Collaborative Seed Grant

Harpur College Collaborative Grant

Call for Proposals - Fall 2025

The Harpur College Dean's Office is pleased to announce a competitive funding opportunity designed to catalyze cross-departmental collaborations across our diverse academic divisions. Effective interdisciplinary collaboration requires more than bringing together faculty from different departments鈥攊t demands intentional investment in relationship building, methodological integration, and the development of shared intellectual frameworks. This program provides resources and structured support to help teams begin long-term collaborative projects, awarding teams up to $10,000 through a competitive proposal process to support collaborative activities that leverage the unique interdisciplinary strengths of Harpur College.

Funding Details

Dates and Deadlines:

  • Application Deadline: January 7, 2025
  • Notification Date: February 2026
  • Project Period: March 2026 - February 2027
  • Submission: Complete applications should be submitted through the .

What You'll Receive

  • Funding up to $10,000 for collaborative activities and research expenses
  • Strategic guidance from the Dean's Office research staff
  • Assistance with identifying external funding opportunities
  • Administrative support for project management

Budget Guidelines

Allowable Expenses: We expect a significant portion of funds to be dedicated to activities that strengthen collaborative partnerships and team development, broadly conceived. These activities include workshops, retreats, or other creative approaches to building effective interdisciplinary collaboration. While funds should also support traditional research expenses, successful proposals will demonstrate serious investment in the collaborative process itself. Specific allowable expenses include:

  • Costs of hosting campus workshops, meetings, or other collaborative activities
  • Materials, supplies, or production costs
  • Data collection and analysis costs
  • Equipment essential to the collaborative project
  • Publication or dissemination costs
  • Summer student assistants
  • Travel

Ineligible Expenses:

  • Student tuition or academic year stipends
  • Faculty summer salary or course buyouts

All expenditures must comply with the regulations of Harpur College, the BU Foundation, the University, and SUNY.

Eligibility Requirements

  • Team Composition: Teams must include three or more tenure-track or tenured faculty members from at least two different Harpur College departments
  • Principal Investigator: The PI must be a tenure-track or tenured Harpur College faculty member
  • External Collaborators: Co-PIs from outside Harpur College are permitted with appropriate cost-sharing commitments from their home units/schools/colleges
    An individual may serve as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) on only one proposal submission.
  • Interdisciplinary Scope: Projects should meaningfully integrate perspectives, methods, or approaches from multiple disciplines
  • New and Developing Collaborations: Newly forming teams and existing collaborations that are developing new directions will be prioritized. Well-established collaborative groups already supported through Organized Research Centers (ORCs), Transdisciplinary Areas of Excellence (TAEs), or similar initiatives will likely not be competitive unless they represent a new research direction. Groups with existing internal or external funding will be given lower priority.
  • Commitment: All team members must commit to active participation and regular meetings throughout the project period
  • An individual may serve as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) on only one proposal submission.

Application Process

The application has three components. For additional instructions, please see the detailed Request for Proposals document in the .

  1. Project title and abstract (250 words, written for a general audience)
  2. Project Proposal (4 pages maximum, including a Project Plan and Collaboration Plan, written for a general audience):
  3. Budget & Justification: Detailed breakdown of how funds will be used. You must use the provided template.

Expected Outcomes and Deliverables

Funded teams will be expected to produce a white paper (no more than 10 pages) by the end of the project period (February 2027) that describes: 

  1. Preliminary results, significance, and potential impact 
  2. Short and long-term plans following the end of the project period
  3. An external opportunity strategy detailing plans for supporting these goals, including specific grant opportunities, fellowship opportunities, publication venues, exhibition/performance opportunities, or commission possibilities
  4. Plan for sustaining the collaboration moving forward (e.g., meeting schedule, communication plan, etc.)

Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be reviewed by a faculty committee representing all Harpur divisions. Proposals will be evaluated based on:

  • Intellectual and Creative Merit: Originality, rigor, and potential to advance knowledge or creative practice
  • Interdisciplinary Integration: Meaningful synthesis of disciplinary perspectives and methods
  • Team Composition and Collaboration Plan: Complementary expertise and a demonstration of a collaborative framework
  • External Opportunity Alignment: Feasibility of securing future external support or achieving significant dissemination
  • Impact Potential: Contribution to scholarship, education, and/or society

Important Notes

  • All funds must be spent within one year from the point of the award. Funds cannot be rolled over to future times.
  • All expenditures must be in compliance with Harpur College, BU Foundation, University, and SUNY regulations.
  • Projects involving human subjects must obtain IRB approval before funds will be made available.
  • All university policies regarding research conduct and financial management apply
  • Successful completion of deliverables is required for future eligibility for Harpur research programs

Questions

Consultation Meetings

Teams are welcome to schedule a consultation meeting with the Assistant Dean for Research and the Associate Dean for Research and Programs. These meetings are optional and will provide an opportunity to discuss project scope and feasibility, receive feedback on collaborative approach, and identify potential resources and connections.