Teaming for Interdisciplinary Research Pre-Seed Program

Due date: September 12, 2025

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

The pre-seed funding level is not sufficient to support research, per se, but is intended for team-building activities such as part-time student support, group website development, convenings, and travel to meet with potential external collaborators or funding agencies. Please note: meals limited to UGA employees only are not allowable (except travel per diem). Funds may not be used to work on a project that is already supported by other internal or external sources.

Teams must have a minimum of six and maximum of twelve members across at least three different disciplines or academic units. Any researcher holding a faculty rank (e.g., tenure track, non-tenure track, clinical) may serve as lead or team member.

Once a research team’s application is approved, $500 per team member ($6,000 maximum) 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 team name, a brief description of the intended research focus, a visual representation or image of the research, and a list of current team members and their unit affiliations. This information will be used to represent the team projects on the program website.

Teams are encouraged (not required) to address new or emerging areas of research that leverage the support of new or proposed initiatives, centers, and institutes at UGA, including, but not limited to, E-Mobility, Precision One Health, Circular Bioeconomy Systems, and Security, Sustainability, & Resilience. Please note: a separate call will be issued soon for targeted pre-seed proposals in Artificial Intelligence in partnership with the UGA Institute for AI. Faculty teams interested in AI should wait for that competition.

To apply, see: https://uga.infoready4.com/#viewApplicationForm/1971991. PIs will need to provide the following as a single .pdf file:

• A brief description of the team’s intended research, no more than one page in length.
• One image that best illustrates to a general audience the research area and potential impact of your team’s planned efforts (see website for past examples).
• Name and contact information for the primary PI’s business office representative, along with the UGAFMS Department ID where the funds should be budgeted.

Note: Descriptions and images will be used on the program website to showcase the awarded teams.