Application Information

Request for Proposals (RFP): UGA GERMINATE – Grants for Emerging Research through Mentorship, Integration, and Team Science Seed Funding Program

Purpose: To foster high-impact research by pairing junior researchers with established senior faculty across different UGA campuses (Athens, Tifton, and Griffin), leveraging diverse expertise and specialized facilities.

1. Eligibility & Team Composition
Proposals must be submitted by a collaborative team meeting the following criteria:

  • Multi-Campus Requirement: The two primary investigators must be based on different UGA campuses (e.g., Tifton/Athens, Griffin/Athens, or Tifton/Griffin).
  • Career Stage Pairing: The team must consist of one junior faculty member and one senior faculty. Priority would be non-tenured, tenure-track faculty.
  • Purpose: The partnership should focus on a specific research problem or question that requires the integration of diverse methodologies and/or the use of specific core facilities/capabilities/field sites available at the partner’s campus.

2. Budgetary Guidelines
Total requests should not exceed $12,000 per project although well justified requests over $12,000 will be considered. Funds are intended to facilitate residential intensive training, generation of data, and shared research activity.

  • Travel & Lodging: Priority funding for faculty and/or trainee (grad student/post-doc/staff) travel between campuses, including lodging and per diem during research intensive experiences.
  • Personnel: Limited salary and benefit support for personnel effort for the project will be provided. Personnel costs (salary and fringe benefits) are capped at $5,000 total. The need for salary and benefit support should be well justified.
  • Instrumentation: Fees for campus core facilities or specialized equipment or field sites. A clear justification of why this equipment or use of facilities or field sites is essential to the project is required.
  • Supplies: Funds for consumables directly related to the collaborative experiments.
  • Note: Due to the short timeline of these projects, it is advisable not to budget publication costs.

The budget should be submitted using the attached budget template (in excel) and must include a budget narrative. Salaries must include fringe benefits (broken out as a separate line item). All budgets must be approved by your business office prior to submission of the proposal.

All funds must be spent by December 31, 2027.

3. Proposal Requirements
a. Each project must have a PI and at least one Co-PI. The PI can be either the senior or junior faculty member.
b. Proposals must be succinct (maximum 2 pages, Times Roman 11 font, 1 inch margins) and include:

  • Scientific Merit: Brief overview of the research question, the interdisciplinary approach, and projected outcomes.
  • Collaboration Plan: Detail how the PI and Co-PI will interact, share technical knowledge, and why this is a strategic collaboration. *If the PI and Co-PI are currently collaborating or collaborated previously, explain how the proposed GERMINATE collaboration is novel.
  • Timeline: Provide a timeline for the project that includes planning stages, data acquisition, data analysis, and outcome (proposal or manuscript).
  • Sustainability Goal: A specific plan and timeline for a joint external grant proposal (e.g., USDA, NSF, DOE) or a joint publication within 12 months of the award.

c. Provide a 2-page biographical sketch for each PI and Co-PI. Format should mirror that of an NSF or USDA biographical sketch and include up to 10 relevant publications demonstrating expertise of each PI/Co-PI.

d. Name and Contact information for PI’s business office who will manage the project funds.

NOTE: Proposals that are (1) not in the requested format, (2) over the page limit, (3) lack all requested components (scientific merit, collaboration plan, time, sustainability plan, budget, budget narrative), (4) lack biographical sketch, or (5) lack name and contact information for the PI’s contact business office will be returned without review.

4. Reporting & Accountability
Awardees must complete a short progress report during or at the end of the project:

  1. One paragraph summary of project activity
  2. Description of manuscript or proposal developed or to be developed
  3. Join the Plant Center
  4. Present a Lighting talk at the annual Plant Center Fall Retreat

NOTE: Any awardees that fail to provide reporting documents or lightning talks will be ineligible for subsequent funding from GERMINATE.

5. Submission Timeline

  • Proposals Due: July 1, 2026
  • Award Notification: August 15, 2026
  • Project Period: Sept 1, 2026 – December 31, 2027

6. Application Portal
Upload your application packet as a single PDF to https://uga.questionpro.com/PCGerminate by midnight July 1, 2026.

You will upload two documents:
1. Combined PDF with 2 page proposal (includes scientific merit, collaboration plan, timeline, sustainability goal), biographical sketches, Business Office name and contact info, budget narrative.
2. Budget in excel file.

7. Award Administration
Funds will be transferred to the PI’s home business office. Applicants are expected to coordinate with their unit’s business office prior to submission and award to ensure they are aware of the funding and prepared to manage the associated financial and administrative responsibilities.