Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grants

The Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program, launched first in 2017 and offered again in 2019, 2021, and 2023 through a partnership between the Office of Research and the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, has been highly successful as reflected by the value of external grants subsequently won by teams to pursue the work initiated through these seed grants.

Building on the program’s past success, we are committing $1 million for a fifth cycle of the program. Interdisciplinary faculty teams are invited to submit proposals that address significant challenges at the local, national, or global level and continue to support UGA’s strategic goal of growing research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. This competition is open to proposals to address significant challenges in any area of scholarship where faculty can justify an urgent need for convergent research and a high likelihood of future external funding. Teams are especially encouraged to address new and emerging areas of growth and leverage the support of new initiatives, centers, and institutes at UGA, including, but not limited to, E-Mobility, Precision One Health, Artificial Intelligence, Circular Bioeconomy Systems, and Security, Sustainability, & Resilience.

Up to $1 million will be available to support interdisciplinary teams of UGA faculty who submit compelling proposals. Applications may include external collaborators from academia, government agencies, or the private sector; however, any funds awarded through this program must be spent at the University of Georgia (UGA). Proposals must describe work that will position teams to be competitive for specific, externally funded, multi-investigator, and/or multi-institution awards. Proposals may include academic and public service faculty, as well as both research and outreach components when appropriate.

Proposing faculty teams that did not participate in the earlier Team Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed Program (TIR Pre-Seed) may compete. However, these teams are strongly encouraged to budget for team science training via a Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Workshop during the first two months of their award period in coordination with the Integrative Team Initiatives group in the Office of Research.

 Funding and Eligibility: Awards will range from $50,000 to $100,000 per proposal, with actual amounts based on itemized and justified budgets. Funds may be used in any customary manner to support research, including salary or stipend support for key personnel and, in particular, graduate students. However, faculty summer salary is capped at two months, and awarded funds may not be used to support conferences, external collaborators, or course buyouts. Awards will be available January 1, 2026, and must be expended by June 30, 2027.

Faculty may participate in more than one application this funding cycle, provided that each application is for a scientifically distinct project. Faculty should not submit proposals that either represent the continuation of a project previously funded by the Presidential Seed Grant Program or have significant overlap with a proposal previously funded by the Presidential Seed Grant Program. Proposals that were reviewed but not funded in previous Presidential Seed Grant Program rounds should not be submitted to this round unless they have been substantially revised. Projects that are currently funded via external grants are not eligible.

Letter of Intent (LOI): Teams must submit a short LOI by September 18, 2025. The LOI submission website link will be posted at the Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program site and will open for LOI submissions beginning September 1, 2025. The LOI must include a proposal title; the name and email of the contact PI; the names and affiliations of the UGA faculty in the team, as well as any external collaborators; keywords reflecting the work; and a brief but precise description of the challenge to be addressed, goals, and approach of the proposed team research (5 sentences maximum).

Full Proposal: Teams submitting a timely LOI will be encouraged to submit a full proposal by midnight on October 30, 2025. Late proposals will not be considered. The program website will be open for proposal submission immediately following the LOI deadline. Proposals must include:

• Project title.
• Identification of the relevant theme.
• Name, affiliation, and email of the contact PI (must be a single individual).
• Name, affiliation, and email of all other co-PIs and key personnel at UGA or elsewhere.
• For each PI/coPI/key personnel, a brief paragraph describing their relevant experience and accomplishments. Faculty may participate in more than one proposal, provided that each application is for a scientifically distinct project.
• Project summary, written in lay terms and not to exceed half a page.
• Work plan (bulk of proposal). What will the team do? Will it build on prior interactions? What are the anticipated outcomes? Be as specific as possible. The work plan must not exceed five single-spaced pages with a minimum 11-point font and one-inch margins.
• Identification of future external funding opportunities the team intends to pursue (be specific; do not use “such as” or “like”).
• An itemized budget using the template that will be provided on the submission site.

Review: Proposals will be reviewed by a team of UGA faculty and administrators jointly assembled by the Office of Research and the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach. Review criteria will include:

• Degree to which the proposal addresses the specified challenge.
• Extent of interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Strength of the team and its leadership.
• Soundness of approach.
• Specificity with which the team has identified and researched a subsequent external funding target, including competitiveness and likelihood of securing such external funding.

Please direct any questions regarding the program to Jonique Yvonne Freeman (jfree124@uga.edu) in the Integrative Team Initiatives group in the Office of Research.