TIER 1: Seed Grant/Proof of Concept Program

The FY24 TIER 1 award recipients have been announced, you can find the full list here

FY24 Transforming Interdisciplinary Experiential Research (TIER) 1: Seed Grant/Proof of Concept Program

This competitive program provides funds to support and encourage individual faculty members to form multidisciplinary teams to secure proof of concept, with a goal of successfully competing for future external sponsored research opportunities. An explicit strategy for securing external funding must be outlined. Fifteen-month grants of up to $50,000 are available, provided by the College(s)/units and the Provost’s Office. It is expected that all projects will conclude by the end of the grant period and PIs will provide outcome reports related to follow-on external awards achieved as a result of the TIER 1 funding.

We are interested in supporting proposals that align with university and college strategic research priorities, using the “NABC” (Need, Approach, Benefits/Costs, Competition) format to frame their research proposal. Click here for more information on NABC. Applicants should consult the FY24 TIER 1 College Special Interests/Preferences list and with their Associate Deans for Research, about areas of special interest in the College review process. Projects with cross-college collaboration are heavily favored.

Mentored TIER 1: Mentored Awards will be made in addition to standard TIER 1 awards. Mentored TIER 1 awards will support interdisciplinary research collaboration between an early career tenure track faculty member(s) and a senior tenured faculty collaborator(s) from a different discipline/College in order to advance the development of the early career faculty’s research. In addition to dedicated mentorship, the benefits to early career faculty that could be provided through the interdisciplinary mentored award collaboration might include, for example: training and access to clinical or preclinical materials or subjects; advanced instrumentation or techniques; graduate research assistants; analytics or data sets; joint publications or grant submissions. Mentored Award submissions require a one-page mentoring plan.

Review Process: Proposals will be reviewed in a two-stage process beginning with the relevant colleges/units. Proposals that are endorsed will go forward to the SVPR for further consideration. Reviewers are asked to rank proposals based on the NABC format and budget feasibility.

PI Eligibility: All Co-PIs must be considered PI eligible by both their college(s) and by NU-RES PI Eligibility guidelines. If you are not in a college and/or unsure of your eligibility status, please consult with your director or Associate Dean for Research to determine if you are eligible to be a PI. Library staff are no longer eligible to be PIs on TIER 1 awards but can be named as additional collaborators.

Allowable Budget Components: Funding may not be requested for faculty salary support. Salary support for research scientists is allowed. Graduate students who are included on the grant must be named if already selected. For positions where a student hasn’t been hired, please list the college from which you intend to hire. All graduate students hired must be able to complete the work within the award period. Tuition is not an allowable charge.

Submission Limit: It is recommended that investigators apply as Co-PIs on no more than two applications. Faculty submitting or participating in a Mentored TIER 1 application may still submit/participate in up to two standard TIER 1 applications.

Please review the College Priorities and Submission Guidelines carefully before applying.

For questions regarding the TIER 1 application, submission guidelines, or signature form, please contact Jenna Horan at j.horan@northeastern.edu

For questions regarding PI eligibility and other items related specifically to your proposal, please refer to the TIER 1 College RD Contacts list to the right.