Bloomberg School Guidance on the Research Resilience Fund
We are encouraged by the University’s substantial new investment in support of faculty and their research endeavors. As was shared in previous messages, the Research Resiliency Fund (RRF) represents a $60 million commitment to address research disruptions resulting from ongoing changes in federal funding. The primary goals of the RRF are to support faculty who currently have funding gaps and to help sustain ongoing research or adapt to emerging opportunities. The awards provide two years of support, which will give faculty time to pivot to other funding sources.
Application Process
Faculty should initiate the application process by submitting the following as as separate PDF files through the InfoReady link on the OVPR RRF website:
Application Narrative (max 4 pages)
Current Discretionary Balance(s)
Current and Pending Support
Applicant Biosketches
Prior Reviews (if applicable)
Faculty should also download and complete available through the InfoReady link and upload it as an Excel document to their application submission.
OVPR will conduct an administrative review for eligibility and completeness, then refers eligible applications to the School.
The School will conduct departmental and school-level prioritization based on the strength of the proposed science, funding need, and strategic alignment.
The School will submit prioritized applications to OVPR for final selection and notification.
Applications are accepted by OVPR on a rolling basis. The overall review process will occur on a bi-weekly schedule.
Please refer to the OVPR’s RRF Frequently Asked Questions page and our BSPH RRF wiki site for additional guidance on the application process and required components. For further questions or clarifications regarding the University or School-level process, please contact OVPR (research@jhu.edu) or research@BSPH (bsph.research@jhu.edu), respectively.
Information on Prioritization
The Bloomberg School has a long history of being highly successful in securing federal funding, which also means we are particularly impacted by recent changes to that funding. For our school, where such a large proportion of salary support is from external sources (“soft money”), the RFF awards can help fill substantial gaps in funding of faculty and research teams impacted by funding disruptions. We anticipate that our School will receive meaningful and substantial support in response to our critical needs. However, we know that the available funding from the University is insufficient to support all faculty who have current and anticipated salary gaps.
As School leadership has reviewed our internal process for prioritizing applications for RFF funds, we have sought to balance support for our vibrant scientific research agenda and continuity of important projects and investigator teams with the substantial financial obligations we face, particularly faculty salary support. In developing this guidance, we have relied heavily on our existing Policy and Procedures Manual (PPM), which defines faculty roles, responsibilities, and expectations by track and title. Consistent with the “First Dollar Principle” used across the University in this period of financial constraint, we will prioritize support for the most restrictive funding obligations first and then apply available funds to support other mission-critical faculty and research teams. Importantly, relieving financial pressure associated with obligated salary support frees department resources that can be used to advance other important mission objectives via more available departmental general funds.
With these principles in mind, the Bloomberg School offers the following guidance to support clarity and transparency regarding the school-level prioritization process.
Eligibility & Priority Considerations
All faculty, regardless of rank/title, must justify their role as PI in relation to the review criteria. While many faculty ranks may be eligible to apply, School and departmental review will use PPM faculty role guidance to prioritize requests as needed (see table below from Appendix 5 of PPM 01 Faculty).
Priority will be given to tenured and tenure-track faculty as PIs of proposals.
Research, practice, and teaching professorial track faculty (RPT) who play a critical role in advancing the strategic missions of the School may be also given priority as PIs of proposals.
Scientist faculty may be supported as PI when their role is aligned with larger ongoing, delineated, and departmentally prioritized research initiatives. It is expected that Scientist faculty will more often be included as essential members of teams led by professorial faculty than serving as PIs on prioritized applications.
Faculty with the titles of Research Associate, Practice Associate, Lecturer, or Instructor are not eligible to serve as PI on RRF awards. These faculty are expected to be supported as members of existing research teams rather than as PIs.
Emeritus faculty, affiliate faculty, and faculty in the retirement transition program are not eligible to serve as PI.
All Bloomberg School faculty may serve as co-investigators on RRF proposals, with the exception of Visiting Professors.
Subawards are not eligible for RRF award.
We anticipate substantial numbers of applications for the RRF awards and are confident that our applicants will be highly competitive. We recognize that not all deserving applications will be able to be prioritized or funded, but the overall infusion of support will be positive for our whole School. The RRF awards will not only directly sustain faculty and research teams engaged in important research endeavors, but will also help alleviate funding obligations and preserve resources for faculty and mission areas not prioritized under this award mechanism.
Ultimately, these timely funds will support our important work in diverse research areas while also helping to address the significant funding challenges currently affecting our School. We look forward to the impact the RRF awards will make, and we will continue to push forward with strategy and innovation to strengthen and sustain our vital research enterprise.
FAQs
While you don’t need to have a terminated grant, please be sure to emphasize this is not just a new funding idea. This application is in some way driven by a need due to current pressures.
Example of need: needing to pivot from global work to domestic work due to current funding environment.
Please limit expenses related to travel as best as possible and do not plan to spend more than $3,000 on any kind of publishing charges.
Apply if you need funding further than 3-6 months out. Otherwise, defer until this timeframe.