PSC-CUNY Research Award Program

The Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) Research Award Program, an internal grant program, was established as a major vehicle for the university’s encouragement and support of faculty research and leverage of external funding. It seeks to enhance the university’s role as a research institution, further the professional growth and development of its faculty, and provide support for both established and younger scholars. Awards are distributed by the University Committee on Research Awards, a faculty committee, and administered by the Research Foundation of CUNY. Preference is given to junior faculty in the allocation of funds.

Applications are made through an electronic system available on the Research Foundation’s website. The funding will support activities in the creative arts and all academically relevant research in the areas of natural science, social science, and the humanities, including but not limited to research related to curriculum development, improvement in teaching, adaptation of standard educational techniques to special clientele, and the relationship between technical or occupational training and the liberal arts curriculum. All full-time members of the instructional staff, and untenured members of the faculty in particular, who are on the regular university payroll processed through the Office of the Comptroller of the City or State of New York, are eligible to apply.

To be considered for funding, a proposal must involve original research or creative activities by the principal investigator (PI). The following activities will not be funded: 1) those that support fulfillment of degree requirements of the principal investigator–unless, in the opinion of the review panel, fulfillment of degree requirements involves significant original scholarly or creative work; 2) the writing of textbooks–unless, in the opinion of the review panel, the textbook constitutes a significant scholarly contribution; and 3) the development of a curriculum for specific courses or programs (although research on curriculum, pedagogy and related subjects will be eligible for funding).

Awards are made in each of the following three categories:

In order to maximize opportunities for funding, approximately 75-80% of the funds available for these two categories of awards will be allocated to Traditional A Awards. For Traditional A Awards, a maximum of $3,500 may be requested. Please note that Traditional A Awards will not support requests for reassigned time. For Traditional B Awards, a maximum of $6,000 may be requested. Traditional A and B Award applications are subject to review only by the discipline-based review panel to which they are submitted. The review panels are not permitted to modify budget proposals; successful applications will be fully funded. Appropriateness and relevance of the budget to the proposal, therefore, is an important review criterion.

As part of the three-year pilot program, the university and the union identified new sources of funding to support up to 40 Enhanced Awards a year. In this category, which is expected to be the most competitive, a maximum of $12,000 may be requested. Applications for Enhanced Awards should be for significant scholarly or creative projects that require more than $6,000 to be successfully completed. Applications in this category must include a detailed budget justification. Successful applications will be fully funded; therefore the reviewers will seriously consider the appropriateness of the budget and the budget justification. Enhanced Award applications will receive two expert reviews in addition to the review conducted by the discipline-based panel to which they are submitted. Please note that applicants for Enhanced Awards may submit names of people whom they would not recommend as reviewers of their proposals.

The grant period will be one year, from July 1 to June 30. If required, a six-month extension of the time period to use the funds awarded will be granted. Awardees must submit the extension request by email to the program administrator prior to the end of the grant period. Only one extension will be granted.