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Office of the Provost

Small Research Grant (SRG)

Recipients by Year

Program Guidelines 2025

 

1.    Purpose

The objective of the Small Research Grant Program is to encourage faculty to establish and maintain programs of research, scholarly, and/or creative activity in areas for which other funding is not commonly available. The program supports projects from any discipline that can be significantly advanced with a relatively small investment. Exploratory and early-stage projects are especially welcome.

2.   Eligibility 

All full-time tenured, tenure track, and continuing non-tenure track faculty are eligible to apply, with the following limitations:

  • Individuals may receive awards no more frequently than every other year.
  • Individuals may not hold SRG awards concurrently with either University Summer Grant (USG) or Research Catalyst Grant (RCG).
  • Faculty with projects under consideration for the University Summer Grant (USG) for 2025 may submit SRG Program on a provisional basis. If a project is successful in the USG competition it will automatically be withdrawn from consideration for SRG.

3.   Award Amounts, Uses and Restrictions

Maximum award amount for SRG varies annually depending on budgetary constraints. For the 2025 cycle, proposals may request up to $3,000. Awarded funds are available for expenses incurred on or after June 1 of the year they are awarded. 

Examples of allowable expenses include, but are not limited to, travel to research-related sites, equipment, supplies and books, data sets, software, and transcription services. Some known exclusions include childcare, professional society fees, student stipends, and conference travel (except those hosted at Villanova University or elsewhere for the express purpose of bringing together specific scholars working on the proposed research project).

Funds may not be used to provide stipends for graduate or undergraduate students to work on their own thesis/dissertation research; however, students could be paid an hourly rate to assist on the faculty member’s research project. For questions about allowable expenses, please contact VIRS. The merits of a project will not be discussed.

Studies involving human subjects or animals must have appropriate approvals in place before funds can be disbursed.

All SRG awards have a one-year duration.

4.   Proposal Guidelines

There is no specified format for proposal narratives, however, proposals should clearly articulate the question or purpose of the project, motivation/rationale, method or approach, activities to be undertaken, and anticipated project-related accomplishments (e.g. milestones in the research, scholarly, or creative process) and/or outputs (e.g., manuscripts, articles). Proposals should discuss challenges/limitations securing funding from other sources. Proposals will be evaluated on the criteria as specified in the ‘Evaluation and Review Criteria’ section (outlined below).

Proposals are reviewed by a committee composed of faculty from several disciplines, and therefore must be written to be understood by members of multi-disciplinary review committees rather than by specialists in your field. Proposals should avoid discipline-specific terminology or jargon, and/or provide definitions of discipline-specific terminology when jargon cannot be avoided.

Proposal narratives should not exceed 2 double-spaced pages with 1-inch margins, using no smaller than 12 pt. font (about 550-600 words). 

In addition to the narrative, proposals must include a cited literature section, a resume/CV (maximum 1 page), and a budget indicating how the funds would be used. Please provide as much detail as possible in the budget and a timeline, if appropriate.

Please note, proposals that do not adhere to guidelines (including page limits) will be returned.

5.   Evaluation and Review Criteria

SRG proposals are awarded by a competitive review process. Proposals are reviewed and evaluated by an internal evaluation committee which will include Villanova faculty from several disciplines. Proposal evaluation criteria are as follows:

  1. Extent and/or import of anticipated project-related progress and accomplishments to be enabled by SRG funding.
  2. Clarity of the proposal regarding purpose and goals, motivation/rationale, method or approach, activities to be undertaken.
  3. Reasonableness and justification of budget.
  4. The feasibility of the project and the likelihood that the applicants will execute the work within proposed time frame.

6.   Proposal Submission

All applications must be submitted electronically through InfoReady.  You may link directly to the application via this link.

7.   Critical Dates (2025 cycle)

  1. Proposal submission deadline: January 24 by 5 p.m. (EST)
  2. Announcement of awards: End of March 

8.   Post-award requirements

All SRG 2025 award expenditures must be made by May 1, 2026. After receiving an award, and in order to be eligible for future awards, awardees will be required to prepare a Final Report, to be submitted to VIRS by May 31, 2026. Details for submitting final reports will be provided upon award.

9.   Contact 

Questions about proposal preparation, review, and allowable costs can be directed to the VIRS Director.

Questions about proposal format, submission, and use of InfoReady can be directed to VIRS Assistant Director.

10.  Members of the Evaluation Committee

  • Aimee Eggler, PhD, Biology
  • Tracy Oliver, PhD, RDN, LDN, Nursing
  • Peter Zaleski, PhD, Economics
  • Mojtaba Vaezi, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Heidi Grundetjern, PhD, Sociology and Criminology
  • Rachel Smith, PhD, Theology and Religious Studies