Research And Innovation Seed Grants Total Nearly $2 Million

Research And Innovation Seed Grants Total Nearly $2 Million

The Office of Research and Innovation has awarded nearly $2 million in seed grants for two programs, the Duke Science & Technology SPARK fund and the Duke Science & Technology LAUNCH fund.

New research ideas that can then go on to secure external funding are expected to start with this program. SPARK is for early- to mid-career faculty from the campus and School of Medicine. LAUNCH encourages new research partnerships across departments and disciplines.

Nine SPARK seed grants were awarded in this round, totalling $1.17 million. The LAUNCH program will be funding eight projects totalling just under $800,000.

“We’re impressed and excited by the novel ideas that our faculty have for exploring everything from labor markets to antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” said Jenny Lodge, Duke’s vice president for Research & Innovation.

“Several proposals draw on the new power of artificial intelligence and all of the proposals exemplify the tremendous creativity and energy of our faculty. We look forward to seeing what each funded program can achieve.”

SPARK funds are for full-time tenure track professors who have been at Duke for at least three years and Associate Professors who have been promoted or appointed within the last five years.

Enhancing the creativity and novel research and scholarship of Duke’s early/mid-career faculty is the primary focus of the funding. They will help our faculty pursue new directions and ideas that would otherwise be difficult to fund from other sources.

LAUNCH grants are for two Duke Co-PIs with primary faculty appointments in different schools (or divisions within Trinity). This program encourages strongly encourages science collaborations.

Supporting nascent collaborative, interdisciplinary projects, with a preference for projects that advance science and technology, are some of the parts the funds are directed to.

This program aims to enable faculty from multiple disciplines to initiate high-impact projects that could lead to additional external funding.