Funding Fridays | A Research Newsletter 
Funding Fridays is the title of a bi-monthly newsletter aimed at amplifying and consolidating external funding opportunities shared with the faculty through various channels. This newsletter will highlight and foster funding opportunities that offer cross-unit, multidisciplinary, or unique collaborative opportunities. It will also highlight all limited-institution submissions or opportunities that are high risk / high reward. Below you will find links to standard funding search engines for those interested in exploring more available opportunities.
Featured Opportunities
Emory - Georgia Tech Collaborative Research Seed Grant Program: AI.Humanity
Deadline April 27, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. 

The Office of the Senior Vice President for Research (SVPR) at Emory University and the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR) at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) are delighted to announce a new collaborative research seed grant program. 

The purpose of the AI.Humanity seed grant is to spur new research collaborations and expand existing partnerships to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to improve society and our daily lives. Projects may incorporate research including, but not limited to, aspects of ethical and social considerations, social justice, health disparities or bias in AI data. Applied projects are welcome.

This jointly funded program will provide a maximum of $100,000 over a one-year project period to support research projects that will explore how AI can be improved or used for societal good.
NIH Request for Information (RFI) on Interdisciplinary Research Opportunities that Bridge Neuroscience and Environmental Health Science
Deadline: May 7, 2022

This Request for Information (RFI) seeks input on challenges and opportunities for interdisciplinary research that brings together neuroscientists, environmental health scientists, and scientists from other related disciplines to form new teams to advance understanding of the contribution of environmental toxicants to impaired function of the nervous system across the life span.
For the purpose of this RFI, environmental toxicants of primary interest include industrial chemicals or manufacturing byproducts, metals, pesticides, herbicides, air pollutants and other inhaled toxicants, particulates or fibers, plastics, fungal exposures, and bacterial or biologically derived toxins. Expression of toxicity can take many forms across different ages and developmental stages, ranging from neurodevelopmental to neurodegenerative disorders, and encompassing alterations in cognition and behavior that range from subtle to severe. The full range of nervous system outcomes is relevant to this RFI.

ORAU-Directed Research and Development Grants
Deadline: June 2022

Emory University is a Member!

This investment program provides a path for funding innovative research-based approaches/solutions that fall within the intersection of core capabilities of ORAU and our member universities’ research interests. We envision ODRD-funded projects to result in proposals that can generate new sponsored research jointly performed by ORAU and partner universities.

ODRD funding, distributed through a competitive process, serves as seed money for exploratory research and collaboration opportunities between ORAU subject matter experts and our university partners. This seed money and exploratory research provides greater potential for significant funding from external sources.

  • ODRD supports university-engaged, applied research while increasing the potential for significant external research funding and strengthening ORAU’s ability to address current and future customer needs.

Contact Robert Nobles if you are interested in being connected to this opportunity!

New Funding Opportunities
Emory University and University of St Andrews Collaborative Research Grants – 2022 Guidelines for Applicants
Deadline: April 21, 2022

This Collaborative Research Grant, offered by Emory University’s Halle Institute for Global
Research and the University of St Andrews, fosters international research broadly. Applicants from all schools and disciplines are encouraged to submit funding applications for innovative and sustainable projects built around collaborative research linking faculty from the University of St Andrews and Emory University. The research may take place in any country as long as it is done collaboratively. The expectation is that these initial projects will lead to longer-term collaborations, institutional and research relations, and when applicable, generate publications, art, exhibitions and/or external funding for ongoing collaboration. Applications that include students and/or collaborations across schools, disciplines and units are encouraged.

Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Equity Resource Center
Deadline: May 10, 2022

Establishes an AISL Equity Resource Center (AERC) to advance equity within the informal STEM learning field through community building; supporting and extending infrastructures; technical assistance; and communications. This program does not define or bound the concept of equity. Instead, it allows the proposer to both define equity in relation to the needs of the informal STEM learning field and design and deploy creative approaches that promote equity across the informal STEM learning field. Overall, the AERC will serve public and professional communities in the informal STEM learning field through the following functions:

  1. Cultivating a multi-sector, diverse community dedicated to promoting equity in informal STEM learning experiences and environments;
  2. Raising the visibility and impact of equity-focused research and practice in the informal STEM learning field and its contributions to the overall STEM endeavor;
  3. Supporting AISL PIs, prospective PIs, and partners in enacting their commitments to equity with respect to research and practice; and 
  4. Promoting equitable practices that support the AISL program.

Innovation Corps Hubs
Deadline: May 11, 2022

In this updated and more integrated model of the NSF I-Corps program, the I-Corps Hubs are comprised of a Lead and initially seven Partner institutions to form the operational backbone of the National Innovation Network (NIN). Each Hub is now funded through a single award, and the term "Hub" refers to a consortium of institutions of higher education spanning distinct geographic regions with common goals and challenges to collaborate to provide entrepreneurial training to members of the scientific community (students, postdocs, faculty, and other researchers). Each Hub has a Lead institution to oversee operational management of the consortium and seven initial Partner institutions that contribute to the success of the Hub objectives, activities, and expected outcomes. A Lead institution may be a current or former I-Corps Node or Site (Track 1), or they may be entirely new to the I-Corps program (Track 2).
Hubs are required to add at least one New Partner Institution (NPI) annually. NPIs are expected to collaborate with the Hub and demonstrate that the proposed activities of the NPI are coordinated with the Hub’s objectives and expected outcomes. Funding for NPIs will be provided through supplemental funding.

BRAIN Initiative: Targeted BRAIN Circuits Projects
Deadline: July 1, 2022

Supports R34 planning grants and R01 research grants for projects that seek to understand how circuit activity gives rise to mental experience and behavior using innovative, methodologically-integrated approaches. Planning projects must use an approach that will establish feasibility, validity, or other technically qualifying results that, if successful, would support, enable, and/or lay the groundwork for a potential, subsequent Targeted BRAIN Circuits R01 research projects. All projects should aim to improve the understanding of circuits of the central nervous system by systematically controlling stimuli and/or behavior while actively recording and/or manipulating dynamic patterns of neural activity. Diverse species or experimental systems and a cross-species/comparative approach are welcome and should be chosen based on their power to address the specific question at hand and to reveal generalizable and fundamental neuroscience principles.

Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI)
Deadline: September 9, 2022

Supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education that is of potential interest to DoD. The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts where more than one traditional discipline interacts to provide rapid advances in scientific areas of interest to the DoD. Please see the following link for detailed topic lists for the participating DoD components. 

EMERGING FRONTIERS IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (EFRI): Engineered Living Systems (ELiS) and Brain-Inspired Dynamics for Engineering Energy-Efficient Circuits and Artificial Intelligence (BRAID)
LOI Deadline: September 12, 2022

Supports interdisciplinary teams of researchers to embark on rapidly advancing frontiers of fundamental engineering research. For this solicitation, we will consider proposals that aim to investigate emerging frontiers in one of the following two research areas: Engineered Living Systems (ELiS) and Brain-Inspired Dynamics for Engineering Energy-Efficient Circuits and Artificial Intelligence (BRAID).

Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Research Initiation Initiative
Deadline: September 20 2022

Supports potentially transformative proposals in any area of CISE research from PIs who are in their first academic position post-PhD. The goal is for the PI to have the essential resources to launch their research career so that they may establish an independent research profile.

Limited-Institution Submission Opportunities
Team-Based Design in Biomedical Engineering Education
Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, March 21, 2022

This FOA seeks to support programs that include innovative approaches to enhance biomedical engineering (BME) design education to ensure a future workforce that can meet the nation’s needs in biomedical research and healthcare technologies.

Applications are encouraged from institutions that propose to establish new or to enhance existing team-based design courses or programs in undergraduate biomedical engineering departments or other degree-granting programs with biomedical engineering tracks/minors. This FOA targets the education of undergraduate biomedical engineering/bioengineering students in a team-based environment.

Immune Drivers of Autoimmune Disease (IDAD)
Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, March 28, 2022

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications to participate in the Immune Drivers of Autoimmune Disease (IDAD) cooperative research program, which will focus on defining the immunologic states and dynamics that drive autoimmune disease. The main objective of this program is to enhance our understanding of the immunologic processes, events, and changes that underlie the clinical manifestations of autoimmune diseases, including disease flare, remission, and progression of established disease, as well as the progression from a state of elevated risk to clinical diagnosis of autoimmune disease.

NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA)
Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, April 4, 2022

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The overarching goal of this R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.

To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on:

  • Courses for Skills Development
  • Research Experiences
  • Mentoring Activities
  • Curriculum or Methods Development
  • Outreach

High-End Instrumentation (HEI) Grant Program
Internal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, April 6, 2022

The High-End Instrumentation (HEI) Grant Program encourages applications from groups of NIH-supported investigators to purchase or upgrade a single item of high-end, specialized, commercially available instruments or integrated systems. The minimum award is $600,001. There is no maximum price limit for the instrument; however, the maximum award is $2,000,000. Instruments supported include, but are not limited to, X-ray diffractometers, high throughput robotic screening systems, mass spectrometers, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, DNA and protein sequencers, biosensors, electron and light microscopes, flow cytometers, and biomedical imagers.

Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences Internal Call for Applications 2023
Internal Submission Deadline: Thursday, April 14, 2022

From Pew's website, "The Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences provides funding to young investigators of outstanding promise in science relevant to the advancement of human health. The program makes grants to selected academic institutions to support the independent research of outstanding individuals who are in their first few years of their appointment at the assistant professor level."

Grant Level: "The current grant level is $300,000; $75,000 per year for a four-year period."

Bridges to the Doctorate Research Training Program (T32)
Internal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, June 15, 2022

The goal of the Bridges to the Doctorate Research Training Program is to develop a diverse pool of scientists earning a Ph.D. who have the skills to successfully transition into careers in the biomedical research workforce. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) provides support to eligible, domestic institutions to develop and implement effective, evidence-informed approaches to biomedical training and mentoring that will keep pace with the rapid evolution of the research enterprise. NIGMS expects that the proposed research training programs will incorporate didactic, research, mentoring, and career development elements to prepare trainees for careers that will have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the Nation.

Finding Funding
Search Tool for Corporate and Foundation Funding Opportunities
The Office of Corporate Relations and the Office of Foundation Relations have teamed up to create this resource site to provide a curated list of current funding opportunities and other resources. This site will help promote connections between Emory colleagues and corporate/foundation partners.
GrantForward
Free access available with Emory Email address. Formally IRIS. Provides access to the University Community to conduct funding searches. The database is provides funding opportunities for the physical and life sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Link for More Information
Grants.gov
Grants.gov is a central storehouse for information on over 1,000 grant programs from over 27 federal agencies. Interested applicants can search for relevant funding opportunities by Keyword or Category or browse opportunities by agency. The portal is also a central source to apply for federal grants. Information on the processes for proposal submission through Grants.gov can be found in Proposal Submission.
Foundation Directory
Free access available through Databases@Emory. This database, produced by the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, includes extensive program details for thousands of leading foundations; detailed application guidelines for more than 7,000 grants; and a searchable file of approximately half a million grants.