TCU Invests in Scholarship (TCU IS)

The TCU Invests in Scholarship (TCU IS) program supports full-time faculty in advancing research or creative activities that strengthen their disciplines and position them for sustained and significant extramural funding and recognition.

The IS program provides competitive internal awards designed to:

Enable faculty to develop projects that will lead to externally funded research.
- Project should have high potential for major competitive extramural funding (greater than $250,000 in direct costs per year).
- Must include specific target of opportunity for external funding in application.
- Proposal must have significant scientific merit and be judged highly likely to receive significant extramural support.
- Applications seeking support to assemble preliminary data for resubmission of an application for extramural funding must provide prior critique(s) and, within the TCU IS application, address deficiencies mentioned in critiques of major proposals.
Provide resources for the advancement of scholarly/creative work.
- Must include significant opportunity to build institutional reputation at the national/international level.
- May include significant student opportunity at undergraduate or graduate level.
Foster collaborations across disciplines and colleges that enhance TCU’s academic impact and teams are encouraged to be interdiscriplinary, although not required.
Align TCU research with state and national funding priorities while also supporting a broad range of faculty scholarship.

Funding Priority Areas: The funding priority areas for the Office of Research and Creative Activity reflect the State and National funding priorities, and applicants are encouraged to consider how their research or creative activity fits within the scope of at least one or more of the following priorities. Proposals to internal funding programs do not have to fall within one of the 13 priorities, all proposals are welcomed.

National Top 3 Priorities:

Texas Top 10 Funding Priorities:

For more information on the State’s funding priorities click here.

Objectives:

Advance scholarship that directly contributes to a competitive proposal for external funding.
Support new or ongoing research, scholarship, or creative activities where external support is possible.
Encourage interdisciplinary collaborations that increase competitiveness for federal, state, or foundation funding.

Eligibility: Applicants must:

Applicants must hold a full-time, tenure-track or tenured faculty appointment or professor of professional practice at TCU throughout the award period.
Full-time postdoctoral researchers and full-time instructors are eligible to apply with written approval from their immediate supervisor (e.g., department chair or PI).
Lecturers, adjunct and visiting faculty are not eligible.
Faculty must be in good standing with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) and have submitted timely reports for any prior internal awards.
Each faculty member may submit only one proposal as PI per year but may serve as a Co-Investigator on other applications. If serving as a Co-Investigator on a different proposal, the scope of work for the overall project should be substantially different for the proposal you have submitted as a PI.
The Research Team is encouraged (but not required) to be interdisciplinary—comprising at least two researchers from different departments. Teams may also include postdoctoral researchers or instructors with supervisor approval (e.g., department chair or PI).

Key Dates

Letter of Intent (LOI) Due: January 21, 2026 – send email to Internal.Research.Funding@tcu.edu with your contact information and a short description of the project you intend to submit.
Proposal Due: February 17, 2026
Award Announcement: Last Monday in April (April 27, 2026)
Project Start Date: June 1
Project End Date: May 31 of the following year

Funding Amount

Maximum Award: $20,000 per proposal.
Non-allowable costs: Faculty or staff salaries; general-purpose equipment not directly tied to the project; conference travel or professional meetings to present research results.
Allowable costs: Postdoctoral or graduate student support; undergraduate research assistance; consultant costs essential to the project; travel directly related to data collection, fieldwork, or collaboration; materials, supplies, and specialized equipment.
PIs with existing start-up funds must include information about how those funds will be put to use for this project and/or why they are not sufficient for what is proposed.

PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

All proposals must be submitted electronically to Internal.Research.Funding@tcu.edu. All completed components should be submitted as a signle PDF file by the stated deadline.

Required Components: –

TCU IS Application Form – includes PI, Co-I, department chair, and dean approvals. Application Form
Project Narrative (up to 6 pages) – General background; Merit and significance of the research or creative activity; Societal impact of this research or creative activity; Specific goals, objectives and anticipated results; Description of methods including anticipated barriers or technical difficulties; and Specify the resources needed for this project (equipment, materials, etc.) and indicate their availability.
a. The project description must be concise, limited to six (6) typed, single-spaced pages with an Arial font, size of 12 points, including graphics. One-inch margins must be maintained
Curriculum Vitae (CVs) for all PIs and Co-Is – max 5 pages each. Should include submissions and awards for each investigator.
Budget and Budget Justification – Include budget details and justification for each category of the request. Details for all proposed expenditures must be described in the budget justification. The budget justification must convey an integrated understanding of the types of resources (labor, materials, other) necessary to complete the proposed research project. PIs are encouraged to submit the budget using the template available on the Sponsored Programs website. Other formats are acceptable.
Plan for Extramural Support – 1 page maximum – Provide a specific plan for pursuit of extramural funding for this project. Submission of at least one extramural proposal will be required as part of the project award and must be completed within one year of the completion of the seed grant. (Note: For activities in disciplines in which external support is not available the PI must use this section to list the steps taken to ensure that no mechanisms are available to fund this activity/project. The capacity of this project to significantly enhance the national reputation of TCU will need to be provided in the body of the proposal). Provide the following details in your plan for extramural support: Sponsor/Program: Indicate from which extramural funding program(s) you will be seeking support. List specific program(s) and why you anticipate that the research supported by this seed grant will leverage external support.
a. Which grant submission deadline will be targeted?
b. Objectives: What will the extramural proposal seek to accomplish and how is it specifically supported by this seed funding?
c. Pre-review: Who will read and comment on your external proposal before it is submitted? Having a colleague review your grant application prior to submission significantly increases the likelihood of being
Appendices (optional) – letters of collaboration, external reviewer comments*, survey instruments, vendor quotes, etc. Appendices may be included; however, reviewers are not obligated to read this supplemental material. If two or more appendices are included in a proposal, they should be designated Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.
a. *If this project has previously been submitted for extramural support and declined based on the basis of insufficient preliminary data, a copy of the executive summary or official letter from the agency specifically stating the deficiency or absence of preliminary data.

Any violation of the format will disqualify the proposal from review.

POST AWARD ADMINISTRATION

Responsibilities of the Principal Investigator (PI)

Budget Management: The PI is responsible for ensuring that grant resources are used judiciously to achieve the proposal’s objectives within the approved budget. Awards will be made for 12 month periods. Funds must be utilized by the date given in the award letter.
Change in Funding Use: Any deviation from the approved protocol, objectives, scope or budget must receive prior approval from the Director of Sponsored Programs.
Disclosure of Additional Support: The Office of Sponsored Programs must be informed of any partial or full support received from other sources for approved budget items.

Reporting Requirements

Award Issuance: Awards will be distributed on June 1.
Progress Reports: PIs must submit a status report at the six-month midpoint and at the end of the twelve-month funding period. Continued funding is contingent upon satisfactory progress as assessed in the midpoint report.
Final Report: Due within 60 days of project completion or funding expiration, whichever is earlier, detailing:

Report Content

Grant Details: Specify the grant program (e.g., RCAF, JFSRP, TCUIS), project title, and project number.
Accomplishments: Detail the progress made towards the original goals and highlight any significant achievements.
Challenges: Describe any delays or obstacles encountered during the project period.
Publications and Dissemination: List any publications, presentations, and proposals submitted to external funding agencies that resulted from the project.
Future Plans: Outline steps for finalizing the project and plans for dissemination, including potential publications or further external funding submissions. Plans should also include anticipated submission timeline and funding opportunities of full proposal to external agencies.

Compliance and Consequences

Failure to submit required reports or demonstrate progress may lead to cancellation of the project and withdrawal of funding.
Upon project completion, PIs may be asked to present their findings at a university-organized seminar or workshop (details to be determined).

Financial Closure

Unspent funds revert to the TCU IS account at the grant period’s end. Purchase orders made before the grant period’s end will be honored, even if items arrive post-expiration. Early purchases are recommended to avoid end-of-period complications.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF SUPPORT

Any publications, performances, or exhibitions partly or fully funded by TCU/TCU IS should acknowledge the support. Suggested statement: “This work was supported in part by a grant from the TCU Invests in Scholarships (IS) Fund.”