Fellowships, Grants & Awards

Best practice when joining the department is for all faculty to review the OCGA Funding Opportunities  and the Academic Senate Grant Funding webpages. These sites include funding policies, annual funding opportunities and listserv recommendations for funding-specific promotions. A few important opportunities for you to be aware of are listed below.

1. The Faculty Career Development Grant Program (Usual Deadline: January 31st)

The FCDP is intended to provide a release from teaching for junior faculty for one quarter in order to allow them to concentrate their efforts on research or other creative activities. The program may also provide support for summer research, supplies/equipment, salary for an assistant, and/or travel expenses related to a project.

2. The Hellman Fellowship Program (Usual Deadline: March 29th)

This program is designed to provide financial support and encouragement to junior faculty in the core disciplines. Funds awarded are primarily intended to enhance the individual's progress toward tenure. Therefore, faculty would be expected to have served at least two years as an assistant professor, but not yet have been recommended for tenure.

Please note that, although the guidelines state that preference is given to assistant professors who are in at least their third year, faculty who have not yet completed two years are eligible.

3. Research Support Grants: Academic Senate Research Grants (Usual Deadlines: January, March, and October)

These are grants that are available for funding: supplies, field work, research assistance, general assistance, travel for research purposes and equipment. Limited funds are available to support the final preparation of manuscripts for submission to publishers. Possible funding is also available for computer and audio/video equipment--as the call dictates. Priority will be given to original projects, especially by junior and recently arrived faculty with no extramural or intramural support (including start-up funds).

4. Travel to Scholarly Meetings Awards: Academic Senate Travel Grants (Usual Deadlines: January, March, June and October)

Awards for travel to national and international conferences or symposia may be given to Academic Senate members who are presenting papers on their research or who are organizing and presiding over one or more sessions in the meeting/conference. Awards may be made for the purpose of presenting works of art or creative expression at important public events, but only for the initial presentation. Only one trip per fiscal year for any Senate member will be awarded. There is no limit to the number of travel awards faculty may receive over a period of years.

5. UCHRI (Usual Deadline: January)

UCHRI supports the research of faculty and graduate students in the humanities through individual fellowships, as well as a network of the UC Humanities Research Institute, campus humanities centers, and multi-campus research groups.

6. The Chancellor Associates Faculty Recognition Awards (Usual Deadline: November)

The Chancellor Associates Faculty Recognition Awards are given annually to deserving members of the UCSD faculty and consist of a citation and honorarium of $2,500. Department Chairs, Divisional Deans, and Provosts initiate the nominations. To win this award, at least one endorsement letter from a Dean, Provost, or Vice Chancellor is required with application materials.

1. Advertisement of the grant/award. There are many annual opportunities that are promoted regularly across campus. There may be additional opportunities that are promoted on a case-by-case basis and it is important faculty are seeking out this information and marking the deadlines as staff are often not aware or included in these promotions.
2. Faculty Member/Principle Investigator (PI) notifies department staff of their intent to submit a proposal. This needs to be far in advance of the posted submission deadline, include information about the grant, include the in-progress proposal and budget via email to vis-fiscal@ucsd.edu. 
3. Department staff review the materials. There may be assistance staff can provide during this step. This could be working with the Faculty Member/PI to create or update their budget to align with campus financial policies or by making suggestions for the proposal. These suggestions would be provided to the PI but it is at their discretion whether they want to incorporate this guidance. 
4. The proposal is submitted. Depending on the grant/award, this may need to be submitted by the PI directly or by department financial staff. 
5. The proposal is reviewed. This occurs external to the department. If there are updates received by the PI or department financial staff, this should be shared so that all involved are up-to-date.

Below is a general timeline for proposal preparation and submission. If this timeline is not followed, staff cannot guarantee full-service assistance in proposal submission process. It is recommended that you take time to add these reminders to your calendar so you can ensure last minute submissions are not being attempted.

45 days before submission:

• Notify department staff you plan to submit a grant/award via email to vis-fiscal@ucsd.edu. 

• Provide to your Fund Manager:

• As necessary, department staff will setup proposal in Kuali Research

• If proposal includes subcontracts, provide contact information for each site

15 days before submission:

• Provide a rough draft of the proposal (including references, bibliographies, biosketches, as required by funding agency)
• Budget justification – fund manager will work with you to provide finalized version
• Letters of collaboration (if applicable)
• Review draft proposal and complete necessary steps in Kuali Research

Final Stages, 0-7 days before submission:

• Review and edit drafts and supporting documentation as needed
• Provide staff with a final version of the proposal and budget
• Submission
• Day of the deadline, confirm the submission of materials was successful

A budget prepared for a sponsored research project is a categorical list of anticipated project costs that represent your best estimate of the funds needed to support the work described in your grant/award proposal. A budget consists of all commitments proposed.

Direct Costs are costs that are specifically identifiable and which can be charged directly to the contract or grant. If including any of these items in a budget, you must review the policies related to each item since an incorrect budget plan could result in the proposal not being funded or revoked if funds are misused. Items that can be included on a budget:

• Salaries
• Fringe benefits
• Tuition remission
• Consultants
• Equipment
• Supplies and materials
• Travel
• Subawards
• Other expenses: Miscellaneous costs

Below is the process once a proposal has been submitted:

1. A decision is made. When a decision is made regarding the proposal, the Faculty/PI will be notified. Typically this includes an email with attached award letter and would Cc the department CAO at jrgreenlaw@ucsd.edu. If the CAO is not included, the Faculty/PI needs to forward this to the CAO for department records. If the Faculty/PI will be awarded the funds, the following steps will be followed.
2. If awarded, staff begin necessary administrative steps. Fiscal staff will create a fund number for the award
3. Faculty and staff meet. Fiscal staff will meet with the Faculty/PI to discuss the funding policies of their award and determine what the support and purchase needs will be.
4. Spending of funds and monitoring of expenses. Fiscal staff will monitor all spending to ensure expenditures are in compliance with campus policy. If funding policies are not followed, funding may be revoked so it is important for Faculty to be informed and work closely with staff.
5. Progress reports as necessary. Progress reports may need to be completed by the Faculty/PI depending on the award conditions.
6. Final spending. All expenses need to be completed and processed by the deadline of the award. If an extension is needed, this request will need to be made to the funding source with a detailed request and plan to spend the remaining funds before the requested extension deadline.
7. Final reporting. Final reporting and certification of work completed may be required depending on the award conditions.