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Proposed Changes to Limited Submission Process from the Academic Senate Committee on Research

February 24, 2016

Limited submission policy proposal Academic Senate Committee on Research February 22, 2016

  1.  The RDS website provides a detailed description of the institution’s limited submission process. This site may be accessed at http://rds.ucmerced.edu/fundingopportunities/limited-submission-opportun.... A listing of known limited submission opportunities is available within a system called InfoReady Review/ CompetitionSpace maintained by RDS. Limited submission applications are completed, submitted, and reviewed via the InfoReady/ CompetitionSpace system, https://ucmerced.infoready4.com/.
  2. We attempt to send an email announcement out to all faculty alerting them of a pending limited submission opportunity at least 12 weeks before the sponsor deadline (and typically 4-6 weeks before the internal deadline).
  3. For opportunities that have not yet been identified and posted on the website 10 weeks before the sponsor deadline, the first PI to alert RDS of the opportunity at this point will automatically be one of the campus submissions. RDS will then announce the opportunity immediately (within 1-2 business days) and follow the standard procedure (described below) to identify the remaining campus submissions. The process will be expedited as needed at the Vice Chancellor of Research and Economic Development’s discretion if the notice received becomes too short for a full review at both school and campus levels. Such competitions will be marked as ‘Expedited Competitions’. Given the short timeframe for internal coordination and Internal Selection Committee review, the Dean or ORU Director nomination may not be requested.
  4. Each School Dean and ORU Director may submit up to the maximum amount of nominees as allowed for the entire campus by the extramural sponsor. For example, the NSF Major Instrumentation Program only allows each campus to submit up to three proposals in a given cycle. Thus each School and ORU can nominate up to three potential proposals for MRI competition.
  5. A Dean or ORU Director proposal nomination requires review of each applicant’s proposal, consisting of a two-page project summary, one-page budget, and short bio-sketch. The Dean or ORU Director’s review decision is captured by granting ‘approval’ or ‘disapproval’ of each candidate. Brief comments are provided for each nomination named to proceed for consideration by the Internal Selection Committee. The source of any mandatory cost sharing, if required must also be identified. The use of a faculty committee such as the School Executive Committee or the steering/executive committee for ORUs to rank internal submissions is preferred and this should be indicated in the Dean’s or ORU Director’s comments. The process from internal submission deadline to School/ORU nominations should not exceed 2 weeks.
  6. Once the nominations have been received (typically 5-6 weeks before the sponsor deadline) the Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) assembles a team of UCM faculty reviewers (typically three), the Internal Selection Committee who recommend the proposal(s) to go forward on behalf of UC Merced. Reviewers are asked to provide rankings based on the review criteria and comments in support of each proposal nomination, describing the strengths and weakness of the proposal. Typically the reviewers consider such factors as: i) the strength of the research team, ii) the feasibility of the research, iii) the fit of the proposed activity to the RFA, and iv) probability of the proposed activity of success in the competition in question.
  7. Following the recommendation of the reviewers, ORED notifies the faculty applicants of the results of the limited submission competition, typically 4 weeks before the sponsor deadline. RDS offers its assistance to those members of the faculty who are chosen to submit to the opportunity in question. RDS also offers to help in identifying alternate funding sources for those faculty members not chosen for this particular submittal opportunity. RDS will share all reviews received with the faculty in question. Reviewers will remain anonymous during the entire limited submission process.