UBC & University of Washington Collaborative Research Mobility Award

The offices of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation and the Provost & Vice-President, Academic at UBC are partnering with the Vice Provost for Research at UW to provide a pilot fund that facilitates research collaborations between the two universities.

Application cycles for this competition are suspended until further notice.

The objectives of this inter-institutional award are to:
  • initiate new and strengthen existing research collaborations;
  • enable access to unique infrastructure and core facilities; and
  • provide collaborative training opportunities.

This pilot fund will support activities that establish or enrich research partnerships between faculty at the two institutions. Activities might include project coordination and grant writing, joint workshops, student exchanges and research meetings. The expectation is that activities could lead to leveraged funding, joint- scholarly/research outputs and enhanced collaborative training. 

Eligibility:

The competition is open to all academic units, departments and disciplines at UBC and UW. Proposals must have a total of two lead principal applicants, one from each institution. Leads must be eligible to hold research grants. Faculty from all UW and UBC campuses are eligible.  

FUNDING DETAILS:

The total funding envelope available for this competition is $100,000 CAD from UBC and $75,000 USD from UW. The maximum value of each project will be $20,000 CAD, or $15,000 USD. UBC and UW lead PIs will each receive their allocation of the budget up to the maximum awarded amount. Funding will be released in a single instalment and must be spent within a year of award receipt.

Direct costs of research and faculty salaries are not eligible expenses. Examples of eligible expenses are salary/stipends for project coordinators, travel/accommodation costs, facilities/space rental for meetings, hospitality and catering costs. Successful applicants will be required to submit one co-authored report on the activities undertaken within one month of the end date of the project that summarizes the work completed and future plans.

Proposal submission process:

Collaborating researchers are invited to complete a single application through the UBC submission portal. Each application must include a three-page, free-form written proposal, a completed budget / justification template and each lead PI's abbreviated CV (max. 2 pages per CV).

The proposal must include:

  • a description of research themes; new directions for research and/or artistic creation;
  • objective measures of excellence in research and/or artistic creation of the team at UBC and UW (appropriate measures of excellence vary by discipline);
  • the proposed activities to foster research collaboration;
  • proposed leveraged and/or follow-on funding possibilities; and
  • anticipated outcomes/deliverables of the award.

*Note to Mac users: the budget justification template can not be opened in Mac's Preview to be fully functional. Adobe software is strongly recommended. 

Timelines:

The proposal deadline closed on February 10, 2020. Successful applicants were notified in March.

Application cycles for this competition are suspended until further notice.

review process:

A UBC–UW inter-institutional, interdisciplinary peer-review panel will review proposals and make decisions based on merit and the ability to demonstrate how funds will be used to catalyze future research between the two institutions.

assessment criteria:

Specific assessment criteria include:

  • demonstrated evidence of excellence in research and/or artistic creation (discipline-appropriate metrics) of the team;
  • potential for the collaborations to lead to leveraged funding or joint research outputs;
  • collaborative training opportunities for postdocs and students to travel to learn a new technique, use a facility or attend a workshop at UBC or UW; and
  • potential for the collaboration to have a transformative impact on research at UBC and UW.

UBC questions should be directed to Stacey Herzer [stacey.herzer@ubc.ca]

UW questions should be directed to Matt Orefice [morefice@uw.edu]

FAQs:
Q1. Can funds be used for faculty salaries/stipends?
Q2. Are UBC adjunct professors eligible to lead?
Q3. Do the budgets have to be split 50/50?
Q4. Can researchers participate in more than one application?
Q5. What types of metrics should be presented as ‘Demonstrated evidence of excellence in research and/or artistic creation’?
Q6. Can funds be used for laboratory or field research?