Faculty Research Grants and Pearl Chase Research Grants FAQs
The grant period follows the fiscal year of July 1 to June 30. Projects that are not completed in this time period may receive a one year extension. To request an extension please email research.grants@senate.ucsb.edu with a progress update. Please include your department financial staff.
You may request additional time using the same process referenced above, and indicate your reason for continued project delays. These requests will be reviewed by the Academic Senate office and the co-chairs of the Faculty Grants Committee. You will be notified of the outcome by email.
The Academic Senate office has two programs for research funding: The Faculty Research Grant Program, and the Pearl Chase Grants for local community development, conservation, or historic preservation research. The Pearl Chase grants are available to Academic Senate faculty and researchers in the professional researcher title series. Information on these two programs can be found on the Academic Senate website. The Academic Senate also has a travel grant program for assistance with travel to conferences to present a paper. Applications for the travel grants are submitted online through the Academic Senate website.
The UCSB Office of Research has a number of databases that you can search for research funding opportunities:
https://www.research.ucsb.edu/sri/funding
The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center on the UCSB campus also has grant programs. Their website is:
http://www.ihc.ucsb.edu/
See also the grants website for the UCOP Office of Research:
https://www.ucop.edu/research-innovationfind-funding
Click on the "Funding Opportunities" option.
Out of fairness to all applicants, late proposals are not accepted. The awards are made on a competitive basis and not all proposals are funded.
The committee will not consider requests for funds to cover expenses retroactively. Project proposals need to be for new research efforts that will be undertaken during the grant period in order to be considered for funding. Proposers should not assume they will receive funding and must refrain from spending outside the effective grant term.
No, these titles are not eligible for payment with Senate research grants.
Funding can be requested for graduate student assistance at 24% time or less. In certain circumstances, limited appointments can be made for students that have recently graduated, if adequately justified in the proposal. Please work with your departmental financial coordinator on the appropriate hiring mechanism. Requests for salary for professional services will be reviewed during the proposal review process and may be considered if the service can’t be provided by a student research assistant. Examples of professional services that might be considered for funding are specialized film editing for a creative research project and language translation of archival resources.
No, this is not a cost that is covered by the faculty research grants or faculty travel grants. Travel costs related to a faculty member doing archival or field research will be considered. Only those costs related to field assistance (i.e. geology or anthropology field activities) will be considered for student research assistants. Doctoral students that are presenting at a conference may apply for the Doctoral Student Travel Grant.
No, the grants are not intended to fully support graduate student researchers. It is expected that faculty will leverage the Senate grants and apply for extramural funding for additional support once they have some preliminary research results. Fees and health insurance can not be charged to Academic Senate grants. If a grad student works at UCSB for more than 24% time (all appointments combined) or 140 hours or more in a quarter during the fall, winter, or spring quarters, then it is required that they have their fees and health insurance paid, and those costs must be paid from the same funding source that pays for their wages. The Senate grants are relatively small, and the grad fees and health insurance usually amount to more than the grants are given for. A grad student can be hired up to 100% during the summer if not enrolled in a course (no fees and health insurance are paid in the summer).
No, the individual grant history for Academic Senate members is available to individual faculty only with their use of their UCSBnetID and password. Academic Senate faculty use the Senate website to conduct Senate business so the site is password protected. Departmental Financial Coordinators have access to the original proposals in a given year for the faculty who have received Faculty Research Grants through this website: https://senate.ucsb.edu/~grants/financial-officer.