UNK faculty look to research collaboration event Nov. 9 at Innovation Campus

More than 25 UNK faculty will attend a universitywide Collaboration Initiative Retreat on Nov. 9 with the focus on connecting to other NU researchers and funding opportunities.

Richard Mocarski, UNK’s Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research, said UNK faculty can register for the retreat through Friday (Nov. 2). A bus to Innovation Campus is scheduled. Mocarski said bus reservation, and questions about the program and attendance, can be directed to him at mocarskira@unk.edu or 308-865-1582.

The daylong event occurs at Nebraska Innovation Campus where hundreds of University of Nebraska faculty from all campuses will gather to share topics of interest, to eventually collaborate on funding proposals and be identified for an NU Foundation “Big Idea.”

The Big Ideas Initiative is a collaboration between the University of Nebraska and University of Nebraska Foundation. It uses a new approach to plan the University of Nebraska Foundation’s universitywide funding priorities over the next years.

Many Foundation projects and priorities are donor-driven capital projects, endowed chairs and deans, scholarships, even programs – and that has resulted in much good being done at NU. This initiative layers on an additional, faculty-driven, ground-up approach.

The initiative asks faculty to identify what areas NU is good at – and where it can be great. Faculty teams will be invited to submit bold, interdisciplinary ideas that require new levels of collaboration and will likely require an investment of $25 million or more.

The Collaboration Initiative is a complementary effort to help University of Nebraska researchers become more competitive for extramural funding. It helps foster meaningful collaborations that leverage the intellectual capacity of faculty across the campuses.

The Collaboration Initiative is soliciting Request for Applications from multi-campus, multidisciplinary teams for grants that help position them to compete for extramural funding. Three levels of funding are offered – ranging from $20,000 to $300,000 – and applications are encouraged from all disciplines.

Projects and ideas that may not be ready for a Big Ideas proposal may fit perfectly with the Collaboration Initiative requirements. Unlike the Big Ideas Initiative, Collaboration Initiative projects must build toward a competitive extramural funding application.