Research Scholarship & Creativity Activity Program

Eligibility

• All full-time AU faculty members on academic year contracts are eligible. Part-time faculty and faculty with voluntary (“clinical” or “adjunct”) appointments are ineligible. 
• Faculty who are receiving extramural or intramural funding from any other institutional source must demonstrate that there is no scientific or budgetary overlap with this application.

Awards

Award amounts can include up to two months of summer salary and fringe benefits for the PI if he/she is an AU faculty member paid on an academic 10-month contract, in addition for $5,000 for other direct costs to conduct the project, depending upon the nature of the request. A budget detailing the need for the funds must be included in the application. Recipients of the RSCA are advised that these funds cannot be used for any part of projects funded by other Augusta University entities.

Requests for travel that are needed to conduct the research, purchase of materials and supplies, or hourly support for research assistants (graduate and undergraduate) are allowable.  These funds may not be used for conference travel to present findings. Summer salaries are payable during the months of June 2027 and July 2027 only.  You may begin expensing funds that are awarded to support your research efforts for materials, supplies, and student assistants effective May 11, 2027, through May 10, 2028.

The required outcomes from the grant award will be:

1) Preparation of a proposal to obtain external funding from a federal agency or national foundation, and/or preparation of scholarly or creative works that will enhance the profile and prestige of AU when disseminated; and

2) Final progress report and annual updates of publications and extramural submissions/awards, and any other relevant project outcomes. Importantly, the expected outcomes need to be explicitly described.

Allocated funds should be expended in accordance with the approved schedule during the grant term.  All RSCA funding is contingent upon availability and remains subject to institutional budgetary constraints.

Application Review and Criteria for Funding

A Research Advisory Council composed of faculty from Augusta University will review and rank the proposals and submit recommendations to the Executive Vice President for Research & Innovation.  The Funding Council (including the Executive Vice President for Research & Innovation and the Research Associate Vice Presidents) will consider both programmatic needs as well as merit from the recommendations and determine the final awards based on the following priority criteria:

• The merit and quality of the application.
• The likelihood that an award will result in peer-reviewed publications, research scholarship, the creation of new works, exhibition, or performance that will enhance the profile and prestige of AU, and possibly results in securing external funding.
• The past productivity of the investigator or investigators (as appropriate for the investigator’s discipline and stage of his/her career).
• Type of project (i.e., pilot, bridge, collaborative or interdisciplinary).
• Evaluation of other available institutional funds.
• No cost sharing or matching funds are required.

Conditions of Award

Funded proposals are awarded for one year and typically “No cost extensions” are not allowed. It is recognized that many awards will begin after initiation of the Spring Semester and span two fiscal years. Funded Principal Investigators are expected to be available to serve on the review committee for subsequent cycles of RSCA awards.

If you answered yes on your routing sheet that Wellstar MCG Health (WMCGH) resources (which includes patients, facilities, equipment, personnel, and/or medical records) will be involved, then your proposal must be submitted to the Clinical & Translational Sciences Research Development Services (CTSRDS@augusta.edu) for review and to obtain WMCGH approval, if necessary.  Compliance approvals must be obtained from AU oversight entities as appropriate for the project, such as IRB, IACUC, Biosafety, etc.

The Principal Investigator along with the Department Manager will be informed via email of the account number and the project period.

Unexpended funds will not be carried beyond the project period. The award date will be established after all required approvals are in place. All institutional approvals must be in place within two months of receiving notification of the award or the award will be revoked.

Funded proposals should adhere to the budget as approved. Re-budgeting requires written approval of Sponsored Program Administration. Unauthorized charges (any expenses charged to the account that do not specifically relate to the project and are not included in the reviewed budget and justification) must be removed within five business days of notification.

Preliminary and Final Reports

A preliminary report describing how funds have been expended and the project’s progress to date is required to be submitted before the beginning of the fall 2027 semester.  A progress report is due by Friday December 31, 2027.  The final report is due by Wednesday, December 31, 2028. Report templates will be emailed to the Principal Investigator before each is due.  Both reports should describe progress towards the original goals of the project and include any abstract submissions to national/ international meetings, peer reviewed journal articles (submitted, in press, or published), extramural applications submitted, and awards received that were assisted by the RSCA award.  Publications should acknowledge RSCA support.  These reports will be used to assess the RSCA award program’s return on investment.  Publications should credit the support of the Augusta University Research Assistance Grants Program.