The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) is announcing a call for proposals to support interdisciplinary research projects on topics related to sustainability, energy, and environment. The iSEE seed funds are available to promote research collaborations among faculty and scientists across campus that will improve their potential for attracting external support.The goal of the funding is to enable interdisciplinary research teams working in any of the five thematic areas of interest to iSEE to collect preliminary data or other information and to develop a strong proposal that can be submitted for external funding through the Institute in 2022-23.The proposal must involve applicants from at least two different disciplines and two different departments and is limited to a maximum of $30,000 for a year. The key factors that will be considered in the selection process include:Scholarly merit, innovation, and substantive interdisciplinarity of the proposed research;Need for collaboration and how well the team is suited to tackle the problem at hand;Potential impact of the proposed research initiative on the field;Potential to develop a large-scale (>$1M), externally funded research program;Productivity of the applicants and quality of their scholarship;Comprehensive plan to pursue external funding with identified opportunities which the applicants will pursue; andThe fit to at least one of iSEE’s five research themes and interest in a longer-term engagement with iSEE to develop research programs in this area.Successful applicants will be expected to submit external funding proposals related to this seed funding through iSEE in 2022-23. iSEE will provide personnel support for proposal development and post-award management for projects that receive external grants to a competitive external funding source over the course of the following year. Recipients will also work with iSEE to communicate the findings of their research, publications, and other outcomes through the Institute website on an ongoing basis. Support will be provided in the form of a research assistantship for graduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, postdoc time, data purchase, and/or travel.iSEE will provide administrative support for development of large proposals. Successful external funding proposals submitted through iSEE will not affect indirect cost recovery to the home department of the PI.
