Research and Innovation at The University of Toledo

Interdisciplinary collaborations are strongly encouraged. Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty at the University of Toledo are eligible to submit as Principal Investigator (PI).  Those in the Research Professor title series are not eligible to apply as Principal Investigator. PIs must be employed as a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member at UT during the full academic year of the award.

Investigators may be a PI on one, and only one, proposal submitted to any major internal seed grant program in a given Academic Year. Submission of more than one seed grant major program proposal in total by the same PI will result in their disqualification.  Please submit only one proposal as PI to the program most aligned with your research interests.  (A Letter of Intent does not count as a proposal for these purposes.)  A faculty member may, however, be a co-investigator on a second proposal submitted to one of the following major programs: Research Awards and Fellowships, deArce-Koch Memorial Fund in Support of Medical Research and Development, Ignition, Trajectory, or Orbit provided that salary is not received and the activities are independent.

Faculty may not receive more than two of any major seed grant funding awards as Principal Investigator over any seven-year period, and faculty may not receive any major seed grant funding awards as Principal Investigator in two consecutive years.

Faculty must have at least six weeks without summer teaching if they are awarded a summer fellowship under the seed grant funding award program. 

Faculty members with start-up fund accounts are not eligible for support unless documentation shows that start-up funds cannot support the seed grant funding project.  For example, if start-up funds are dedicated entirely to the purchase of an instrument, then it is possible to seek support for programmatic activity.  In all cases, faculty members with grant and/or startup funding must indicate the extent of that funding, and how the need for seed grant funding requested is not met by those sources of funding. Generally those with remaining start-up funds will be evaluated at a lower priority than those without start-up funds.

Eight grants for a project period of up to 12 months.

Proposals must be submitted through InfoReady.

• 1 page | Abstract written for a general audience that summarizes the project and expected outcomes; maximum 250 words, single-spaced.
• 6 pages | Project description
• 2 pages | References, single-spaced.
• 2 pages | Budget justification.
• 5 pages | Biosketch required for the PI; optional for co-investigators.
• No page limit | Final reports for applicable prior seed grant funding awards during the past five years.
• No appendix materials or letters of support will be accepted.

• A defined proof-of-concept, feasibility result, or body of preliminary evidence that materially advances the research concept.
• A determination of the next stage of research development, based on what was learned through the project.
• An identified external funding pathway, including one or more potential sponsors, programs, or funding mechanisms appropriate for continued development.
• Where interdisciplinary collaboration is proposed, evidence that the collaboration has produced an integrated research direction or capability, rather than simply bringing investigators together.
• A documented next-step plan identifying what must occur to move the research toward external support, additional validation, translation, or another appropriate research outcome.