National Louis University Annual Seed Grant Program
NLU’s Seed Grant program, an initiative of the Provost’s Office, provides small grants to support full time faculty and staff in launching engaged research agendas that hold the promise of external funding and link to NLU’s strategic priorities. The grants have built meaningful research agendas, and have a strong financial return, bringing in significant external funding.
The Seed Grants are managed by the Research Support Group, a cross-university group of faculty and staff who carry out initiatives to support and grow scholarship at NLU.
Seed Grant Frequently Asked Questions
Basic information about the Seed Grants can be found in the FAQs, below.
The rationale for the Seed Grant Program is to stimulate and support NLU faculty in research, scholarship, and innovation by “seeding” projects that show promise for attracting external funding and/or for creating financially sustainable innovation. This rationale is consistent with the NLU Strategic Planning goals to, “foster a culture of research, inquiry and scholarship,” “create structure and process to build capacity in support of an NLU-wide research and dissemination agenda that’s collaborative, engaged, and interdisciplinary,” and “build paths to distinction in each college.”
All seed grants are for a two-year timeline. Year 1 focuses on completing the pilot research study or, for affinity groups, developing a research agenda. Y2 focuses on taking part in a supported process for developing a proposal for external funding.
Any current, full-time faculty member from any track OR any full-time staff member may apply as Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI. Any adjunct faculty member in good standing may apply as a co-Principal Investigator, with a full-time faculty member as the co-PI. All of the above and graduate students can be team members; graduate students cannot serve as the PI. Applicants can be part of only one seed grant proposal for each grant cycle.
Track 1: Individual Seed Grant awards typically fall within a range from $2,500 to $7,000 for the total budget over the grant period.
Track 2: Affinity Group Grants awards typically fall within a range from $2,500 to $10,000 for the total budget over the grant period.
The Provost’s Office releases a Request for Proposals notification by email and through other announcement channels. Application requirements include a narrative of approximately five pages in length, budget information, and a timeline of goals and benchmarks. The application can be found on the right side of this page.
Applications are submitted via an online submission form linked in the RFP. Applications are reviewed by the Research Support Group (RSG), which then makes recommendations to the Provost’s Office. Final determinations are made by the Provost’s Office.
An online informational session is held approximately one week after the release of the RFP. Individual consultations with Research Support Group members are also available; sign up information will be sent with RFP release.
