The University Research Foundation (URF), an internal funding program, is now accepting applications for the Spring 2018 Cycle. Submissions will be accepted through Friday, March 16th at 5:00pm. The URF will offer the following grant opportunities: Research Grants, Conference Support, Impact Seminar Grants, andResearch Opportunity Development Grants, Phase 1and Phase 2. There will be a fall and spring solicitation for these grant applications each year.

See the Frequently Asked Questions for more general information.

Disciplinary areas:

• For all funding mechanisms, faculty members are invited to submit their research applications to one of four disciplinary areas: Biomedical Sciences, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Engineering, and Social Science and Management.
• Reviews are conducted by established faculty members in the appropriate disciplines.

Eligibility:

• Eligibility is limited to Penn assistant, associate, and full professors in any track.
• Instructors and Research Associates must provide a letter from their Department Chair establishing that the applicant will receive an appointment as an Assistant Professor by the time of the award.
• Adjunct and Emeritus Faculty are not eligible to apply.
• CHOP based faculty are eligible to apply however awards must be expended on Penn facilities, equipment and/or associated University technical staff, postdocs and undergraduate students.

Evaluation criteria:
Reviewers will evaluate the proposals based on the following criteria:

• Scholarly merit, creativity, impact, and innovation
• Feasibility
• Significance of the research
• Prospects for future extramural funding
• Matching support from other sources
• Career development at early stages of career
• Advancement of school or institutional objectives, such as interdisciplinary research
• Overall impact to investigator's research program
• Undergraduate participation (see more details below)
• A major consideration for the Opportunity Development Grants will be alignment with the specific goals of the grant program [refer to RODG Guidelines]

In addition: please note the following with regard to URF funding:

• Research proposals from Investigators that have received funding in the past three cycles will be less competitive
• Conference proposals that have been funded for three successive years will not be considered
• Faculty are eligible to apply for more than one funding opportunity however it is unlikely that more than one award per faculty member will be made in each cycle.

Undergraduate Participation:
As part of the University's commitment to providing research opportunities to scholars across our campus community, URF applicants are encouraged to include undergraduate student participants within the framework of their proposals. URF Review Panels will take undergraduate participation under strong consideration when evaluating and scoring proposals. Should applicants require assistance in identifying interested and qualified undergraduates, the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF) will be glad to provide support: curf@upenn.edu.