fees
  • Cost overruns
  • Costs not directly related to personnel continuity or deliverables, including equipment purchases, or long-term infrastructure investments

Please work with your unit’s grant administrator/budget manager to develop your budget. See budget instructions below.

Application Components

 

Application: Applications must be submitted using the online submission form. Note this form cannot be saved.

  1. Application Form – All fields must be completed. The form cannot be saved midway through.

     
  2. Proposal Documents 
     
    1. Narrative: Briefly (no more than 2 single-spaced pages) explain the current need for bridge funding (e.g., delayed review of pending application, stop work order received, delay in continuation funding year award).Include all relevant information on the potential timing of new funding and/or pending grants. Please be sure to address how your request aligns with "Guiding Principles” in your justification of need and conservative approach to use of funds. Briefly detail the expected research deliverables to be completed with the proposed funding.
    2. References Cited: If applicable, no page limit.
    3. Budget: Please work with your unit’s grant administrator/ budget manager to fill out the "R&R 1 to 5 Year Detailed Budget" Excel template on the Sponsored Projects Forms webpage.
      1. Note 1: internal awards do not require indirect (F&A) costs. Please set that cell in the template to 0.
    4. Budget Justification (no page limit): Use the Budget Justification TEMPLATE at the end of this document to complete this component of the application.
    5. Current and Pending Support (no page limit): For each PI, use the Current and Pending TEMPLATE at end of this document to list any current and/or pending funding for any research project at UO, whether or not related to the proposed project.
    6. Unit Head Approval Form: Scanned copy or e-signature confirming your unit head approves of the proposed application, including the budget. NOTE: If the signature is digital, the PDF cannot be combined with the rest of the application (combining erases the digital signature). With digital signatures, please upload the Unit Head Approval Form separately from the application PDF.
    7. Other documents as applicable: If available, please upload scores or review information, program officer feedback, or communication received from the program officer regarding delays in timing, next steps, etc.

Submission Instructions:

  1. Complete all components of the application documents listed above.
  2. Combine into a single PDF in the order listed above.
  3. Save with the naming convention [PI Last Name]_FY YY RR Bridge Funding Support.
  4. Fill out the basic information on the online form and upload the complete PDF.
  5. Submit form.

Review Process & Criteria

Upon submission, proposals will first be evaluated by Research Development Services for compliance (e.g., PI eligibility, pre-consultation completed, all applicant components complete). A subset of members from the Research Resilience Committee will review proposals based on the following review criteria.

As needed, members of the Research Resilience Committee may request additional information from the PI and/or the PI’s unit head or Associate Dean for Research. This will be a more dynamic review and award process than traditional internal funding programs to ensure that we are the most effective stewards of limited resources to achieve maximum impact.

Below are the criteria used by the review committee when scoring proposals. The committee scores each criterion on the following scale: 1 – Excellent; 2 - Very Good; 3 – Good; 4 – Fair; 5 – Poor. The committee will consider the funder agency specific guidance in review.

Review Criteria Based on Guiding Principles

  1. People First and Research Timing
    • Does the requested funding enable continuity of critical personnel, especially those in transition (e.g., students completing dissertations, postdocs on the job market, faculty near promotion/tenure, career faculty critical to research infrastructure)?
    • Does the application justify how the requested support will safeguard or advance time-sensitive research efforts?
  2. Conservative, Strategic, and Adaptive Planning and Collaborative Problem Solving
    • Does the proposed bridge funding request provide a conservative and reasonable strategy to enable the continuity of the research team and program?
    • Is the PI actively exploring all possible alternative funding options (e.g., teaching schedules, foundation or corporate-sponsored research, licensing distributions to academic or research unit)?
    • Is there other non-federal funding that will leverage the bridge funding?
  3. Protecting Research Infrastructure and Investments:
    • Does support of this bridge funding enable continuity of critical investments in UO’s research infrastructure or programs (e.g., contributions to AAU metrics, protection of critical assets such as longitudinal data sets, long-term research programs, or unique institutional investments)?
  4. Redefining Metrics for Impact:
    • Do the research objectives, goals, and requested support advance high-impact research, scholarship, and creative endeavors that align with our institutional mission as a public research university?
    • Will the achievement of the research outcomes enhance the competitiveness of the researcher(s) to secure future funding?

Agency Specific Review Criteria: 

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

  1. Based on current understanding of federal funding priorities, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from NIH for the PI’s pending research proposal.
  2. Has the PI received an impact score and review summary from NIH?
    1. If yes: Based solely on the impact score and percentile (if applicable), please rate the likelihood of potential funding by NIH.
    2. If no: Please rate the competitiveness of the pending research proposal based on quality of research proposed, alignment with the funding opportunity announcement, and PI expertise.
  3. If the PI received comments back from the program officer, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from NIH.
  4. If the PI is awaiting award of the next year of funding from a multi-year funded project, what is the likelihood/probability that the next round of funding will be released? This will be influenced both by the federal research landscape, as well as achievements noted in progress reports.

National Science Foundation (NSF)

  1. Based on current understanding of federal funding priorities, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from NSF for the PI’s pending research proposal.
  2. Has the PI received reviews back from NSF?
    1. If yes: Based solely on the reviewer comments, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from NSF.
    2. If no: Please rate the competitiveness of the pending research proposal based on quality of research proposed, alignment with the solicitation, and PI expertise.
  3. If the PI received comments back from the program officer, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from NSF.
  4. If the PI is awaiting award of the next year of funding from a multi-year funded project, what is the likelihood/probability that the next round of funding will be released? This will be influenced both by the federal research landscape, as well as achievements noted in progress reports.

Department of Energy (DOE)

  1. Based on current understanding of federal funding priorities, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from DOE for the PI’s pending research proposal.
  2. Has the PI received reviews back from DOE?
    1. If yes: Based solely on the reviewer comments, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from DOE.
    2. If no: Please rate the competitiveness of the pending research proposal based on quality of research proposed, alignment with the solicitation, and PI expertise.
  3. If the PI received comments back from the program officer, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from DOE.
  4. If the PI is awaiting award of the next year of funding from a multi-year funded project, what is the likelihood/probability that the next round of funding will be released? This will be influenced both by the federal research landscape, as well as achievements noted in progress reports.

Institute of Education Sciences (IES)

  1. Based on current understanding of federal funding priorities, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from IES for the PI’s pending research proposal.
  2. Has the PI received reviews back from IES?
    1. If yes: Based solely on the reviewer comments, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from IES.
    2. If no: Please rate the competitiveness of the pending research proposal based on quality of research proposed, alignment with the solicitation, and PI expertise.
  3. If the PI received comments back from the program officer, please rate the likelihood of potential funding from IES.
  4. If the PI is awaiting award of the next year of funding from a multi-year funded project, what is the likelihood/probability that the next round of funding will be released? This will be influenced both by the federal research landscape, as well as achievements noted in progress reports.

Reporting

A final report is required and due to Research Development Services no later than one month (30 days) after the conclusion of the project period. RDS will provide awardees a link to the final report form in the last quarter of their project.

Inquiries

Questions about the Bridge Funding Support application, or submission process may be directed to Research Development Services, rds@uoregon.edu.