Faculty FAQ for submitting grants
Contents
Who is responsible for overseeing efforts to secure external funding at the University of Florida?
Who is eligible to submit a proposal for external funding?
How do I identify sources of external funding?
Which federal agencies fund projects in the area of communication sciences and disorders?
What types of NIH grants are available?
What are the steps I should take before submitting an NIH proposal?
How do I get started with my application?
How do I submit the completed application?
What happens after the grant is submitted to DSR?
What are some common mistakes made during the submission process?
Who is responsible for overseeing efforts to secure external funding at the University of Florida?
Office of Research, with three main sections:
Division of Sponsored Research
Division of Entrepreneurial programs
Graduate School
Of these, the Division of Sponsored Research (DSR) assists individuals in all stages of the grant process.
Who is eligible to submit a proposal for external funding?
Faculty in tenure or non-tenure accruing tracks, and other personnel including lecturers, and personnel affiliated to the P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School (PKY), and IFAS county extension are eligible to submit a grant for external funding through UF. See the DSR guidelines for detailed explanations.
How do I identify sources of external funding?
Common sources of external funding for communication sciences and disorders include federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation , private foundations such as the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's disease, and professional organizations such as the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. There are several ways of identifying these potential funding opportunities, including searchable databases such as the Community of Scientists, Grants.gov, and GrantsNet, electronic newsletters, and directly through agency websites. A comprehensive list of funding agencies can be found on the DSR website. Once you identify a potential source of funding, it is best to consult with the agency (for example, program officers in case of NIH) to determine the suitability of your proposal for funding by that agency.
Which federal agencies fund projects in the area of communication sciences and disorders?
A list of the 26 federal agencies that provide funding for research projects in general can be found on the Grants.gov webpage. Of these, the National Institutes of Health (NIH, under the Department of Health and Human Services), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Department of Defense (DoD) are potential sources of funding for research in the areas of communication sciences and disorders. Keep in mind that the focus of these agencies may be different, and this is reflected in the type of research that they fund.
Note that while most of the rest of this document is devoted mainly to NIH grant applications, proposals to several other federal agencies can also be accessed and submitted through Grants.gov. Hence, the information below will be applicable for individuals interested in applying for federal grants in general. See links under ‘Useful links, Other resources’ for information specific to some of these agencies.
What types of NIH grants are available?
A comprehensive list and description of all NIH grants is available on the NIH website. Each grant description is accompanied by the parent FOA (Funding Opportunity Announcement) for that grant. Keep in mind that the FOA for the specific grant that you are interested in may differ from the parent FOA (see section on common mistakes).
What are the steps I should take before submitting an NIH proposal?
NIH now only accepts electronic submissions for the R03 and R01 grant mechanisms. Before applying for these grants, you will need to complete the following steps:
- Register with eRA Commons. You can either do this using the DSR link, or by contacting UF Proposal Processing at 352-392-9267. DSR recommends that you do this at least 20 days before the grant submission deadline. If you are already registered, make sure your information is current and valid.
- Institution requirements: Your institution will need to have valid EIN (Employer Identification Number) and DUNS (Data Universal Number System) numbers. You can find these and other necessary information for UF on the DSR website.
- Talk to the Program Officer in charge of your application. You can locate the appropriate Program Officer by contacting the specific funding agency. For example, for the R03 small grant mechanism, NIDCD has several Program Officers in the areas of Hearing, Language, Voice and Speech, and other areas. The contact information for these individuals may be found on the NIH website at the bottom of the page.
- Start working on your budget. Most NIH grants require a modular budget for each year of the project period. This budget will incorporate both direct and indirect costs. Details of these components can be found on the DSR webpage. Keep in mind that for grant mechanisms that use a modular budget, NIH will not need to see a detailed budget. This detailed version of the budget is for you, the department office manager, and DSR to estimate the costs of running the project over the entire project period.
How do I get started with my application?
You will be submitting your grant either electronically (as in case of most NIH applications) or/and on paper. Pay attention to the formatting standards specified by the agency while preparing your proposal.
- For NIH submissions, you will need to download a software program called PureEdge Viewer. You will need this to access, prepare, and submit your application through Grants.gov. Instructions for downloading the software are available on the DSR website.
- For most NIH applications, the initial step is to locate the FOA through the Grants.gov webpage. Once you have done this, you will be able to download and save the grant application package and instructions to your computer by clicking on “How to apply”. The specific FOA for the grant application in question is always the most comprehensive source of information for your grant.
- Open the application package to view all the mandatory forms needed to complete the
application. For example, the NIH-NIDCD R03 application includes the following mandatory forms:
SF424 (R&R) (Cover component)
Research & Related Project/Performance Site Locations
Research & Related Other Project Information
Research & Related Senior/Key Person
PHS398 Modular Budget
PHS398 Cover Page Supplement
PHS398 Research Plan
PHS398 Checklist - Several of these forms will need additional supporting documents. For example, the PHS398 Research Plan component of NIH applications will need separate attachments for each key component of your grant, such as the specific aims, background and significance, etc. Each of these will need to be saved as a separate pdf file. There are strict page length limits for specific sections of the grant. For example, items 2-5 (specific aims, background and significance, preliminary studies/progress report, and research design and methods) of the PHS398 Research Plan component may not exceed 10 pages including tables and figures. It is important to make sure that the entire compiled component is within the length requirements as specified in the FOA and grant instructions.
- Complete all the mandatory forms, and optional forms if necessary. Save each form to your computer as you work on it.
- Once you complete the entire application, verify the package for errors. If you are satisfied, the grant is ready for submission.
NOTE: DSR maintains example pdf documents of important components of NIH grant applications. These documents contain information that are required for all applications (such as DUNS number, congressional district, etc.), with useful comments and tips. Click here for such an example pdf document. In addition, DSR also maintains a completed demo application package that you can use as a guide for your own application. In several cases, you can just cut and paste the relevant information into your own application.
How do I submit the completed application?
Only DSR can submit completed application forms to Grants.gov. DSR recommends that you submit the completed application package to them at least 5 (for non-NIH) to 10 days (for NIH applications) before the agency deadline. If the application is submitted to DSR in a timely manner, they will verify the application package before submitting it to Grants.gov. The following materials will need to be submitted to DSR:
- The completed grant application file, sent to DSR either as an e-mail attachment or on a CD.
- A completed DSR-1 (Sponsored Project Approval) form. You can either compile a printable pdf version of the form using DSR-1 online, or print out and complete the blank signature form. Keep in mind that this will need signatures from the principal investigator(s) (PI) and co-PIs, the chair of the department(s) concerned, and the Dean’s office. This is a fairly straightforward process unless cost-sharing is involved.
- If submitting a PHS (Public Health Service, such as NIH) or NSF application, you will also need to submit a Disclosure of Conflict of Interest Form.
- Other forms such as cost sharing documentation, as needed.
- Detailed information about these DSR requirements can be found on the DSR website.
What happens after the grant is submitted to DSR?
DSR will review the completed application package (and the detailed budget) and review with the PI if necessary. If everything looks alright, DSR will then submit the grant application to Grants.gov. See the DSR webpage for additional details.
What are some common mistakes made during the submission process?
You will want to ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you using the latest FOA issued by the funding agency? Keep in mind that FOAs are frequently updated and hence you will want to verify that you are using the latest version before you start working on the grant application.
- Are you using the correct application package for the specific grant in question? Keep in mind that while some NIH grant applications may be investigator-initiated (for example, NIH R03 applications), other agencies under NIH (for example, NIDCD) may have FOAs different from the parent NIH R03 announcement. These applications may have different requirements, including page limit criteria. For example, while the NIH R03 has a 25-page limit for the Research Plan Component, the NIH-NIDCD R03 application only allows 10 pages for the same section.
- Have you addressed all the agency’s requirements (both content and format) for the project?
- Are the budget and timeline for the project realistic?
- Do you have the expertise for what you are proposing to do? If not, you may want to consider adding a consultant to your grant to make up for the deficiencies.
- Have other individuals (including PIs, Co-PIs, colleagues) reviewed your grant? Make sure you give yourself and DSR enough time to review and submit your grant before the agency deadline.
Important terms/concepts
Modular budget
- Most NIH grant applications (including R01, R03, R15, R21, and R34 applications) that request less than $250,000 or less per year in direct costs use modular budgets. These do not include detailed categorical information and only require the PI to state direct costs, consortium costs (if applicable), and indirect costs for each budget period.
‘Just-in-Time’ (JIT)
- Most NIH grants use JIT procedures which means that only limited information is required during the initial grants submission process. Additional information is requested by NIH on an as-needed basis. For example, IRB approval for use of human subjects can be deferred until completion of the peer review process and just prior to funding. Instructions on submitting JIT information to NIH are provided on the DSR webpage.
Cost-sharing
- Cost sharing is a term describing any situation where a granting agency does not fully reimburse the University for all allowable costs associated with a specific project and the University or a third party assumes such costs in some manner. If your grant requires cost sharing by the university, or you want to request support from the university, permission from the CLAS Dean will be required. Requests for cost-sharing will slow down the grant submission process, so this issue should be broached well before the grant deadline.
UF Resources
- DSR maintains a comprehensive webpage of the steps to be taken prior to, during, and after submission of the grant, for both NIH and non-NIH submissions.
- DSR offers monthly Grants.gov training sessions. To get information about these, contact either the local Grants.gov expert, or the DSR Proposal Processing Office. Additional individual or department training sessions are also available and can be arranged by calling Proposal Processing at 392-9267.
- Policies are procedures for conducting research at UF are described in the Researcher’s Handbook.
Other Resources
- The Department of Heath and Human Services website. This contains comprehensive information on important issues including finding grant opportunities, the application process, the grant review process, and award management.
- National Science Foundation (NSF) grant proposal guide
- Department of Defense (DoD) funding opportunities
- Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) funding information
- A general guide to proposal planning and writing.
- Tutorial on proposal preparation.