The primary goal of the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) Research Excellence Program (REP) is to provide seed funding to fuel innovative research, scholarship, and creative endeavors with strong potential for:

• Significant extramural funding from federal and state sponsors, corporations, industry partners, and foundations.
• Achievements consistent with the highest standards of accomplishment in the discipline.

Continued institutional priority areas for the 2023-2024 (FY24) REP Cycle

In response to the findings of the President’s Taskforce on Mental Health and Wellness and the President’s Taskforce for Combating Sexual Violence and Supporting Our Students, the OVPR is encouraging submission of proposals that advance innovative research and scholarship in the areas of institutional priority addressed by each task force.

Accordingly, for the FY24 REP cycle (deadlines 12/15/23), the OVPR invites and welcomes REP proposals addressing mental health and wellness in adolescents and young adults or addressing sexual violence on college or university campuses.  Specific guidelines for these priority areas follow below:

• Applicants proposing work in one of these priority areas should indicate their intentions as part of the application.
  • Include “REP Priority Area:” to begin the proposal title
  • Select the appropriate priority area(s) within the REP application form
• Priority area applicants/proposals must comply with all guidelines of the REP program
• Proposals from all disciplines and topic areas are welcome under the REP and will be given full consideration.  Proposals in these highlighted priority topic areas will be reviewed alongside of other REP proposals in the appropriate disciplinary review group.

What is the REP Funds:

• The REP is focused on facilitating projects that have a strong potential to stand out as excellent, both within their disciplines and beyond, adding to UConn’s reputation for innovative research, scholarship, and creative activities.
• Proposals for research or creative projects in all areas and for a wide variety of purposes are encouraged. We recognize that scholarly excellence comes in many forms.
• Emphasis will be given to projects for which REP funding will make a crucial difference in making a significant accomplishment feasible or make a project substantially more competitive for external funding. REP funding should be a “game-changer,” not an add-on to an already competitive project.
• Multi-PI, interdisciplinary projects are encouraged. Faculty are encouraged to use Lincus, a search engine that will assist in identifying specific faculty expertise at all UConn campuses, including UConn Health.
• Proposals addressing opportunities for technology commercialization may be submitted to the REP competition.
• No preference will be given to proposals based on academic rank of the PI or Co-PIs.
• We encourage resubmissions of proposals that have been not funded in the past, provided that review panel summaries are provided and PIs explain how they are addressing feedback in the new submission. Previous comments must be addressed whether the PI agrees with them or not.

Note: Submissions to this program are made via a third-party software application, SurveyMonkey Apply.  The terms of use and privacy statements for this software apply to your use of it and to the information you provide in your application.  Before proceeding with your submission, please review their terms and privacy statements linked below.