Integrative Team Initiatives

Research Training Support Group

The Research Training Support (RTS) Group is a collaboration between the Graduate School, Office of Institutional Diversity, and the Office of Research. The RTS Group supports faculty in securing and executing externally funded grants to support innovative training of a diverse research workforce.

If you are planning to submit a training grant of any sort, or even just considering it, please reach out to us — we’re here to help. Contact the RTS Group as early in your planning and development process as possible. Current training grants programs at NIH and NSF may be found here.

What support do we provide?

Training grants are integrative activities that require touch points across campus. Based on the type of training grant you are pursuing, the RTS Group will provide you a Coordinating Home Unit for your training grant – usually either the Graduate School or the Office of Institutional Diversity, depending on program type — that will help you with these touch points as you develop your proposal as well as support you through execution of the grant once awarded. The Coordinating Home Unit

• Provides a single administrative point of contact for PIs to address strategic decisions or crosscutting institutional issues that arise,
• Liaises with the RTS Group and others on campus to assist the PI with program-specific issues, and
• Facilitates communication when needed between the PI and academic programs, in order to help answer questions and address concerns from either.

What Institutional Support is Available?

We’ll work with you to align available institutional support to create the strongest program. Our menu of institutional support includes:

• Connection to a network of UGA PIs with training grant experience.
• Provision of examples of successful proposals when available.
• Engagement with UGA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and their networks.
• Support of additional trainees through reinvestment of Graduate Tuition Return Incentive Program (GTRIP) tuition return.
• Guidance on opportunities for alignment of existing complementary programs that can expand your trainee program numbers, reach, and impact.
• Access to an experienced Program Coordinator pool to support your training grant’s operation.
• Proposal development support including project management, budget development, grant writing, and editing.
• Red team review of your proposal draft by an experienced external panel.

Contact Us

Contact Alex Esco, our Project Manager, at alex.esco@uga.edu to get more information and begin partnering with the RTS Group in your training grant development.