For questions or concerns about the Scaling Success Grant, please email聽ovprfunding@vanderbilt.edu.
Scaling Success Grant
The聽Scaling Success Grant聽is designed to support faculty as they scale up to increasingly impactful team research, scholarship, and creative works, including larger awards from external sponsors. This program will specifically support faculty on projects that have already generated interest and encouragement from a federal, foundation, or industry sponsor for the purpose of further developing the project or team prior to formal submission to the sponsor. If needed, Research Development and Support can assist faculty in gauging sponsor interest and developing relationships with sponsors.
Faculty are encouraged to right-size their Scaling Success proposal budget to their immediate needs.
Scaling Success facilitates a stronger proposal and increases the possibility of a significant external award relative to the lead investigator's own discipline and award history.聽
Fund Uses
The Scaling Success Grant may generally be used for:
- Capital expenses
- Postdoctoral hires
- Graduate student wages, stipends, and fees
- Term limited consultants or skilled workers such as a web programmer or survey developer
- Scientific and technical staff salaries at VU.
- Travel
- Materials or supplies
- CORES
Unallowable uses generally include:
- Book subventions
- Faculty salaries
- Tuition or financial aid support for students
- Subcontracts or staff effort at other institutions (awarded funds are intended to be spent at VU)
- Salaries of PI-eligible professional research staff (as designated by their dean and OVPRI)
Award Eligibility & Terms
We encourage you to reach out to ovprfunding@vanderbilt.edu with questions regarding your project's suitability for this program or about the application in general.
- Project funding is $5,000 to $60,000 within 12 months of award receipt, with larger amounts considered if the proposal warrants and the program project allows.
- Funds may be used for a variety of purposes, including course buyout with dean support.
- All full-time, VU-employed faculty are eligible. Additionally, full-time, VU-employed professional research staff who have been designated by their dean and OVPRI to hold positions comparable to research faculty may apply. To check your eligibility, email OVPRFunding@vanderbilt.edu.
- Early-career scholars are particularly encouraged to apply.
- Applicants may submit up to one proposal per application cycle as lead faculty.
- PIs are not eligible to submit another proposal until all reporting requirements have been met for previous internal awards. PIs with active S肠补濒颈苍驳听Success awards are ineligible to apply again until your active award ends.
- Each participating faculty member must disclose all institutional research support funds, including endowed-chair funds, annual allocations, and other such sources.
- All funds must be used within the awarded project period.
- Course buyout may be requested in Scaling Success proposals in the amount of $35,000. Course buyout聽must聽be approved by your dean before applying. Written documentation of approval must be included in the application
- Applicants may apply for up to $60,000 in salary and fringe support from OVPRI awards for postdoctoral researchers. Any amount over the $60,000 must be covered by the PI. Additionally, the application should cover:
- The necessity of a postdoc to the project
- The work the postdoc will be doing on the project
- Detail plan to sustainably support the postdoc after their internal award period ends
Review Process
- Proposals will be reviewed on a monthly basis in order to ensure that faculty researchers can be responsive to external interest. Please see the monthly dates below.
- Application dates for 2025-2026
July 18, 2025
August 15, 2025
September 19, 2025
October 17, 2025
November 21, 2025No review in December
January 16, 2026
February 20, 2026
March 20, 2026
April 17, 2026
May 15, 2026No review in June
Internal Awards Reviewer Committee
Application Checklist & Requirements
Part One: Applicant Information
This information will need to be entered into text boxes on InfoReady.
- Lead Faculty First and Last Name
- Lead Faculty VUnetID
- Lead Faculty Department
- Lead Faculty Appointment Title
- Project Collaborators and Personnel
- Department Administrator Name and Email
- Total Amount of Funding Requested
- Select primary category of project proposed (Basic Science/Engineering/Social Science/Humanities/Arts)
- Targeted Sponsor
- Targeted Program
- Targeted Submission Date
Part 2: Proposal Information
These responses will be entered into text boxes on InfoReady.
- Proposal Title
- Project Abstract聽(100 words)
- Research & Methods聽(750 words)
Briefly explain your proposed project, the research question(s) it addresses, and the methodological approach and rationale of your project. Also discuss the significance and impact of the work proposed on your field and subfields. References are not required, and any included will count toward the word count, though you may upload an optional references/bibliography document to this application. Please make sure that your response is free of field-specific jargon and will be accessible to readers in your selected discipline group (Science & Medicine, Arts & Humanities, Engineering, and Social Science). - Scaling and Sponsorship Information聽(750 words)
To what sponsor and/or program are you applying? Please explain your relationship, communication with the sponsor, and the feedback you have received from the sponsor on your work.聽 How have you incorporated their feedback into your proposed activities? How does this represent an opportunity to scale your work? How has your past work, grants, awards, collaboration, etc., prepared you for this targeted external opportunity? - 奥辞谤办辫濒补苍听(500 words)
Describe your workplan, timeline, and all notable benchmarks for the 12-month grant period, including when you plan to submit your proposal to the external sponsor. - 颁辞濒濒补产辞谤补迟颈辞苍听(500 words max)
If applicable, please describe the role of all individuals listed on the project, including the PI and any co-collaborators. - Postdoctoral Workers聽(500 words max)
If hiring a postdoc, please explain a) the necessity of the postdoc to the project, b) the work the postdoc will be doing on the project, c) if a postdoc has already been selected or will be a new hire, d) if hiring a new postdoc, please discuss the desired qualifications of the postdoc, and e) a sustainable plan for supporting the postdoc after the Scaling Success Grant ends. Please note that OVPRI Internal Awards will only cover up to $60,000 for postdoc hires. - Budget Justification聽(500 words)
Please explain and justify what the requested funds will cover, if awarded. This section should correlate to the attached budget. - Disclosure of Internal Funds
Disclose specific dollar amounts of all internal funds currently available (start-up funds, annual allocations, endowed-chair funds, other internal awards, etc.) for each VU faculty member listed. Indicate why these monies cannot be used for the proposed project expenditures and if there will be any cost-sharing on the part of the PI/co-investigators from those internal funds. - IRB Approval
Does this project require IRB approval? If so, has this process been initiated?
Uploads
The following items must be uploaded to the application portal on InfoReady聽in pdf format. Additional written content or files, other than what is listed below, will not be reviewed.
- Detailed budget聽(Please use聽this template)
Upload a detailed budget using the template provided on the Details page of this competition. Please be thorough in describing your costs. For example, if there is any staff support listed on this grant, you must list the % effort and how the rate is calculated, etc.聽 The expenses listed should be justified in the budget justification above. - Documentation of Sponsor Interest
Applicants should have positive communication from a sponsor regarding their project, though this may vary in form and content. Examples include, but are not limited to, feedback on a prior application, written communication with a program officer, transcript or summary of communication with program officer, etc. - Scholarship and Sponsorship Information
All VU faculty listed on this application must upload a list of their five most recent and relevant (to this project) publications or works. Please do not upload entire copies of these publications; citations are sufficient. All VU faculty listed on this application must also include a list of all external sponsorship from the last five years, including:- Project Title
- Sponsoring Group/Agency
- Grant or Award Type
- Individual role
- Dates of Award
- Total Award Amount
- Optional References/Selected Bibliography:聽聽Please limit your bibliography/references to one page. An optional supporting image or attachment may be included on a separate page below your references.聽Additional written content will not be reviewed.聽(You may include brief captions to any images, but they should be short and descriptive.)
Previous Scaling Success Awardees
FAQs
Purchase Requisitions & Expense Reporting
Purchase Requisitions & Expense Reporting