Principles of Effective Grantsmanship, Part 1 of 5:  Resources for Research and Sponsored Programs

Investigators are often juggling course preparation, committee obligations, advising students, publishing in their field of expertise, and service to the community.  Added to their plate may be the desire or expectation to engage in sponsored programs, which adds the additional challenge of resource management while learning about the funding climate, submission systems, and sponsor and institutional rules and regulations.

Whether an investigator is new to research or seasoned, the Colorado State University (CSU) Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) exists to “…enable the University, its faculty, staff and students to emerge as a world-class research institution…” and thus supports a number of initiatives and units with the mission to support research, both funded and unfunded, at CSU.

VPR Initiatives

• Catalyst for Innovative Partnerships (CIP) Program brings together collaborative researchers from across CSU to work together on pressing global problems. Every two years a group of research teams is seeded with $200,000 over two years and provided infrastructural support to seek partners and resources in order to develop relationships that will nurture the creation and delivery of solutions in energy, health, and the environment. The next round of applications will be accepted in 2019.

Support Units/Services

Research Acceleration Office (RAO)- Balancing expectations takes career planning, and at CSU, the RAO can assist early  to mid-career investigators in planning their short- and long-term goals.  Additionally, RAO runs a limited submission program for opportunities that set a maximum number of allowable applications per institution and hosts the Sponsored Programs Information Network (SPIN) database of over 40,000 searchable funding opportunities.

Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP)- Navigating complex submission systems, internal proposal routing and approval, budget development, contract negotiation and grants management are just some of the areas the OSP supports and assists.  Additionally, college and unit-based pre- and post-award offices are here to help investigators navigate CSU systems and policies while providing resources for success when it comes to sponsored research.

University Advancement (UA)- UA is your place to go when looking to develop foundation, corporate, and industry partnerships.  In addition to hosting a crowd funding site to support CSU projects, Foundation Relations under UA helps faculty and staff assess how foundations can help with their funding needs and can assistance in proposal writing specific to foundations.

Research Integrity and Compliance Review Office (RICRO) provides assistance to researchers, staff, and the faculty oversight committees in maintaining an ethical environment for activities in the following research and teaching areas:

• Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC)
• Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)
• Conflict of Interest (COI)
• Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)
• Quality Assurance (QA)

CSU Writes– Finding time to write, whether it be a grant proposal, publication, or course syllabus, can be challenging.  CSU Writes offers faculty opportunities to gather with colleagues from colleges and departments across campus to discuss their academic writing practices and to develop healthy, even happy, writing habits.

The list of research support resources offered here is far from comprehensive.  It’s really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to resources available to the CSU research community.  Look for additional resources to be sprinkled though this multi-part series, “Principles of Effective Grantsmanship,” which includes:

• Resources for Research and Sponsored Programs
• Finding the Right Opportunity
• Defining (and Refining) the Request
• Planning for Success
• Write and Rewrite