Office of Research Development

Please visit the Research Development Grants Portal for more information on currently open programs. Requests for proposals are emailed to faculty when competitions open.

• The Grants Intensive Fellowship: TGIF is a program that takes place throughout the academic year for faculty who are seeking to improve their grant writing skills and enhance the competitiveness of their proposals. To maximize the benefit of this program, faculty participants should have identified a funding opportunity and be ready to begin the development of a competitive proposal for funding. Deadline for applications is September 8, 2025.
• Internal Seed Funding: The goal of this program is to provide seed funding for research projects that have the potential to attract significant external funding. Proposals that involve collaborations across multiple colleges/schools are strongly encouraged. The seed funding is designed to be a one-time award to facilitate faculty research and encourage interdisciplinary collaborations to improve prospects for success in obtaining external funding to support their research.
• University Scholars/University Research Fellows Program: The USURF Program aims to support research and scholarly effort primarily for tenured and tenure-track faculty. These awards are expected to result in peer-reviewed journal publications, books, or displays of juried artistic/creative work and support the pursuit of external funding to support scholarship and creative work. Call for applications occurs early each spring semester.
• Student Research and Student Research Mentor Awards: These awards recognize excellence in independent and collaborative research as well as scholarly works and creative projects in all fields by undergraduate and graduate students. They also recognize the dedication and excellence of faculty members committed to mentoring students in research, scholarship, and creative work to further the educational experiences of students at UMass Dartmouth. The call for nominations occurs late each fall semester, with applications due early spring semester
• Travel for Research Investigators to Potential Sponsors: The TRIPS program facilitates faculty meetings with staff or potential sponsors with funds for travel and per diem for such meetings at sponsor offices anywhere in the continental United States.
• Course Release Opportunity for Proposal Submission: The CROPS program provides a limited number of course-release grants for the Fall and Spring Semesters, designed to support tenured and tenure-track faculty members pursuing substantial sources of external funding.
• Limited Submissions: Limited Submission programs are those where the number of submissions per institution is limited by the sponsor. When the number of interested applicants exceeds the number allowed by the sponsor, ORI uses an internal competition to select which proposals can be submitted. 
• Office of Technology, Commercialization, and Ventures Development Fund Grants: The OTCV Development Fund Research Grants are funded by the University of Massachusetts President’s Office and provide supplemental funding to advance previously disclosed university technology toward commercialization.

Funding Opportunity Search Engine: UMassD subscribes to GrantForward. You can search for grants using keywords and advanced filters, save your favorite searches for new grant alerts, and save your favorite grants to keep track of them. GF also recommends grants to you based on your CV, past publications, and research interests. Sign up for a user account using your UMassD email address. To visit, click here. 

Research Development Grants Portal: UMassD uses InfoReady for internal grant competitions. You can sign onto InfoReady using your UMassD user name and password. To visit, click here. 

Hanover Research: UMassD has contracted with Hanover Research to provide limited consultation on grant submissions and access for all faculty to the  Grants Learning Center, which offers two self-guided virtual courses and a series of trainings on Grant Essentials. Please register to access the Grants Learning Center, using the referral code Arnie.