For questions or concerns about the Seeding Success program, please email聽ovprfunding@vanderbilt.edu.
罢丑别听Seeding Success Grant聽supports new work or directions with strong potential for impact or funding from federal, foundation, or industry sponsors.
The Seeding Success Grant has been updated, and now offers seed opportunity funding exclusively. The course buyout track formerly offered by the Seeding Success Grant is no longer available, but faculty may propose a course buyout via the separate聽Scaling Success Grant聽with the support of their dean.聽 In all other respects, the Seeding Success Grant is the same as in previous calls.
The Spring 2026 Seeding Success deadline has passed. OVPRI will accept applications again in September 2026.
Fund Uses
罢丑别听Seeding Success Grant聽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
- 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
- Project funding is $5,000 to $60,000 per year for up to two years, with larger amounts considered if proposal warrants and program budget allows.
- 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.
- Applicants may apply for up to $60,000 per year in salary and fringe support from OVPRI awards for postdoctoral researchers. Any amount over the $60,000 per year 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
- PIs are not eligible to submit another proposal until all reporting requirements have been met. PIs with active Seeding Success awards are ineligible to apply聽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.
Review Process
- Proposals will be due once per semester. This twice-annual deadline will provide increased flexibility for faculty to leverage their funding.
- Decisions and awards will be made by the end of the Spring 2026 semester. All awards are anticipated to begin on July 1, 2026.
Internal Awards Review Committee
Application Checklist & Information
Application Checklist
Part I: Applicant Information
- Lead Faculty First and Last Name
- Lead Faculty VUnetID
- Lead Faculty Department
- Lead Faculty Appointment Title
- Department Administrator Name and Email
- Co-Applicants (up to 4 faculty)
- Project Discipline (Science & Medicine, Engineering, Arts & Humanities, or Social Science)
- Total Funding Requested
- Total funding for Y1
- Total funding for Y2
Part II: 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 (Science & Medicine, Arts & Humanities, Engineering, and Social Science). - 奥辞谤办辫濒补苍听(500 words)
Describe your workplan, timeline, and notable benchmarks. - Research Trajectory & Deliverables聽(500 words)
How does this project fit into your research trajectory? Please explain your plans for future external sponsorship, any deliverables that will result from the proposed work, and collaborations that this work will facilitate. (500 words) - Roles/Contributors聽(500 words max)
If applicable, please describe the role of all individuals listed on the project, including the PI and any co-collaborators - Postdoc Support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 Seeding Success Grant ends. Please note that OVPRI Internal Awards will only cover up to $60,000 for postdoc hires. - Budget Justification聽(500 words max)
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 the 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. - Pending Applications
Disclose all pending applications for all VU faculty-including other internal award opportunities for this project. - IRB Approval
Does this project require IRB approval? If so, has this process been initiated?
Part III: Uploads
These uploads must in .pdf format. Additional written content or files, other than what is described before, will not be reviewed.
- Detailed budget
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. - Scholarships & 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 Supporting Image Attachment:
Attachments are only for images or graphics that cannot be included in the program description text box. Additional written content will not be reviewed. (You may include brief captions to any images, but they should be short and descriptive).