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Request for Proposals: Multiyear Interdisciplinary Hubs

Deadline: December 13, 2024 (letters of intent); final proposals, if invited, due March 19, 2025

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The Office of the Provost is soliciting internal proposals from faculty for term-limited interdisciplinary “hubs” in areas that can galvanize emerging intellectual connections, research collaborations and links to external partners, as well as create compelling pathways of inquiry for students at all levels.

Hubs are intended to support broad interdisciplinary areas of inquiry, as opposed to singular research projects. Hubs should envision a mix of research, education and network-building activities, but each hub has latitude to decide which mix of activities will best catalyze its work.

Winning proposals will receive up to $375,000 annually for three years, along with 20% of an experienced project manager’s time, with the expectation that any ongoing activities thereafter will be sustained through external resources. To reduce the need to build new administrative structures, hubs should be embedded within an existing Duke unit (whether school, institute, initiative or center) or between two existing units.

Faculty leaders should be limited to two to five individuals, all of whom should be regular-rank faculty, and at least half of whom should have primary appointments outside of the School of Medicine.

For questions or to discuss project ideas, please drop by one of our Zoom office hour sessions on:

Objectives

Duke has a rich interdisciplinary ecosystem. These hubs offer an important means of refreshing that ecosystem through investment in emerging interdisciplinary configurations. In particular, hubs should:

  1. Promote interdisciplinary community: Bring together scholars from diverse academic backgrounds and across the boundaries of schools and other units to engage in shared intellectual inquiry.
  2. Advance pivotal avenues of research: Structure programming and internal grant opportunities to seed compelling research collaborations.
  3. Deepen interdisciplinary educational pathways: Engage students deeply in the chosen focal area, especially by leveraging opportunities from existing signature programs like Bass Connections and Data+, and/or creating new journal clubs, working groups and/or competitions.
  4. Enhance institutional engagement: Expand equitable collaborations with partner universities and colleges, government agencies, firms, NGOs and/or community organizations.
  5. Facilitate successful external center grants: Improve the capacity of Duke PIs to secure major external interdisciplinary collaborative grants.

Selection Criteria

  • Clarity of vision for activities to support research, education and engagement, reflected in specific, achievable objectives
  • Degree of enthusiasm from an identified host unit or units, demonstrated by an articulation of how the proposal aligns with unit priorities and a commitment to provide administrative support
  • Interdisciplinary reach, including the intellectual breadth of lead faculty and their track record for cultivating strong intellectual communities
  • Depth of commitment to leveraging existing signature programs
  • Creativity in leveraging existing administrative infrastructures
  • Potential for a path to sustainability through the successful pursuit of major external funding or other external sources of support, indicated by a discussion of existing vehicles for support by government or foundation funders
  • Alignment with compelling issues of strategic interest to the university

Timeline and Process

All parties who are interested in submitting a proposal should submit a letter of intent by December 13, 2024. Applicants will receive feedback by the end of January 2025, including whether the team is invited to submit a full proposal.

  • RFP released: October 24, 2024
  • Letter of intent due: December 13, 2024
  • Feedback on letters: January 13, 2025
  • Invited proposals due: March 19, 2025
  • Decisions released: May 9, 2025
  • Planning period: Summer 2025
  • Funding period: July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2028, pending achievement of milestones after years 1 and 2

Letter of Intent Guidelines

The letter of intent should be no more than three pages and should include the following information:

  1. Intellectual vision and focus: Overview of the key issues/problems and vision that will animate intellectual life in the proposed hub and the rationale for elevating this intellectual area at Duke.
  2. Description of anticipated activities: Summary of envisioned research, educational and external engagement activities that the hub will undertake.
  3. Assessment of prospects for external funding/sustainability plan: Initial indication of avenues for external and sustained funding.
  4. Leadership structure and supporting units: Names of key faculty/unit organizers and confirmation that a host unit has been identified.

Letters should be submitted by email to Laura Howes (laura.howes@duke.edu) by December 13, 2024.

Full Proposal Guidelines

  1. Executive summary: Abstract of key elements of proposal (not to exceed 200 words).
  2. Statement of intellectual vision and focus: Overview of the key issues/problems and vision that will animate intellectual life in the proposed hub; anticipated range of methodological and epistemological approaches; significance of the proposed configuration; and rationale for investing in this configuration at Duke, including comparative advantages of pursuing this topic here (not to exceed 3 pages).
  3. Discussion of anticipated activities: Description of planned efforts to catalyze research, educational opportunities and/or external partnerships, with attention to major goals. Please provide a three-year work plan that describes how the effort might grow over time and define measures of success for each year (not to exceed 4 pages).
  4. Bio-sketches of proposed faculty leaders: No more than 200 words per faculty leader. Faculty leaders should be limited to two to five individuals, all of whom should be regular-rank faculty, and at least half of whom should have primary appointments outside of the School of Medicine. Proposals will be evaluated on their disciplinary breadth and cross-school reach. Faculty may be listed as a leader on only one submission, but they may be listed as a contributor on other submissions. Proposals with more than five leaders listed must clearly delineate the responsibilities for each leader.
  5. Partners and contributors: Please list any external partners/collaborators, as well as other Duke faculty, staff, postdocs or students who will contribute to the effort and a brief summary of their roles. For external community partners, please describe your approach to equitable community engagement (not to exceed 2 pages). Letters of support from external partners with a robust role are welcome, but not required.
  6. Proposed three-year budget: Please detail the major categories of anticipated expenditures, broken out by year (see budget guidance section below for more information). Please provide a budget narrative justifying the budget plan.
  7. Assessment of prospects for external funding/sustainability plan: Indicate the potential avenues for larger-scale funding and longer-term financial sustainability (not to exceed 1 page).
  8. Letter of support from the leader(s) of the host unit(s): The letter should articulate how the hub aligns with the strategic goals of the host unit(s) and specify the nature of the administrative assistance that the host unit(s) will provide (such as business manager support, space, communications). Please note that while the goal of embedding hubs in existing units is to reduce administrative and startup costs, we do appreciate that this arrangement will require additional effort from the host unit. As such, the budget may include administrative effort to offset this extra work.

Invited proposals should be submitted by email to Laura Howes (laura.howes@duke.edu) by March 19, 2025.

Budget Guidance

The maximum funding for this award is a total of $1.125M spread over three years. Proposed budgets should include a detailed annual budget plan. The expectation is that the available funds will be spread evenly over the three-year funding period, but some flexibility is possible depending on the envisioned flow of activities.

Hubs will be expected to provide an annual update to the Office of the Provost. The subsequent year’s funding will be contingent upon reasonable progress in meeting the goals laid out in the proposal.

Proposals should look to maximize research and educational activities. The budget narrative should justify how proposed expenses are necessary to supporting the goals of the hub.

Common costs may include but are not limited to postdoc support, project management and staff administration, research scientists, community partner support, Ph.D. student stipend coverage, research expenses and educational programming costs. In the case of stipend support for Ph.D. students, the home schools should pick up tuition remission expenses.  

Faculty salary support may be included for faculty who are expected to cover their base effort through grants — in which case, up to 10% of any given faculty member’s effort may be included (up to a total of $50,000 per year for all faculty so covered). For projects that involve faculty with full nine-month salaries, one month summer salary + fringe is also allowed per faculty member. While we recognize that faculty leadership will be required for the success of any such endeavor, faculty effort will be carefully reviewed, as our overall goal is to catalyze new activities.

In addition to the awarded funds, grant recipients will receive access to 20% of a project manager’s annual effort from the Duke Research Project Management Core (or ~one day per week) to assist with organizational and logistical matters (additional effort can also be funded through the hub’s budget). Here are examples of services a project manager can provide.

The goal and expectation for these hubs is that they will provide a foundation to secure external funding to sustain activities after the initial funding period.

Selection Process

We anticipate funding two to three hubs, depending on the quality and diversity of ideas proposed as well as the overall funding outlay. Proposals will undergo faculty peer review and receive consideration from the Interdisciplinary Strategy Council. Finalists may be asked to attend an in-person meeting to answer questions raised in the review process. The selection will be overseen by the vice provost for interdisciplinary studies, who will make recommendations for funding to the provost for final decision-making.

Contact Information

For questions or to discuss project ideas, please drop by one of our Zoom office hour sessions on:

You may also contact us directly. For questions about the proposal process, contact Laura Howes, assistant vice provost for interdisciplinary studies, at laura.howes@duke.edu. To discuss possible proposal ideas, contact Ed Balleisen, vice provost for interdisciplinary studies, at eballeis@duke.edu.

FAQs

Proposals must include a plan for external funding/sustainability. What if such funding is very limited in our field?

We understand that external funding is hard to secure in some fields (e.g., arts, humanities). However, these hubs are designed to launch new interdisciplinary activity without creating an expectation for ongoing institutional support. In cases in which external funding may be limited, the proposal should articulate how the project will scale down or be absorbed into existing structures after three years.

Can faculty be listed as a leader on more than one proposal?

No, faculty should only be listed as a leader on one proposal. However, faculty listed as a leader on one project may be listed as a contributor on other projects.

Do faculty leaders have to come from more than one school?

For proposals involving School of Medicine faculty, at least half of the listed faculty leaders should have primary appointments outside of the School of Medicine.

Aside from the School of Medicine, there are no distributional limits on the number of schools or departments that must be represented in a proposal; we recognize that many units are quite interdisciplinary. These Hubs, however, should catalyze new interdisciplinary network and activities, which will generally involve the formation or strengthening of networks that span multiple units. Proposals will be evaluated on their disciplinary breadth and cross-school reach.

Can existing centers or units submit a proposal?

This funding is intended to catalyze new research activities and communities. Faculty associated with existing units may submit proposals, but they should take care to show how the proposed Hub will support activities that bring in new faculty connections and explore new interdisciplinary directions.

Can departments be “host units”?

While some departments have strong administrative capacity and an interdisciplinary focus that would position them well to support a hub, many departments do not. As a result, only schools or cross-school interdisciplinary units can serve as hosts.

Can the budget be used to support subcontracts to other universities?

While teams are welcome and encouraged to include collaborators from other universities, in most cases funding should not be used to support faculty or research activities at another university. Exceptions will be considered for low-resource institutions. In such cases, the budget narrative should explain the strategic goals of the inter-institutional partnership, the value of the partnership for Duke faculty and students, and the inability of the prospective partner university to contribute financial support.

Can the budget be used to support community partnerships, including global partnerships?

Yes, funding may be used to support community partnerships, locally or globally, so long as the proposal articulates the benefits to Duke faculty and students. For global projects, faculty should consult with a business manager in their host unit to ensure the feasibility of anticipated expenditures.