Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed Program

About the Program

The 2024 Annual Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research (TIR) Pre-Seed Program application window is now open. Applications are accepted via InfoReady February 1, 2024 through April 15, 2024 or until all available funds have been awarded. Apply Now.

 

Opportunity for New and Existing Pre-Seed Teams  The PhD STudents for Engineering-engaged Pre-seed (PhD STEP) Teams Program is a pilot offered by the College of Engineering to grow engagement of engineering faculty in convergent interdisciplinary research teams across campus while growing both the population and breadth of experience of PhD students in engineering.

The Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research (TIR) Pre-Seed Program provides early stage developmental funding to facilitate the formation of faculty teams and collaboration around critical areas of research expertise or emerging research topics. The goal of the pre-seed funding is to stimulate the formation of new interdisciplinary research teams that position UGA faculty to be competitive for attracting resources for collaborative research, including internal UGA seed grants and ultimately, external grant support. The Program, first launched in the 2019-2020 academic year, is offered by the Office of the Vice President for Research, in partnership with the Office of the Provost.

This funding level is insufficient to support research, per se, however it may be used for team-building activities such as networking meals, part-time student support, group website development, and travel to meet with potential external collaborators or funding agencies. Faculty may not use this funding to work on a project that is already supported by university funds, directly or indirectly through a center/institute/program.

To be eligible for the program, teams require a minimum of six members across at least three different disciplines/academic units. Each team should be led by a tenure-track or tenured faculty member. Teaching, research and service faculty who are not tenure-track or tenured may participate as team members. These formative core teams should not exceed twelve.

Once a research team’s application is approved, each participating faculty member in a team will be allocated $500 and the total amount ($500 x number of faculty) will be transferred to the team leader for management. Faculty members may join multiple teams, but they will still receive $500 per individual, to be divided among all the teams they join.

Applications for pre-seed funding require a name for the team, team lead and member names and their units, a brief description of its intended research focus, a visual representation or image of the research, and a list of current team members. This information will be used to represent the team projects on the program website.