Research Excellence Initiative


Scholars in the College make major contributions through their research, whether it's studying antibiotic resistance, human trafficking, social movements or myriad of other subjects. While the creativity and ingenuity of faculty have been nearly unlimited, the College's resources to support their work have been finite. To address this issue, the College has established the Research Excellence Initiative (REI) to enhance the support it can invest in faculty research.

The REI will provide internal funding to support the research and creative works of our faculty, research staff, and postdoctoral fellows, along with their undergraduate and graduate students. Proposals will be based on the articulation of research objectives, and must also emphasize how this work will impact student engagement, learning, and/or networking. In cases where there is active involvement of undergraduate students in research with the need for additional resources, we will provide supplemental funding to support this endeavor.

Through this initiative, funds can be requested for (a) seed grants for transdisciplinary and discipline-specific research, (b) time-sensitive and urgent funding for targeted research, (c) summer salary and course buy-out funds to facilitate applications for external funding, (d) honoraria for expert reviewers to increase the success of proposals and manuscripts in the review process, (e) incentive funds for graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and research staff to write external funding applications, and (f) conference sponsorship funds. We also include an honorary award for exceptional student mentoring in research by a faculty member, and a variety of designated funds that were contributed for specific research purposes. We expect that as this initiative shows its value, it will grow and expand into other important funding streams to support research and the student experience in the College.

If you have any questions, contact the dean's office at college_rei@ku.edu.

Application Materials

*Please note that the Research Excellence Initiative (REI) and General Research Fund (GRF) are now using the same application and budget form. Guidelines for both can be found within the same document.

Research Excellence Initiative