Bridging Support for Research Faculty

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OVPR manages a central, cost-shared, “bridging support” program for research faculty on the Ann Arbor campus. On the Dearborn and Flint campuses, the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs is responsible for maintaining an equivalent program.

Bridging support addresses the need for salary and fringe benefit support for research faculty who experience a temporary loss in external (sponsored) funding due to factors beyond their control. The duration of support is determined by both the rank of the research faculty member and their years of service in a bridging eligible rank. Funding eligibility is detailed below. The bridging program requires a minimum of a dollar-for-dollar match from the appointing unit. This program does not cover severance pay or terminal leaves for research faculty whose appointments at the University are ending.

Each unit that appoints research faculty is responsible for developing, administering, and funding its portion of the bridging support program for its research faculty. The table outlines the level of bridging support eligibility according to rank and years of service at the University of Michigan. Bridging fund programs administered by the units must adhere, at a minimum, to the following guidelines:

Eligibility

* Includes all years above the rank of Research Investigator

Research faculty in the above ranks who hold joint research and non-tenured faculty appointments in any faculty track are eligible for bridging on the research appointment. Part-time research faculty in these ranks are eligible for bridging based on their reduced effort if they have met the years of service requirement.

Ineligible Faculty

Research faculty who also hold a tenured instructional track appointment are not eligible for bridge funding.

The Institute for Social Research has a separate bridge funding program that meets or exceeds the requirements specified above. For this reason, research faculty appointed in ISR are not eligible for bridge funding through OVPR.

Research faculty with 0% (dry) appointments are not eligible for bridge funding.

Evaluation Criteria

Criteria used in the evaluation of bridging support requests include:

• The quality and significance of the researcher’s work;
• The researcher’s past experience in obtaining external support for his/her work;
• The researcher’s potential for obtaining such support in the future;
• Evidence that the applicant has a grant application which is expected to be funded in the near future (1-6 months) by an external agency;
• Evidence that the researcher’s work is in keeping with unit and institutional priorities; and
• A statement by the applicant’s appointing unit as to the applicant’s continued employment.

Instructions and applications for applying for bridging support are maintained on the ORSP website: OVPR Funds for Research and Scholarship-Bridging Support.