Faculty Research Accelerator Program

The mission of the Naughton Fellowships Faculty Research Accelerator Program is to catalyze and support collaborations between faculty at the leading research universities of Ireland and the University of Notre Dame in order to advance collaborative research and foster deeper and stronger ties between both the institutions and the two countries. The program will support collaborative research at the highest level of excellence in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as cognitive science).

Proposals may request up to $120,000 USD in funding. To best facilitate joint research, a variety of uses may be proposed. For example, the program will support joint Notre Dame/Irish research programs with budgets that include supplies, equipment, and trainee support, as well as salary support for faculty seeking to develop new collaborative research programs. Regardless of intended use, research excellence, the scope of the cross-institutional participation, and the potential for sustained collaborations will be guiding principles and key review criteria.

Partner Institutions

All regular STEM faculty at the following institutions are eligible to participate:

• Dublin City University 
• Trinity College Dublin 
• University College Cork 
• University College Dublin 
• University of Galway 
• University of Notre Dame

Use of Funds

The collaborating faculty members must be identified in the proposal and letters confirming participation are required. Uses of funds may include:

• Supplies
• Non-capital equipment (i.e., equipment not exceeding $5,000 USD; capital equipment is excluded.)
• Graduate student stipends
• Postdoctoral fellow salaries
• Faculty salaries (summer salary for T/TT faculty, or academic/calendar year salary for research or other non-T/TT faculty)
• Travel

Personnel receiving salary/stipend support, regardless of position, are expected to spend considerable time at their partner institution in order to foster close inter-institutional ties. Residencies must be described in the proposal and any proposed exceptions must be justified.

How to Apply

All proposals must clearly communicate excellence of the proposed research, the synergy to be gained from the Notre Dame / Ireland collaboration, and the scope and mechanism of the collaborative research. The plan for, and the likelihood of, a long-term, sustained STEM collaboration will be a key review criterion. Requests to support prior or ongoing collaborations must show clear indicators of previous productivity (e.g., joint publications or grant proposals). Proposals must adhere to the guidelines, as follow:

• Excluding budgets, budget justification pages, CVs, and letters of support, proposals must be no more than five pages, with one-inch margins, a 12-point font, and clearly readable figures and figure legends. Proposals deviating from these guidelines will be returned without review.
• Budgets and budget justifications must be included as separate pages. Due to the open-ended nature of program, budget justifications should be detailed without extending or repeating proposal text and will receive close scrutiny.
• All salaries, including graduate stipends, must include fringe benefits.
• CVs and confirming letters must be included for collaborating faculty members.
• For proposals requesting faculty travel, a letter of support from the Department Chair must be included supporting the proposal and confirming any proposed travel will not compromise teaching, service, or other commitments. Any anticipated impacts and how they will be mitigated must be described.
• Projects will be funded for two years.
• Proposals are expected to lead to an external grant application (e.g., NSF-SFI), and applicants should describe their plan for future funding.
• Awardees will be required to submit a one-page progress report each year. Six months after completion, a final progress report must be submitted. Progress reports must describe activities and accomplishments, emphasizing the progress towards a sustained inter-institutional collaboration. All outcomes, including presentations, publications, and efforts to secure external funding for the collaboration must be listed. Adherence to these reporting requirements will be considered when evaluating future proposals from individual faculty members.

Submit all proposals to naughton@nd.edu.

Proposals will be reviewed by a committee of interdisciplinary faculty experts. Up to two projects are expected to be funded per year. 

Deadline

Applications have now closed. Please check back again in the autumn for details of a future competition.

For questions, please contact naughton@nd.edu.