Building Better Futures

The Building Better Futures grant program builds upon OVPR’s RCI supports – created to catalyze innovative research and scholarly inquiry to advance knowledge around complex societal matters. This new program will be jointly administered and advanced in partnership between OVPR and the National Center for Institutional Diversity. 

Learn More and Apply by Monday, July 28, 5 PM

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FY26 Research Focus Area

Research, Scholarly Inquiry and Creative Practice build collective knowledge that can play an important role in supporting and advancing a society that empowers its members. A key goal of the Building Better Futures program is to support rigorous, innovative and technically sound research that advances relevant inquiry into topics that empower people to improve their quality of life, strengthen their communities and create opportunities for those who have been excluded in the past.

These activities could center a variety of domains, including, but limited to:

  • Health and wellbeing
  • Education and skill-building in formal and/or informal settings
  • Effects of fast-evolving technologies 
  • Socioeconomic mobility
  • Strengthening communities
  • Helping people thrive in  times of change

This program will not provide funding for evaluations of existing academic or clinical programs and prioritizes internal support for new generalizable, publishable research inquiry that can lead to future external funding to advance knowledge in this space.

Level 1 Grant Awards
  • +/- 5 grants (expected range $25K-$50K) for a 15 month duration. Eligible proposals are not limited to, but could include:
    • Seed grant projects for multidisciplinary groups; these could be initial collaboration projects with high synergistic value/promise
    • New additions to, or expansions of, existing projects that allow for enhanced methodological rigor, precision and/or nuance; a deepening of existing questions, and could also include novel uses of existing data or multiple datasets towards the production of new insight(s).
Level 2 Grant Awards
  • +/- 2 grants (up to $100K) for up to 18 month duration. Eligible proposals are not limited to, but could include:
    • Work to be undertaken by already established collaborative teams for “next level” research/scholarly projects of high innovation and synergistic value that would significantly advance thinking and study in established topic areas
    • Large-scale research projects using multiple methods or mixed methods approaches that expand existing modalities of discovery
    • A combination of novel research/scholarship and translation/engagement efforts that advance questions implicated by the call.

Successful proposals will:

  • Aim to grow the current scope of research on vital topics, develop new knowledge through interdisciplinary scholarly engagement in the service of increasing positive societal impacts of the research
  • Include a variety of methodological approaches to address related and pressing questions.
  • Utilize a wide array of research methods, including quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, ethnographies, design-based research, community participatory methods, historical research and others.
  • Enable and support research on and with communities and that build capacity for their distinct needs.
  • Embody interdisciplinary approaches to inquiry.
  • Include researchers and scholars from multiple disciplines, academic departments/units and faculty ranks.

In addition to grant funding, awardees will be eligible to access supports through the OVPR Research Development team and will be connected to a variety of other opportunities (e.g., research development, student funding, public engagement and dissemination/translation, networking opportunities) through NCID.

FAQs

Is the program interested in funding professional development and capacity building for Building Better Futures grant? To what extent should the proposed activities be tied to a specific research project?

The program is intended to support specific research projects, not professional development activities. 

Is it possible for a faculty person to be part of a team of people applying, but not be "the applicant", for more than one grant?

Yes, faculty may collaborate on more than one grant proposal as part of a collaborative team. A faculty member may apply as PI on one grant application and also participate as a collaborator on a second grant application.

My research is done in collaboration with researchers at a separate university. Does this grant program allow for the effort of non-UM investigators?

At this time, the grant does not cover effort for non-UM investigators.

Can the duration of my proposed grant stretch for 18 months into early 2027?

Yes, if applying for a Level 2 grant. And, depending on the project start date.

Am I eligible to apply for the Building Better Futures Grant?

All PI-eligible faculty from the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses are eligible to apply. For more information about primary investigator (PI) eligible see https://orsp.umich.edu/principal-investigator-pi.

Can a post-doc serve as PI or co-PI on the grant?

No, a post doc cannot serve as lead or co-PI, but may be a part of a collaborative team on the grant.

Can we add additional pages to the project narrative for Narrative References? Or, do we have to include references within the five page maximum?

Yes, one or two additional pages may be added.

Cost sharing is not required per the instructions, if we were to include a commitment from our unit, what sort of commitment should be described in the letter? Are you seeking a financial or a physical commitment, i.e. lab space, personnel, etc.?

No, cost sharing is not a requirement for this grant. If you are including other commitments, please be very specific and break down the cost in the budget per unit or other source and what the funds will be used for and the cost- if financial.  If physical space, please include a brief statement about the space commitment in the budget justification. And, also in the budget breakdown, if applicable. The same with personnel related funding. Please include in the budget and a statement in budget justification.

Can we use Building Better Futures funds to cover faculty effort (non- PI) on the grant?

The OVPR leadership team discussed this issue based on community input and approved including faculty time/effort as eligible grant expenses. Our team viewed this change as enabling support for a broad range of research/scholarship types as well as an equity issue. Like all budget items, requested coverage of non-PI faculty effort (e.g., through course release or summer support for faculty with 9-month academic appointments) should be described in the budget justification section.

What these grants do not fund:

This program does not provide funding for evaluations of existing academic or clinical programs and prioritizes generalizable, publishable research that can lead to future external funding to advance knowledge in this space.

Are there limitations on the budget with regard to indirect and direct costs including effort, RAs and a statistician?

Other staff/personnel effort relevant to the project objectives would be allowable.

Is tuition support an acceptable budget?

Tuition support is not an eligible budget expense for this grant.

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If you have any further questions, please contact [email protected].