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Research

Overview

UGP proposals are due February 25, 2025.

Funded by the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship (ORCS), the UGP is intended to foster innovative research and creative accomplishments.  Unless otherwise specified, funds may be requested by faculty in any area of research or creative work. Successful proposals may be funded at less than the amount requested. This year’s UGP grants include the following.

For full detail on each of these programs, follow their respective links. There you will find details including examples of eligible requests and additional information regarding eligibility for each. 

Applying

UGP proposals are due February 25, 2025.

For information on how to prepare and submit an application, see the How to Apply page.

If you need further assistance, please reach out to UM's Research Development Office (RDO) by completing this brief form. The RDO is availble to assist with proposal development by answering your questions, discussing strategy, and reviewing a draft of your proposal. Note that the RDO cannot accommodate unscheduled requests. 

Additionally, the recording of a 2024 UGP information session is available in Box.

Important dates

UGP proposals are due February 25, 2025.

Project Start Date Range for 2025 awards: May 1 - June 30, 2025

Project End Date Range for 2025 awards: April 30 - June 29, 2026

Note that the review committee will consider start and end dates outside of these ranges if necessary to complete the proposed work. The applicant must provide a clear justification if their proposed start and end dates fall outside of these ranges. 

More Funding Options

Whether or not you decide to apply to the University Grant Program, you may want to consider other internal sources of funding to support your work. 

  • Humanities Research Grants. Administered by the Humanities Institute and funded by ORCS, these research grants support the pursuit of humanities research and promote humanities scholarship. Because they are funded by the same source, faculty can hold either a Humanities Research Grant or a UGP award at any given time. 
  • Health-related grants. There are several local and regional opportunities available to researchers in National Institutes of Health-related fields. If your work is related to human health, reach out to Katherine Swan to learn more. 
  • Coalition for Indigenous STEM (CIS) grants. Through funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, there is funding available to support work with indigenous peoples. The three opportunities available are described below. For more information, contact Kristen Byrne (CIS Project Manager) and Aaron Thomas (CIS Lead PI).
    • Mini grants: mini grants will be provided for faculty/staff to visit tribal communities to start new collaborations. The CIS project could also find a mentor for faculty/staff awarded mini grant to visit tribal communities. CIS budgeted funding for travel and compensation for mentors.
    • Tribal Hometown Visits: The CIS project provides funding to support non-Indigenous academic faculty advisor to visit their Indigenous graduate student’s hometown, with the intention being that such an experience will enhance their holistic understanding of the Indigenous graduate advisee in cultural contexts and create more productive and meaningful professional relationships. Details and application portal can be accessed here.
    • Indigenous Mentoring Program: Each fall semester, the Office of Organizational Learning and Development's (OOLD) professional development series offers the Indigenous Mentoring Program (IMP). This two-part workshop series is available to faculty, graduate students, administrators, and staff who currently mentor, or are interested in mentoring, Indigenous students. CIS project is funding the guest speakers for IMP. Details about IMP and registrations can be accessed here.
  • If you would like to seek external funding, you may visit our funding search tool, Funding Institutional. If you need help getting logged in, contact Katherine Swan.