Strategic Partnerships to Advance Research and Creative activity (SPARC)
SPARC is a major investment of $800,000 aimed at supporting interdisciplinary research and creative activities at UMass Amherst. SPARC grants will build upon and strengthen our existing campus strengths such as data science, health and wellbeing, social justice and equity, sustainability and the environment, and technology, arts, and society, as well as other emerging areas at the leading edge of research and innovation.
The SPARC fund is a single program to streamline and replace the Interdisciplinary Research Grant (IRG) and Large-Scale Integrative Research Awards (LIRA) programs that were offered for the past two academic years.
With this combined approach, SPARC seed grants are designed to: empower creativity, support interdisciplinary collaborations, strengthen the campus’ areas of excellence, promote equitable collaborations, attract external funding, and bring other forms of recognition to our faculty. This funding opportunity is designed to enable scholarly teams to launch or advance interdisciplinary work to address prevailing challenges or explore new areas of inquiry.
SPARC seed grants are offered to teams of faculty members and librarians, with strong preference for teams that include members from at least two different schools/colleges within the University. The projects proposed by each team are expected to represent a new direction or aspect of interdisciplinary collaboration, align with one of the themes of interdisciplinary excellence identified above, and generate significant and tangible outcomes that “spark” continued momentum in research and creative activity.
Four tiers of funding are available:
- SPARC 1: To support conceptualization projects that bring together new teams to pursue research and creative projects and develop new working themes. Strong preference will be given to teams with faculty members with no prior collaborations. Up to $10,000.
- SPARC 2: To support advanced collaborative projects that lead to one or more interdisciplinary publications or the development of a proposal to pursue smaller external funding opportunities (including state, corporate, foundation or federal funding). Up to $20,000.
- SPARC 3: To support grant development projects from foundations or federal agencies (average of $1M+ total costs per year for at least three years). Teams in this tier will work throughout the 2024-25 academic year with staff from the Office for Research Development on their proposal for external funding. A target funding opportunity should be identified prior to applying for SPARC 3 funds. Up to $50,000.
- SPARC 4: To support proposals for center-level funding or other large-scale grants from federal agencies (average of $3M+ total costs per year for at least 5 years). Teams in this tier will also work throughout the 2024-25 academic year with staff from the Office for Research Development on their proposal. A target funding opportunity should be identified prior to applying for SPARC 4 funds. Up to $75,000.
Information Session:
An information session hosted by the Office for Research Development and the Office of the Provost was held on October 4th, 2024. Both the presentation and a recording of the session are available for additional information which can help potential teams determine their level of readiness and provide guidance on writing a successful application to the SPARC program.
Request for Proposals:
Click here to view the SPARC Request for Proposals and review the SPARC FAQs. You can submit your application in InfoReady.
We welcome your engagement and look forward to supporting you in this collaborative endeavor. Please direct questions about this program to Associate Vice Chancellor and Vice Provost for Research and Engagement, Laura Vandenberg: @email.