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LIRA Program
The Provost and the Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement, in coordination with the Chancellor, have established the Large-scale Integrative Research Awards (LIRA) program. LIRA will offer seed funds totaling up to $400,000 to support integrated team efforts to develop large-scale initiatives. The goal of this program is to empower creativity; to promote equitable collaborations, especially those that foster diversity, equity, and inclusion; and to attract substantial external funding. Preference will be given to projects that address large-scale societal problems, with potential for significant impact.
The program will provide professional cohort-based training to awarded teams on integrative teaming, equitable collaboration, and budget planning, and research development support for ideation and proposal development. LIRA topic areas should be well aligned with campus strengths, including, but not limited to, strategic emphasis areas, such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Sustainability; Healthy Aging; Society and Technology; and Data Science. The Provost and VCRE have also announced another seed funding opportunity – the Interdisciplinary Research Grants (IRG). IRG will focus on these same areas of emphasis but will target faculty teams at the earliest stages of collaboration who may not be targeting external funding.
Award start date: July 1, 2023
The LIRA program has two tracks:
- Track 1 - Integrative Team Development awards up to $30,000. Track 1 supports the development of integrated team research, often spanning multiple disciplines, leading to proposals for significant extramural funding of $1 million per year or more for at least 3 years. Track 1 awards will support integrative team development and may support research to demonstrate the viability of the concept.
- Track 2 - Center Development awards up to $60,000. Track 2 supports the advancement of integrated teams, often spanning multiple disciplines, with a vision for a large, center-level grant proposal leading to external funding of $3 million per year or more for at least 5 years. Track 2 awards will support teams with pre-existing collaborations among participants.
Info Session
The Office of Research Development hosted an info session for potential teams to help them determine their level of team readiness and provide guidance on writing a successful application to the LIRA program. The recording of the presentation and Q & A and the slide presentation can be accessed through these links:
LIRA Info Session slide presentation
LIRA Awardee Professional Training Overview
Awarded teams have expressed their commitment to building their capacity to pursue large, multi-investigator funding opportunities. To achieve this end, awarded teams will participate in cohort-based integrative team development and research development strategy sessions. In addition, individual teams will participate in ideation and proposal development consultations. Workshops and consultations on team development will cover team assessment, integrative teaming skills, and equitable collaboration. Workshops and consultations on research development will cover research questions and center vision development, grant proposal strategy and project management, and budget development.
Program information and resources will be posted here (coming soon).
