The Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) at UMKC is pleased to accept applications for the 2025-2026 Funding For Excellence (FFE) intramural funding program in the fields of Education, Health Sciences, and STEM. Applications are due Thursday, October 30, 2025, at 5 PM CDT.

FFE is an institutionally funded grants program to support the highest level of research, scholarship, and creative endeavors by UMKC faculty. For 2025-2026, there will be two distinct FFE rounds: Pool 1 - Education, Health Sciences, and STEM, and Pool 2 - Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. This announcement pertains solely to Pool 1. A separate announcement will be made in early Spring 2026 for proposals to support Pool 2 projects.

The goals of the FFE program are to provide funding which:

• Allows preliminary data collection to support significant future sponsored research submissions
• Encourages collaborative research between units (Schools, Divisions, Departments, or Disciplines)
• Enhances the research, scholarly, and creative reputation of UMKC
• Support highly innovative, high-risk projects

The program provides two funding tier options to support interdisciplinary collaborative and single investigator research. The total number of awards will depend upon the availability of funds. Awards will be made on a competitive basis, following review and recommendation by the UMKC Research Advisory Council (RAC).

Application Tiers

• Tier 1 – up to $75,000 (approx. 2 awards)

Tier 1 proposals are solicited for interdisciplinary multiple PI research proposals which must include a minimum of two contributing investigators representing independent UMKC units (Schools, Divisions, Departments, or Disciplines). Co-investigators external to UMKC are permitted provided the contributions from the external collaborator are covered by in-kind support. These proposals are intended to support preliminary data collection for major future submissions to NSF, NIH, and other external funding sources. The budget cap for Tier 1 proposals is $75,000; however, we encourage submitters to create a budget and justification that estimates what aspects of their research can be completed if smaller amounts were awarded (for example, $25K, $50K, full funding) and how each level of budget would support an external grant submission. The budget cap for Tier 1 proposals is $75,000.

• Tier 2 – up to $10,000 (approx. 4-5 awards)

Tier 2 proposals are solicited for single or multiple PI/co-PI research proposals. These proposals are intended to support data collection and preliminary research generation for future sponsored project submissions. For these proposals, multi-investigator, cross-unit applications are encouraged but not required. If multi-investigator, the same requirements for Tier 1 apply. The budget cap for Tier 2 proposals is up to $10,000.

Eligibility Requirements

Tenured, tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty at the rank of Assistant Professor or higher holding at least a 0.75 FTE appointment are eligible to serve as Investigators if their appointment allows it. Past recipients of FFE awards from the last 3 Fiscal Years 2023, 2024, and 2025 are ineligible to apply for this round. A PI may resubmit a previously unfunded proposal from a prior FFE cycle but must include an explanation of how the proposal has been revised and how the reviewers’ comments have been addressed.

FFE Submission Procedures

Submissions of proposals will be online. If you have questions regarding the submission process, please email ori@umkc.edu. If you have questions regarding the specifics of this intramural funding call for proposals, please send a detailed email to the RAC Chair.

Since FFE awards are intramural, applications should not be submitted to ORI Pre-Award. Please submit your application via this portal: 2025-2026 FFE Application Submissions

Important:

Log in with your UMKC SSO account to access the application. If you are signed into a personal Gmail, you can either switch accounts or open the form in a Private/Incognito window. To open a private window, chose one of the following:

• Chrome: Press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) or Command+Shift+N (Mac).
• Edge: Press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) or Command+Shift+N (Mac).
• Firefox: Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows) or Command+Shift+P (Mac).
• Safari (Mac): Press Command+Shift+N.

Then paste the form link into that window and log in with your UMKC SSO (xxxx@umsystem.edu).

NOTE: Applications are due Thursday, October 30, 2025, at 5 PM CDT. Proposals that do not conform to the submission guidelines will be returned without review.

Application Structure Guidelines

The project narrative must not exceed FIVE (5) numbered pages and must be submitted online, along with all associated documents, by the 5:00 p.m. deadline on Thursday, October 30, 2025, at 5 PM CDT.

The text must be single-spaced with a standardized, non-condensed font in either 11-point or 12-point font size. Use no less than 0.5-inch margins throughout. The bibliography section is NOT included in the 5-page limit. Applicants are encouraged to use the following outline when preparing the proposal narrative; however, additional sections may be added as appropriate. The length of each section is just a guide, and applicant may vary the length of the sections based on their need while keeping to the 5-page limit.

For resubmission of a proposal, up to one page that is not included in the 5-page limit may be used to describe how the proposal has been revised and to address reviewers’ comments.

1. Brief Introduction & Specific Aims (1 page suggested)

• Specific objectives including what the return on investment will be
• Statement of how the proposed project is collaborative (if applicable)

2. Significance and Innovation Statement (1/2 page suggested)

• Significance of the work, including a statement on the impact to UMKC
• Description of the innovation of the research

3. Project Background (1 page suggested)

• Previous work of the applicant(s) and by other scholars in the proposed project area
• Relationship of the proposed project to current state-of-the-field
• Description of how this FFE project advances the field
• List of FFE awards received by the applicant and collaborators in the last 4 years along with the outcomes including publications and extramural grant applications. State whether these applications are pending, declined, or awarded.

4. General Plan of Work (2 pages suggested)

• Design of activities to be undertaken, including methods and procedures
• Plans for preservation, documentation, and sharing of data or products, if appropriate
• Description of the role of each collaborator in execution of research plan

5. Expected Achievements, Future Plans, & Timetable (suggested 1/2 page)

• State the expected deliverable(s) AND how this award will support a larger external grant application
• Timetable for completion of project within one year

The following documents are required and are additional to the above 5-page limit:

6. Budget and Justification Please use the budget template provided on the ORI FFE webpage and include a brief justification of budgeted items. Please note, the FFE funds are not intended to support or supplement faculty salaries. However, for PIs and co-PIs on 9-month appointments, a salary request is permitted but the combined PI/co-PI salary request is capped at $4000 for Tier 1 proposals and $2000 for Tier 2 proposals.  FFE Pool 1 Budget Template

Your budget must be signed by your supervisor (Department or Division Chair, or if you are Chair, your Dean), prior to submitting the proposal.

7. Bibliography
8. Appendix 1-page appendix with supplementary figures, tables, etc. is allowed.
9. Biosketch

• Please use either the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Biosketch form—Or use the instructions provided for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a Biosketch- there is no actual form, but it provides detailed instructions on what to include - NSF Biosketch Instructions.

• If the intent is to use this FFE award for another funding agency, the applicant may choose either the NIH or NSF format for their Biosketch. The choice of Biosketch must be consistent for all named applicants on the proposal.
• “Print” your Biosketch to PDF prior to combining with the full proposal.

10. Statement on human subjects and/or experimental animals (if applicable)

• If the proposed study involves the use of human subjects and/or experimental animals, the appropriate protocols MUST be filed for review with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), respectively, at the time of application. A statement with the date when the protocol was submitted must be included with the final submission documents. If an IRB or IACUC protocol has already been approved, please indicate the approved protocol number and the date of approval and expiry. Applications without the accompanying required IRB and IACUC protocol submission will not be evaluated.

11. Letter of Collaboration

• Internal or external collaborators should include a signed letter of collaboration describing their role in the project and in preparation of this application. External collaborators should include any intended in-kind contributions to the project.

Convert the final budget template and justification, bibliography, Appendix (if needed), all Biosketches, the statement on human/animal subjects (if applicable), and letter(s) of collaboration into PDF format and then combine with the 5-page application narrative into a single PDF file, with the narrative appearing first in the single combined PDF. Please contact the Office of Research & Innovation (ORI) for assistance with compiling all information into one document if needed.

FFE Proposal Evaluation

Each proposal will be reviewed by UMKC’s Research Advisory Committee (RAC) using the following criteria.

1. Do the intended outcomes (deliverables) of this application align with the FFE goals including development into a competitive application for an external grant (where appropriate).
2. Are the deliverables feasible given the applicant’s background, expertise, budget, timetable, and plan? AND is the budget and scope appropriate for the selected Tier?
3. Quality of Proposal (Clarity, Significance, Innovation): List the proposal strengths and weaknesses.

Three reports are due at various times after the conclusion of the FFE grant period. Reports will be due at the end of the grant period, usually one year (if there is no extension) after the initial grant award, three years, and five years. Reports will be submitted via an online system maintained by ORI, who will also provide reminders of report due dates. For example, an FFE grant awarded in Fall 2026 will have reports detailing outcomes due at the end of Fall 2027, Fall 2029, and Fall 2031.

5. The reports will utilize dialog box capture of the elements of an FFE project, in addition to a pdf upload for additional information. The elements will include:
   1. Executive summary <250 words
   2. Research proposals based on the FFE project submitted and their status
   3. Other outcomes (publications, scholarly works, student thesis/dissertation, etc.)
6. Failure of a PI to submit any of the required fiscal and reporting documents over the 5 year reporting period and/or absence of evidence of proposal submission to an external funding agency if required, will result in both PI and/or co-PIs being ineligible from applying for future FFE awards for a period of no earlier than 5 years from the initial proposal submission. For example, if the requirements are not met, then a PI and/or co-PI granted funds in Fall 2026 will be ineligible to submit any FFE proposals as PI or co-PI before Fall 2032.