Limited Submission Awards

Private and corporate foundations give limited submission awards to individuals as an acknowledgment of their academic or professional achievements.

They are called “limited submission” awards because many foundations limit the number of applications an institution may submit for a specific award program. Academic institutions are invited to nominate promising investigators-usually faculty, particularly junior faculty-with a high likelihood of making seminal contributions in a particular area of research and/or scholarship.

When a call for proposals is “limited,” CFE sends out an internal call for interest to faculty through relevant academic units and research centers/institutes. If there is more than one proposal submitted for a limited submission award, CFE uses an internal selection process to determine which application(s) will be nominated and submitted to the sponsor for funding consideration.

Below is the list of Limited Submission Award opportunities administered through CFE. Deadlines vary and typically are not posted well ahead of time. CFE will update deadlines as they become known. (Note: Information about limited submission grants administered by the Office of Research Development is available here.)

What is the internal process of applying for a limited submission award?

• Once a call for nominations is received from the sponsoring agency, CFE will send out an internal call to relevant academic units and research centers/institutes.
• Faculty interested in being considered for nomination by UNC-CH need to complete an internal application to CFE; at the time of the internal call announcement, CFE will indicate the deadline for submission of internal applications. CFE will assess eligibility, based on the sponsoring agency’s eligibility criteria, of all faculty who submit internal applications.
• In some cases, the number of internal applications will exceed the number of nominations permitted for the University. When this occurs, a review of all eligible internal applications will be convened. This review will take place after the internal application deadline.
• All internal applicants will be notified of the review committee’s decision. The successful internal applicant(s) will work with the Corporate and Foundation Relations Office to prepare the full proposal and submit it to the sponsoring agency by its nomination deadline through either the Office of Sponsored Research or the Sponsored Programs Office in the School of Medicine.

What is included in an internal application?

Standard application materials include:

• Letter of nomination from the department chair/school dean or center/institute director addressed to Sohini Sengupta, Research Coordinator, Center for Faculty Excellence
• 2-page summary of the research that would be proposed to the sponsoring agency
• Nominee’s CV or biosketch; including a list of grants pending, received, and completed
• List of up to 3 UNC-CH experts who could knowledgeably discuss the candidate’s research as part of an internal review panel (Note: Due to potential conflicts of interest, department chairs or deans may not serve on the internal review committee.)
• Names and contact information of references; references should not be the same as potential internal reviewers, and the number of references will depend on the requirements of the sponsoring agency
• Other materials specific to the requirements of the sponsoring agency

What happens during an internal review?

• Applicants are not present during the internal review.
• The review committee consists of the internal experts identified by the applicants; the number of internal experts will vary for each internal review.
• Each reviewer will first present on the merits of the internal application for which he/she was identified as a reviewer.
• A Corporate and Foundation Relations representative will provide any information about the sponsoring agency in question.
• After all internal applications have been discussed, all reviewers will vote on which application(s) should be UNC-CH’s nomination(s) using the sponsoring agency’s review criteria.
• The decision about nominations is made by the reviewers and not by the Center for Faculty Excellence. The reviewers’ decision is final.

Whom do I contact with questions about awards or the internal review process?

Please do not hesitate to call (919-966-1741) or email Sohini Sengupta, Research Coordinator for CFE, if you have any questions or need more information about a particular award.