Collaborative Exploration Grants

Fall 2022 Request for Proposals

Research and Economic Development and the College of Arts + Architecture are pleased to announce a new program to promote innovative interdisciplinary research efforts. The UNC Charlotte Art and Science Initiative (ArtXSci) will foster collaborations between faculty in the College of Arts + Architecture (CoAA) and scholars in STEM fields with the goal of cultivating active/intensive exchange and sustained dialogue among those engaged in artistic and scientific inquiry within the University and Charlotte.

Award Focus

ArtXSci provides opportunities for faculty from multiple domains to explore new modes of artistic, creative, and scientific inquiry. The project intentionally aims to break open conventional intellectual frameworks to transcend disciplinary boundaries and to chart unfamiliar territories. To do so, the project’s programs will foster groundbreaking collaborations with UNC Charlotte faculty in the arts, design, and sciences. These collaborative partnerships aim to critically engage faculty, students, staff, and the public through novel opportunities for art, design, science, and technology to thrive as interrelated modes of inquiry, discovery, and research. Collaborations may include partnerships between (but are not limited to): art, art history, astronomy and astrophysics; dance, biology, chemistry, and digital media studies; computer and information science, creative writing, and literature; mathematics, medicine, and music; engineering, physics, and theater; environmental science, architecture, and visual arts.

Ideally, projects will include student engagement, a public presentation, master classes, and/or participation in the regular curriculum. All projects must involve the development of new artistic and research-based work and should give visibility to UNC Charlotte as an innovator in collaborative research involving faculty from CoAA and other colleges, with a particular emphasis on STEM disciplines.

Research Top Tier

ArtXSci supports the University’s Road Map to Research Top Tier through the development of cross-disciplinary projects that integrate the arts, design, and the sciences to have significant impacts on campus, in Charlotte and beyond. ArtXSci grants are intended to support and incentivize stronger collaborative relationships among researchers from different colleges, departments, and disciplines with the goal of increasing the university’s competitiveness in attracting extramural funding and research support.

There are no predefined themes or priority areas for research or creative projects. As such, ArtXSci will support projects that may be difficult to fund through traditional sources and that will lead to creative works, significant research, and externally supported collaborations in the future. Proposers will need to fully describe how the research contributes to existing and emerging university research strengths. One expected outcome of the program is the submission of applications and proposals for significant funding and/or external recognition from a diversity of sources within the 18-month award period.

Award Amount and Duration

Interdisciplinary teams can apply for one-time grants of up to $30,000 for up to 18 months). Facility and Administrative (F&A) costs are not required. We anticipate funding 2-3 awards annually starting in FY2023. Preliminary reports detailing the project activities and outcomes to date will be due on the anniversary date of the award. Final reports will be due 45 days after the end date of the project.

The expected start date for FY2023 awards is January 1, 2023, with an expected end date of June 30, 2024.

Who Can Serve as a PI?

This ArtXSci Initiative is open to faculty and research staff from any UNC Charlotte department, lab, or center, regardless of discipline; however, all proposed project teams must include at least one member from the College of Arts + Architecture. Principal investigators (PIs) on ArtXSci proposals must be full-time, tenured/tenure-track faculty at UNC Charlotte. UNC Charlotte faculty (tenured/tenure-track, teaching, adjunct, and/or research faculty), instructors, post-docs, and staff are eligible to serve as senior personnel. There is no limit to the number of senior personnel on a project.

A faculty member may only serve as PI on one proposal or active award.

How Do I Apply?

The full Request for Proposals (RFP) is available here.
Applications for the 2022 competition are due at 5 pm ET, Oct. 3, 2022.

Inquiries

Questions regarding this program announcement should be directed to Dr. José Gamez (jlgamez@uncc.edu).