IRRoC Search

The University of Maryland engages in strategic partnerships with a variety of external organizations. Research and innovation generated through partnerships between academia, industry and government can help solve national and international challenges and spur economic development.

Submitting proposals, conducting research, and administrating sponsored projects involves many different people and units throughout the University of Maryland campus. While there may be some minor variations in processes from department to department and college to college, this page outlines the general process and identifies the appropriate party that has primary responsibility for different activities throughout the life cycle of a sponsored award.

Reliable and secure data center facilities are available for IT hardware colocation use by college and departmental IT units and researchers. Equipment owners provide their own technical support. Accommodations are made for both remote and physical access to equipment.

Need a customized hardware, software, storage and backup, or online solution for your research project? Speak with one of our IT professionals to set you on the right path toward maximizing your resources and utilizing the IT infrastructure that the University offers. We can help you develop a plan for your proposal, estimate costs for budgets, plan for data access and security concerns, and connect you with the resources you need to complete your research.

Our professionals provide expert guidance, project consultation, and technical assistance on various aspects of data curation, especially creating and disseminating open data, code, and other research products. You can consult us about data governance issues, documentation and metadata, data sharing and publishing, long-term archiving, and related topics. In some cases, we can perform pre-dissemination cleaning, transformation, and integration. In addition, we can help with data management or data sharing plans for funding agencies and journals.

The University of Maryland has a variety of state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories across campus. Find out more about these facilities and how you can use them in your research.

The John and Stella Graves Makerspace is a center where the UMD community can use technology and tools to create prototypes, experiment and learn. Try new equipment and experiment with all sorts of materials on your own, or attend a workshop. Equipment includes 3D printers, virtual and augmented reality devices, and is available to check out. Guest lectures can also be prepared for classes.

Core facilities are shared services and laboratories available to researchers at the University of Maryland. Some of these facilities are institutional research cores and are available on a fee-for-service basis to UM investigators. Other core facilities are supported by individual departments, specific grants or groups of investigators, and may also be available on a fee-for-service or collaborative basis.

Identify institutes and centers on campus that conduct work in key areas such as advanced computing, energy, engineering, environment and the climate, health and biomedical research, information, data and digital humanities, international studies, language, physical sciences, politics, security and defense.

The OMB Uniform Guidance is a set of regulations that impact the proposals you develop for federal funding, the way grants and contracts are managed, and the cost principles that guide research at the University of Maryland College Park.

The IACUC reviews the use of animals in research, testing and teaching to ensure the humane and ethical use of animals, and compliance with federal laws and their associated regulations, policies and guidelines.Researchers must have IACUC approval to conduct research that involves vertebrate animals.

UMD has a mission of promoting academic freedom and sharing of information to the greatest extent possible. However, in some cases, UMD researchers may create or have access to sensitive technologies that are controlled by US export laws. Researchers and administrators dealing in sensitive technologies need to be mindful of the legal restrictions including the significant personal liability associated with handling sensitive technologies. It is the primary goal of the Export Compliance Office (ECO) to protect our researchers and support research advancement by providing the least burdensome approach to complying with US export laws.

The Department of Environmental Safety (DES) ensures the safety of research at the University by aiding researchers in assessing and planning for hazards and risks, implementing controls for safety, and completing safety training. Researchers working with chemical or biological materials, radiation, environmental hazards, fire, boats, and researchers with specialized laboratory requirements should contact DES to prepare for research needs.

A financial conflict of interest (FCOI) disclosure must be submitted along with a proposal to any Public Health Service (PHS) agency, even if there is no FCOI present. The Research Compliance Office provides assistance in completing the disclosures through www.irbnet.org. Researchers should also complete the required CITI program training on conflict of interest.

The CITI program offers courses to UM researchers on Responsible conduct of research (RCR) and Conflict of Interest (COI). RCR training is required for all undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and staff participating in and supported by funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF) or from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Required training on COI can also be completed through the CITI program.

The IRB approves the initiation of and conducts periodic reviews of research involving human participants. An Institutional Review Board (IRB) is a committee that performs ethical review of proposed research to help assure the protection of the rights and welfare of human participants. Investigators also share the responsibility for protecting human participants. IRB review is required for any project at the University that is engaged in human subjects research by: intervening or interacting with living individuals for research purposes or, obtaining individually identifiable private information for research purposes.

Search for funding opportunities that fit your project. Search by keyword and register to receive alerts as new funding becomes available. SPINPlus is the funding search database available to UMD faculty, staff and students. Click on the "See Also" link below for the SPIN Instruction Manual on how to create an account, set up standard filters, and maximize searches.

Seed Grant Programs support research and collaboration between the University of Maryland and the co-sponsoring institution. These programs include partnerships with the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Maryland Baltimore, the Future of Information Alliance, the National Cancer Institute, Leidos, and the University of Maryland Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research. Seed grants encourage new teams of investigators to cross institutional and disciplinary boundaries, to enhance established collaborative teams to move to the next level in their research, to establish specific high impact research foci and/or generate preliminary data to support new areas of endeavor and to encourage research that leads to new funding opportunities. Guidelines and forms for Seed Grant Programs can be found on VPR's website.

Browse and apply for open internal and external funding opportunities, including Limited Submissions, Seed Grant Programs, and Tier I and Tier II Faculty Incentive Programs. These funding opportunities are open to UMD faculty and staff.

VPR supports research and scholarly activity of UMD faculty through use of the Designated Research Initiative Fund (DRIF). Guidelines and forms for the Faculty Incentive Program can be found on VPR's website.

Proposals must be routed through Kuali Research in most instances when being submitted through an electronic system and when signature by an Authorized Institutional Official is required. The PI should notify their Contract Administrator as soon as he or she is aware that the proposal is to be submitted. Some electronic systems, such as NSF's FastLane or Research.gov and NIH's eRA Commons require the PI to create accounts before using the system. The completed proposal should be submitted to ORA during the proposal.

The proposal library maintained by the Division of Research contains successful proposals for a variety of sponsors. UMD faculty and staff may request copies of these proposals to use in developing their proposals for sponsored research.

Need help writing your grant proposal? Templates and resources are provided for writing sections of your proposal.

ORA's Quick Reference Guide provides quick and easy to find information on preparing to apply for funding, developing your proposal, acquiring approvals, routing, and formal submission. The QRG can be downloaded in Word or PDF for easy access.

The University of Maryland offers faculty and students a vibrant ecosystem that nurtures and encourages innovation and entrepreneurship.