Skip to Content

Research at Vanderbilt

Internal Grant Competitions

The Office of the Vice Provost for Research oversees several internal funding programs.  Information about them, including eligibility requirements, guidelines for submitting proposals and lists of previous years’ recipients, is found here.  If you have any questions about these programs, please contact Heidi Basgall Favorite, Elizabeth Rapisarda, or Prof. Dennis Hall.

Discovery Grant Program

The Discovery Grant (DG) program was initiated in 1998 by the Provost’s Office and occurs annually.  The PI must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in a University Central school or college, although all faculty are eligible to participate in a proposal.  The Call for Proposals is issued in September, and the program specifically focuses on providing seed funding for research, to increase its potential to attract external funding.

Research Scholars Grant Program

The Research Scholar Grants (RSG) program is complementary to the Discovery Grants program and is designed to provide comparable internal funding for research that is unlikely to have extramural funding options available.  Like the DG program, the PI must hold a tenured or tenure-track faculty appointment in a University Central school or college.

Melbourne-Vanderbilt University Partnership Grants

The Melbourne – Vanderbilt University Partnership (MVP) was established in 2007 to give the academic communities from both universities opportunities for exchanging ideas, collaborative research and joint publication.  In 2010 several new MVP initiatives were announced including a commitment to seed jointly the development of new and newly initiated research collaborations through establishment of the Melbourne – Vanderbilt Partnerships Grants Program.  Eight proposals were selected for funding, supporting collaborations across both institutions.  There are no plans currently underway for another round of funding.

Enhancing Graduate Education Program

The Enhancing Graduate Education (EGE) program funds investments that show promise for making substantive improvements in graduate education.  This program occurs approximately every three years and is currently closed.  The most recent program awards were announced in February 2012.