Interdisciplinary & Community-Engaged Research Grant

• Funds collaborative research that crosses departmental lines within Radow College or partners Radow faculty with community and civic organizations.
• Eligible teams consist of either two or more faculty from different departments/units working jointly, or one or more faculty partnering with an identified community/civic organization.
• Targets projects that require collaborative infrastructure, community access, or civic engagement capacity that individual or single-department awards cannot provide.
• Awardees commit to submitting a federal extramural grant application to NEH/NEA, NSF, or NIH within one year after the grant period ends, positioning teams for sustained external funding.

The Interdisciplinary & Community-Engaged Research Grant exists to catalyze collaborative scholarship that crosses departmental boundaries or connects Radow College faculty with community and civic partners around a shared research agenda. Reflecting the college’s humanities and social sciences identity, this award is designed for projects whose scope and coordination needs (i.e., co-investigator planning, community relationship-building, data-sharing arrangements, civic engagement logistics) exceed what smaller internal awards can support. The award is structured to seed genuine, sustained partnerships rather than one-off co-authorship, and to move interdisciplinary or community-partnered teams toward a competitive submission within the NEH/NEA, NSF, or NIH funding landscape.

Applicant teams must meet one of the following two structures, in addition to all shared criteria below:

• Teams
  –    Cross-departmental team: Two or more full-time tenured or tenure-track Radow College faculty from different departments or units, collaborating as co-PIs or co-investigators on a shared research agenda; OR
  –    Community-engaged team: One or more full-time tenured or tenure-track Radow College faculty partnering with an identified community, civic, or nonprofit organization on a shared research agenda.
• All applicant teams must submit a short collaboration plan (2–3 pages) describing team member roles, division of labor, and joint work products.

• Collaborations
  –   Community-partnered proposals must name the partner organization and include a letter of commitment/support from that partner; the partner organization itself need not be KSU-affiliated.
  –   Cross-departmental proposals must identify all participating departments/units and each collaborator’s specific role and contribution.
  

• All faculty team members must be in good standing within the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

• As a condition of the award, the team commits to submitting an external federal grant application to NEH/NEA, NSF, or NIH within one year of the grant period’s completion.
• Teams that have previously received this award for the same collaboration or partnership must demonstrate expanded scope or a new project focus to reapply.

1. Full Application Submission: Completed application packet must be submitted via the college’s designated system, InfoReady, by the posted deadline.
2. Required Components:
   –    Project narrative (3–5 pages): research question, significance, and explanation of why an interdisciplinary or community-engaged approach is necessary to address the research question.
   –    Collaboration plan (2–3 pages): team member roles, division of labor, governance/communication structure, and joint deliverables.
   –    Community partner letter of commitment (if applicable) or documentation of cross-departmental participation (if applicable).
   –    Federal grant target plan: identified NEH, NSF, or NIH program/mechanism, and anticipated submission timeline within one year of grant completion
   –    Detailed budget and budget justification aligned with Allowable Expenses.
   –    Biosketch (sciENcv) for all faculty team members.
3. Internal Review: Applications will be reviewed by the Radow College Associate Dean of Research using the Evaluation Rubric below.
4. Notification & Award Setup: Successful applicants will be notified by e-mail; funding will be made available through the college’s research administration process; reporting requirements will be outlined in the award e-mail.

Applications will be reviewed by the Radow College Associate Dean of Research. Review criteria emphasize the authenticity and depth of the collaboration or community partnership, feasibility of the joint work plan, strategic fit with the college’s interdisciplinary and community-engagement priorities, and the credibility of the team’s federal grant target and one-year submission timeline. The reviewer may request revisions, clarifications, or interviews before final funding decisions. Awards are competitive and not guaranteed based on eligibility alone; the reviewer will prioritize teams most likely to sustain the collaboration and submit a competitive federal application within the required window.

Total: 100%. Minimum threshold score for funding recommendation to be determined by the reviewer. 

Examples of Allowable Expenses:

• Summer salary in June.
• Graduate or undergraduate research assistant support.
• Travel directly tied to cross-departmental coordination or community-partner engagement.
• Preliminary/pilot data collection directly supporting the planned federal proposal.
• Statistical, methodological, grant-writing, or other expertise consultation.

Not Allowable:

• Conference travel to present research (please request this support from your department).
• Expenses that primarily benefit a single-PI project without genuine cross-departmental or community collaboration.
• Equipment purchases not directly justified by the collaborative research aims.
• Retroactive reimbursement for activities completed prior to award notification.
• Use of funds for projects unrelated to the stated collaboration, community partnership, or federal grant target.
• All funding must be expended or encumbered by the date noted in your written award notification and is subject to standard institutional budget and procurement policies.

• Primary Deliverable: Submission of a federal extramural grant application to NEH/NEA, NSF, or NIH on behalf of the collaborative team within one year after the grant period’s completion.
• Interim Reporting: A brief progress update (written, ~1 page) at the midpoint of the award period, summarizing progress on the collaboration/partnership and readiness for the federal submission.
• Final Report: At the close of the grant period, the team must document collaboration outcomes (joint products, partnership status) and confirm the targeted federal program and submission timeline.
• Post-Award Confirmation: Within one year of grant completion, the team must provide documentation of the submitted federal application (confirmation, agency, mechanism, requested amount).
• Acknowledgment: Any resulting proposal, presentation, or publication arising from award activities should acknowledge Radow College Research Advancement Award support.
• Non-Completion: Teams that do not submit a federal grant application within the required one-year window must provide a written explanation to the Associate Dean of Research; this may affect eligibility for future signature awards.
• Strategic Reporting: Aggregate outcomes (number of collaborations, community partnerships formed, submissions, dollar amounts requested, funding decisions) will be reported by the Radow College Associate Dean of Research to support college-level research development metrics.