Resources
Virginia Tech provides resources to help faculty, staff, and students identify, pursue, and win sponsored research awards. Through these resources, researchers can develop and explore new ideas through seed funding, prepare proposals for an identified opportunity, and execute research through unique shared research facilities.
A collection of successful proposals written by Virginia Tech faculty to sponsors including the NSF, NIH, and other federal agencies and private organizations. These proposals illustrate how to articulate and support a compelling case for funding a research program, and are intended to be used as reference materials for proposal development. Virginia Tech login credentials required for access.
Cost Sharing is a financial commitment by Virginia Tech to share in the funding of a sponsored activity. The university will make a cost-sharing commitment only when required by the sponsor or by the competitive nature of the award and only to the extent necessary to meet the specific requirements of the sponsored project. University funds are limited and unnecessarily large cost share requests reduce funds available for other proposals and limit the impact of the university’s programs.
Research and development are the foundation of technology development and commercialization. Sponsors increasingly look to researchers to ensure the impact of their discoveries. Partner with LICENSE: The Center for Tech Commercialization, to make a plan for commercializing the results of your research.
The integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV) is a transformational cross-Commonwealth collaboration that leverages the latest advances in data science to accelerate innovation in health-related research and facilitate team science. Partners within iTHRIV include Carilion Clinic, Inova Health System, the University of Virginia, and Virginia Tech, and affiliates such as the Center for Open Science and the University of Virginia’s Licensing and Ventures Group.
iTHRIV is an National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award Program Hub and offers Virginia Tech faculty:
- The iTHRIV Research Concierge Portal provides a single online entry point to essential clinical and translational research resources and information
- The iTHRIV Scholars Program is a mentored, career development award over a two-year period
- A variety of pilot and seed grants to advance research
The University Libraries provides research support services for faculty at every stage of the research lifecycle including data management planning, systematic reviews, meta analyses, publishing, and research impact services.
Departments, colleges, and institutes across campus house specialized facilities, laboratories, instrumentation, and other capabilities that are accessible to Virginia Tech researchers. These resources are typically available for use on a cost reimbursable basis. Training for tool usage and data analysis are frequently available.
Virginia Tech Faculty Activity Support Team
The Virginia Tech Faculty Activity Support Team (VT-FAST) is a virtual team of Virginia Tech faculty and staff who support researchers in all aspects of proposal development with the goal to facilitate proposal submission, allowing faculty to focus on the research plan. VT-FAST supports ranges from single-investigator proposals to larger, more complex proposals involving teams with external partners, in both pre-award and post-award activities.
Faculty members are encouraged to support academic year research programs through sponsored projects. Faculty on regular appointments who are principal or co-principal investigators and whose base salaries are supported by E&G funds may receive an incentive for doing so.The research incentive payment is a one-time annual supplement to the recipient’s regular annual compensation.
The Office of Research and Innovation has identified sponsor-specific resources to assist Virginia Tech faculty, staff, and students in their pursuit of funding research projects.
To expand our capacity to support faculty research development, the Office of Research and Innovation has partnered with external organizations to provide access to on-demand resources and training.
Hanover Research
Their Grants Learning Center offers self-paced training including skillbuilding on topics like concept development and resubmission, and tailored tutorials on the NSF CAREER and NIH R-series grants. For an access code, email Eleanor Nelsen; enelsen@vt.edu.
They also have a series of webinars available to Virginia Tech users. We've collected the ones we think may be of particular interest:
You can also register to receive their weekly Grants Alert emails and monthly webinar invitations via the link here.
Publication Academy
These video tutorials are available as Canvas courses:
- Best practices in open science
- Cross-disciplinary collaboration
- Edited books: Write a proposal; build a team and manage logistics; write a chapter.
- Grant seeking, writing, and management
- How to set healthy boundaries and resolve conflict
- How to organize a conference symposium
- Leadership, mentorship, and supervision
- Managing your time, your projects, and yourself as a researcher
- Navigating the tenure process
- Translating research to practice and policy
- Writing recommendation letters
We’re offering these resources on a trial basis as we assess the best way to offer relevant, high-quality tools and guidance to a broad cross-section of researchers. If you have feedback on these materials, or ideas on what kind of training would be most useful, please let us know!