Research & Innovation Seed Grant Program

CU Boulder's Research & Innovation Seed Grant Program supports bold ideas, interdisciplinary collaborations, and high-impact projects with strong potential for intellectual advancement and societal benefit.

As a strategic investment program, Research & Innovation Seed Grants are designed to catalyze innovative research, scholarship and creative activity; foster meaningful collaborations across disciplines, colleges and institutes; and position teams to pursue future external funding and sustained growth. Priority will be given to projects that demonstrate a compelling return on investment through the potential to generate new knowledge, address important societal challenges, attract follow-on funding, and elevate CU Boulder’s research, scholarly, and creative enterprise.

The program welcomes creative and sometimes high-risk, high-reward initiatives that bring together diverse expertise, develop new partnerships, and establish the foundation for future large-scale collaborative efforts. Successful projects will demonstrate a clear pathway to long-term impact and lasting value for the university.

Eligibility

Single PI projects are not allowed; all proposals must be team-based and demonstrate meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration.

All CU Boulder Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty, Instructors and Senior Instructors (including Teaching Assistant Professors, Teaching Associate Professors, and Teaching Professors), and Career Track Research Faculty (i.e., Research Professors Series, Senior Research Associates* (SRA), and Research Associates* (RA)) who hold an appointment of half-time or greater are eligible to apply. The lead PI must be employed by CU Boulder. Adjoint professors are eligible as long as they submit a letter from their unit or department head confirming they hold a long-term appointment of half-time or greater. Co-PIs can be funded as long as they are eligible CU Boulder faculty who hold an appointment of half-time or greater. Collaborators from other institutions are permitted but cannot receive funding from the program. *Postdoctoral Associates, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Research Associates/Senior Research Associates in short-term, transitional postdoctoral training positions should not apply as the intent of this award is to foster new and innovative programs of research and scholarly activity that will be of long-term benefit to CU Boulder. Professional Research Assistant (PRA) or Senior Professional Research Assistants are ineligible.  

Limits & Funding Restrictions 

• Applicants may submit only one proposal as PI; multiple submissions by the same PI are not allowed.
• Applicants may receive funding from only one grant, regardless of role as Lead PI or Co-PI. Applicants may participate as unpaid Co-PIs on multiple proposals.
• PIs with active Research & Innovation Seed Grant awards cannot serve as unpaid lead PIs for other projects, but may serve as unpaid Co-PIs.
• Projects are not eligible if they overlap in intellectual aims, scope of work, datasets, personnel effort, or deliverables with any existing financial support (external or internal).
• Projects with a primary focus on curriculum development are not eligible.
• Faculty course or teaching buy-out is not an eligible expense.
• Applicants with existing resources that could fund their project are discouraged.
• Applicants may request up to two weeks of summer salary (or up to 12.5% of annual salary for Research Associates/Senior Research Associates with appointments of 50% or more) in their proposal budgets. 

Categories 

Proposals are reviewed by faculty within categories to ensure equitable evaluation across all disciplines, including those not traditionally associated with sponsored research. Applicants should select the category that best aligns with their project. Seed grant categories are listed below.

• Arts & Humanities: Scholarly, creative and critical work focused on human culture, history, language, literature, philosophy and the arts.
• Basic Physical Sciences: Foundational research in disciplines such as physics, chemistry, astronomy and mathematics, aimed at understanding natural laws and physical phenomena.
• Biomedical Sciences / Life Sciences: Research related to biology, neuroscience, health, or medicine, including disease mechanisms, genetics, physiology and related life processes.
• Engineering & Applied Sciences: Problem-solving research applying scientific and mathematical principles to develop technologies, tools or systems, including engineering disciplines and computer science.
• External Partnerships: Projects involving collaboration with external entities (e.g., industry, federal labs, government agencies, nonprofits or other academic institutions). See more details under the Budget section. 
• Geological & Environmental Sciences: Research on Earth systems, climate, ecology, and the environment, including sustainability, natural resources and geoscience disciplines.
• Social Sciences & Professional Schools (e.g., Business, Education, Law): Research in human behavior, institutions, and societal systems, including fields like psychology, sociology, economics, political science, education, law and business.

Application Process and Requirements

Proposals must be submitted electronically through the application portal. Applicants self-select the proposal category in which their proposal will be reviewed.

  Application Portal 

Annual Timeline

Budget

• Maximum Budget Request: $60,000
• If support for graduate research assistants is requested, applicants must include the associated tuition in the proposed budget; otherwise, the department will be responsible for covering it.
• Co-PIs can be compensated as long as they are CU faculty. Collaborators from other institutions may not be compensated.
• Projects that establish or leverage external partnerships (e.g., industry, national labs, universities, community nonprofits) are particularly welcomed. For projects involving external partners, CU Boulder funding requests may be up to $60,000. External partners are expected to provide a match of at least $25,000, with larger contributions encouraged. Total project budgets will vary depending on the CU Boulder request and external partner contribution. A letter of financial commitment is required from any external partner (details under the Proposal Requirements section). Projects involving external partners with matching support should apply under the External Partnerships category.

Project Duration: Up to 18 months.

Proposal Requirements

Proposals should use clear writing appropriate for non-specialists and make a strong case for the project’s importance to reviewers outside the discipline. Proposal documents must be in Arial 11-point type with at least 0.5" margins. Files must include the PI’s last name and the year in the document title (e.g., MRuzzene2027SeedGrant.pdf).

All proposals should include the components below in one PDF document and be clearly marked by section. Proposals that fail to comply with these requirements will not be reviewed.

• Proposal/Project Plan: Describe the aims, significance, methods and expected outcomes of the project, highlighting any new or creative directions, future payoff potential or value/impact (especially in the case of arts and humanities proposals). For relevant disciplines, explain why the concept will be competitive for future extramural funding and identify specific external programs targeted for future funding requests. If applicable, include a mentoring plan (2-3 sentences) describing how postdocs, graduate students and/or undergraduates will benefit from training and how progress will be assessed.  The maximum length is 5 pages, including tables, figures, charts, references and any other supporting information.
• Supplemental Materials (these do not count toward the 5-page proposal limit):
  • PI Curriculum Vitae(s): Up to 2 pages. If the proposal includes multiple co-leads, you may include a 2-page CV for each.
  • Abstract/Project Summary: Provide a concise summary of the project accessible to general audiences. Explain how the project will foster future research, scholarly and creative vitality at CU Boulder. 350 words maximum; up to 1 page.
  • Co-PIs/Collaborators: Name, title, institution, unit/department and role(s). Up to 1 page.
  • Budget and Budget Justification: Use this template for the budget. Budget requests are intended to support postdocs, graduate students or undergraduates. If support for graduate research assistants is requested, applicants must include the associated tuition in the proposed budget; otherwise, the department will be responsible for covering it.  Requests solely for faculty salary support are discouraged; however, applicants may request up to two weeks of summer salary (or up to 12.5% of annual salary for Research Associates/Senior Research Associates with appointments of 50% or more). No overhead or indirect costs are allowed. Provide a justification of the items requested in the budget. Particular attention should be given to justifying budget items that may not be immediately clear to reviewers who are familiar with (but not experts in) your specific field. Up to 2 pages total (approximately 1 page for the budget and 1 page for the budget justification).
  • Honors, Awards, Representative Scholarly Work or Publications Relevant to Proposal: Highlight published work that directly addresses the PI’s ability to carry out the proposed project. Up to 2 pages.
  • Letter of Financial Commitment (for External Partnership projects only): A letter of financial commitment is required from any external partner and must clearly state the: 1) amount of financial support; 2) start and end dates of commitment; and 3) nature of support (e.g., cash, in-kind contributions).  Up to 1 page.
  • Eligibility Confirmation (for Adjoint Professors only): Adjoint professors are eligible as long as they submit a letter from their unit or department head confirming they hold a long-term appointment of half-time or greater. Up to 1 page. 

Review Process

Faculty volunteers review proposals, provide comments, convene to discuss proposals and recommend proposals for funding. Proposals will be evaluated in three primary areas: 

• Intellectual Merit (up to 15 points): Merit and quality of research, scholarship or creative work, with potential to contribute value to the respective discipline and advance knowledge, especially through novel approaches.
• Impact (up to 15 points): Potential to advance specific societal challenges and elevate the university’s research, scholarship, or creative work across disciplines. As a strategic investment program, priority consideration will be given to projects with a clear pathway to future follow-on funding and strong likelihood of securing such funding. 
• Inter- / multidisciplinarity (up to 10 points): Potential to foster collaborations and partnerships across disciplines and support team development for future collaborations. Priority consideration will be given to projects that include investigators from multiple colleges and/or institutes. 

Reviewer Sign-Up

Sign up below to serve as a reviewer for the Research & Innovation Seed Grant Program.

  Sign Up to be a Seed Grant Reviewer

Serving as a reviewer provides an invaluable opportunity to understand the key elements of a successful proposal. If you are not ready to apply, serve as a reviewer and gain valuable insights into how to succeed!

Terms and Conditions

Seed grant recipients agree to the following conditions:

1. Reporting: Recipients are required to submit two Progress Reports at six-month intervals. The first Progress Report is due six months after the grant begins, and the second is due 12 months into the grant. Additionally, a Final Report must be submitted to RIO within 30 days after the grant period ends. For projects involving postdocs, recipients are required to develop an Individual Development Plan (IDP) with each postdoc; see resources here. A copy of the IDP will be requested for Progress Reports. RIO will provide detailed report requirements and submission guidelines.
2. External Funding: Recipients are strongly encouraged to submit a proposal for external funding (for related work) within 18 months of receiving the grant.
3. Significant Outcomes: If a significant outcome of this seed grant award is realized at any time (e.g., securing an external grant, publication of a significant piece of work, an invention, a key creation or performance, etc.), recipients will immediately notify RIO in writing by emailing rioseedgrant@colorado.edu.
4. PI Change: If there is a change or absence (60 days or greater) in PI, recipients will immediately contact and provide a justification to RIO at rioseedgrant@colorado.edu.
5. Exclusive Funding: Recipients must not seek or accept funding from any other RIO funding source for the same project or activities funded under this award including but not limited to AB Nexus, New Frontiers Grants, Research & Innovation Office Arts & Humanities Grants and/or additional Research & Innovation Office funding.
6. Review Panel Service: Recipients agree to serve on a Research & Innovation Seed Grant review panel for the following review cycle. They cannot be lead PIs or paid Co-PIs/collaborators on proposals submitted in the cycle immediately following their award cycle. Recipients may serve as unpaid co-PIs. Recipients agree to score and provide written comments on assigned proposals before the review deadline and participate in a review meeting.  Recipients on sabbatical or family leave during the review period will serve as a reviewer the next cycle. If a recipient fails to serve as a reviewer during the next cycle, funds may be suspended.
7. Compliance: If the project involves any compliance issues (e.g., IRB, IACUC, EHS, biohazardous material, etc.), recipients certify that the appropriate campus compliance offices will be notified before initiating any work.
8. Funding Access: Awards will be made available through the financial office in recipients’ respective college/school/institute on the first day of July following award notification. The budget office at the PI’s respective college/school/institute will set up the speedtype (account) number for the award, and RIO will transfer the funds to the speedtype. Recipients should contact their respective budget office for the speedtype in June following award notification.
9. Project Duration and No-Cost Extensions: The project duration is up to 18 months (January 1 [Year 1] – June 30 [Year 2]). No-cost extension requests of 3 or 6 months must be approved by RIO before the project termination date. No-cost extension requests must include: 1) a justification for the extension; 2) a plan for using the funds during the extension period; and 3) the length of extension. These requests should be sent to rioseedgrant@colorado.edu. Unused funds at the end of the project will be returned to RIO.
10. Suspension of Funds: If a recipient fails to fulfill any of the aforementioned conditions, RIO reserves the right to suspend funds.

Questions?

Contact   rioseedgrant@colorado.edu with any questions or comments.