Climate Change Research Support Program

Overview

The MSU Climate Change Research Support Program supports research and scholarship that is leading-edge, interdisciplinary, and capitalizes on the existing intellectual and research resources at MSU and with collaborators around the world.  A primary goal of the program is to develop and promote projects and programs that take advantages of our areas of excellence and create unique approaches to climate change that differentiate us from other institutions. The program be a key element of the OR&I support of the MSU 2030 Strategic Plan which envisions a university that fully embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion and engaged in transdisciplinary solutions to ecological and human problems affected by social, climate, and environmental changes. This challenge demands a global, transdisciplinary response and aligns squarely with MSU’s land grant history, identity, and aspirations.

The call for major project seed funding is now closed, however, proposals are currently being accepted for projects specifically related to climate justice and environmental ethics, as well as small grants for team building. See details below.

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Current Opportunities

Climate Justice and Environmental Ethics 2023 Call for Proposals (Extended deadline)

Program Description

The College of Arts and Letters, the College of Social Science, and the Office of Research and Innovation at Michigan State University invite applications with expectations to award up to 15 teams $3,000 each ($45,000 total) in small seed grants to cover costs for MSU-led interdisciplinary teams to meet and prepare collaborative project proposals in the area of climate justice and environmental ethics. Funds should be used to cover costs of convening with partners to plan and prepare materials for a competitive grant proposal submission within 12 months after receipt of the seed grant award.

• Concept Notes are due Friday, March 17, 2023
• Applicants will receive email notifications of award decisions by Friday, April 14, 2023
• Project Teams should have plans to meet and spend seed funds by April 1, 2024

Full details for this program can be found on its announcement page.

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Climate Initiative Team Building Funds

Team building support remains available for the following activities:

1. Funds and support to facilitate team building and concept development including funds for support such as meals and room rental, logistics for scheduling and organization, and travel for collaborators.
2. Funds to support the development of regional, national, or international teams around high priority topics. Ideas such as workshops, conferences, and similar events that have the potential to advance our reputation and create funding opportunities will be considered.
3. Funds to co-sponsor a convening event. OR&I is interested in working with campus units to jointly deliver focused convening events that address major elements of climate change.

A one-page concept note must be submitted to request team building funds and should include. Include: a) names and affiliation of team members, b) how the work addresses a major climate change issue, c) the major outcome(s) of the activity, d) a skeleton budget, e) timeline and benchmarks, f) matching funds and in-kind commitments. We reserve the right to ask for more information as part of the project review process.

Concept notes should be emailed to proposal@msu.edu

Contact Information

For specific questions related to the program, please reach out to:

Doug Buhler, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation

Phone: 517-355-0306
Email: buhler@msu.edu
For appointments please email vprappts@msu.edu

Previous Programs (now closed)

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Overview

The MSU Office for Research and Innovation (OR&I) requests concept notes for the MSU-OR&I Climate Change Research Support Program. This program is an important initial funding mechanism to support promising new initiatives in key areas of research, scholarship, and multidisciplinary collaboration in response to the global climate crisis.

A successful concept would be of sufficient caliber that it would achieve several of the following goals:

1. Create a nexus of national/international research preeminence that will raise the stature of the university, significantly differentiating MSU from its peers while promoting diversity and inclusion.  
2. Promote productive and sustained research collaboration and productivity that, without this funding, would otherwise not be initiated.  
3. Promote work that is high risk, high return, with a potential for high impact to mitigate or adapt to climate change.
4. Position MSU faculty to compete successfully for significant external funding by creating a path to sustain the research and builds a bridge to continued funding and impact.
5. Promote the development of research ideas with significant (long term) commercial potential and/or broad community or global impact especially in areas of climate justice and equity.

The MSU Climate Change Research Support Program will enable such opportunities by supporting research and scholarship that is leading-edge, interdisciplinary, and capitalizes on the existing intellectual and research resources at MSU and with collaborators around the world.  A primary goal of the program is to develop and promote projects and programs that take advantages of our areas of excellence and create unique approaches to climate change that differentiate us from other institutions. The program be a key element of the OR&I support of the MSU 2030 Strategic Plan which envisions a university that fully embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion and engaged in transdisciplinary solutions to ecological and human problems affected by social, climate, and environmental changes. This challenge demands a global, transdisciplinary response and aligns squarely with MSU’s land grant history, identity, and aspirations.

Program Details

Call for concept notes released: June 24, 2022. 

Concept notes are solicited for MSU Team Building Activities and Research Seed Funding.

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Submission deadline:

Requests for Team Building Activities will be accepted continuously beginning immediately and continue until funds are exhausted.

Requests for Research Seed Funding will be due September 9, 2022.

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Notification of Awards:  

• Notification on Team Building Activities requests will be provided within 14 days of submission.
• Notification on Research Seed Funding requests will be provided by October 1, 2022.

Team Building Activities:

1. Funds and support to facilitate team building and concept development including funds for support such as meals and room rental, logistics for scheduling and organization, and travel for collaborators.
2. Funds to support the development of regional, national, or international teams around high priority topics. Ideas such as workshops, conferences, and similar events that have the potential to advance our reputation and create funding opportunities will be considered.
3. Funds to co-sponsor a convening event. OR&I is interested in working with campus units to jointly deliver focused convening events that address major elements of climate change.

Research Seed Grants:

1. Seed grants targeted at specific major funding opportunities including developing an initial grant submission or for revising/resubmitting a proposal with a strong previous review from a major funding agency. Grants up to $50,000 for one year. 
2. Exploratory grants to initiate new lines of research. These will need to address a high-profile interdisciplinary topic to address climate change with a clear linkage to a significant funding opportunity. Up to $100,000 over two years. 

Concept Note Format:

1. One-page notes for team building activities and a two-page limit for research seed grants.
2. Include: a) names and affiliation of team members, b) how the work addresses a major climate change issue, c) the major outcome(s) of the activity, d) a skeleton budget, e) timeline and benchmarks, f) matching funds and in-kind commitments. Matching funds are not required but strongly encouraged and will be considered in the review process.
3. If your research seed grant is judged to be meritorious, we may require a more in-depth proposal. Guidelines will be provided at the time of the invitation to submit.
4. We have purposely made the application process simple and flexible. We are looking for creative new ideas and are ready to be challenged. We reserve the right to ask for more information as part of the project review process.

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Concept notes should be emailed to proposal@msu.edu

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Evaluation Criteria:

1. Alignment with a major element of climate change and MSU capacity to address.
2. Alignment with MSU Strategic Plan.
3. Uniqueness, capacity, and diversity of the team/project.
4. Potential return on investment.
5. Matching commitments, both in-kind and direct.