CEHD Research Mini-Grants

Learn more about applying for faculty research mini-grants.

Purpose

The College of Education and Human Development’s (EHD) Research and Development (R&D) Committee welcomes applications from faculty for funds to develop or expand their programmatic lines of research and lead to external funding, specifically for research supplies, equipment, and travel to support data collections and trainings.

This call is aligned with CEHD’s mission (see bylaws) and the UND strategic plan. Faculty, staff, and students in CEHD stives to generate knowledge and find solutions to educational and societal challenges through our scholarly activities. CEHD values research originality that addresses complex issues in unique ways; expertise in cutting-edge best practices; autonomy to develop individual programs of study; meaningful collaborations among colleagues and students; results that impact locally, nationally, and internationally; and a commitment to scholarly diversity including basic and applied research, scholarly and creative activity, quantitative/qual/mixed methodologies, methodological and theoretical works, interdisciplinary collaborations, as well as national/international partnerships. Thus, the CEHD R&D committee welcomes applications for the Research Mini-Grants.

Funding Amount

CEHD Mini-Grants are available for up to $3000. Applications may be awarded partial funding at the discretion of the R&D committee.

Timeline 

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis per the timelines below.

• Submission Dates: October 15 and March 15 annually
• Announcement of Funded Research Mini-Grants: Approximately 2 weeks after deadline
• Mini-grant funds must be spent no later than January 1 of the following academic year for funds awarded in October, and May 1 of the following academic year for funds awarded in March. All funds not spent by this date will revert to the college, except under extreme circumstances.

Eligibility

Tenure-track and tenured faculty, as well as clinical faculty with research commitment on their contract, holding a continuing, full-time appointment in CEHD are eligible for funding as the principal investigator. Individuals or groups of CEHD faculty members may submit collaborative proposals. Collaboration is encouraged, but not mandatory for Mini-Grants.

While all eligible faculty are welcome to apply, priority will be given to those who do not currently have external funding and are not currently receiving or recently received other funding from CEHD for similar activities.

Application

All applications must include the following information in the order delineated below and must conform to page limits to be reviewed. All proposals should use 12-point Times New Roman font. The application should be prepared to convince and be understood by a general audience, only some of whom may be proficient in the applicant's area.

Cover Page

Length: 1 page

Project title, date of submission, faculty name(s) with contact information (email address, program affiliation), brief statement of the significance of the project (no more than 3 sentences)

Project Narrative

Length: up to 2 single-spaced pages

• The issue/problem you intend to explore
• Significance of the problem
• Research questions (and hypotheses if appropriate)
• Brief description of methodology (e.g., data collection, analytical approach)
• The project’s intellectual merits and novelty along with its broader impacts
• How the project aligns with the CEHD mission and UND’s Strategic Plan
• How the data collected and work to be completed will be used in an external grant proposal

References

Length: 1 page

Include one page of professional references.

Budget and Justification

Length: 1 page

The budget should be presented in a table with each expense item listed and described on its own row, and all expenses totaled at the bottom. The committee will consider applications budgeted up to or less than $3,000.

The budget justification should be a narrative that explains the purpose of each expense in the budget based on UND policy; that is, budget expenditures must be reasonable, justified, and directly related to the project as detailed in the narrative. Funds to collect data, such as for participant incentives, are allowable. Travel for data collection purposes is allowable, whereas travel to present said research at conferences or in other settings is not. Salary support for undergraduate and graduate research assistants is allowable; however, the funds cannot be distributed as faculty salary (including summer salary and course buy-outs).

Equipment and non-consumable materials that require maintenance must be directly related to the project, and the proposal must include a maintenance plan. Mini-grant funds cannot be used to provide ongoing maintenance of existing equipment. List all expenses and if the total exceeds the available mini-grant funds, explain other funding sources that will be pursued and used.

Current CV of researcher(s)

No specified length

Once complete, the application must be submitted in one document (preferably PDF) to the Research and Development Committee c/o Lesli Riskey.

Submit Research Mini-Grant Application

Review

Proposals will be subject to competitive review and ranking by the R&D committee, whose members are elected by the faculty of each department. If a member of the R&D applies, that member will be replaced by a non-competing representative from his or her division for the purpose of evaluating the proposal. Members of the RFD committee will consider the following criteria:

• Significance, intellectual merit, and novelty: Does this project address an important problem/barrier in the given field? How will this project advance knowledge, theory, methodology, and/or practice in the given field?
• Broader impacts: What is the benefit of this project to society and will it contribute to achieving specific, desired societal outcomes?
• Alignment with CEHD's mission as presented in the current Bylaws and UND’s Strategic Plan
• Impact of funding on faculty professional development/career trajectory
  • Note: faculty who do not currently have CEHD funding or have not received substantial funding in the past may be prioritized for equivalently scored proposals
• Potential contribution(s) of the project to the submission of external funding proposal applications

Post-Award Requirements

• Report progress to the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development.
• Present work at the CEHD Research Conference within 18 months.
• Apply for external research funding to support line of research (e.g., foundations, federal agencies) within two years of award funding.

Researcher(s) will not be eligible for future CEHD research funding until post-award requirements are met.

Questions