Identifying Research Funding Opportunities

Identifying Research Funding Opportunities

There are multiple avenues in which a PI or team can locate funding opportunities. The most common form of external funding identification is through databases, listervs, and institutional newsletters/emails. The research development unit under the VRPI is tasked with sharing information as it becomes available and administering access and training to the Pivot database. To access Pivot, all UNT researchers must sign up with their institutional email (unt.edu) and create a password. In addition to paid databases, there are a multitude of free databases that are open to the public and do not need an individual login to utilize, such as Grants.Gov, the Texas government eGrants portal, and many more.

A monthly UNT funding newsletter is also provided by the research development staff that is vetted for UNT eligibility. While staff can provide insight and information on funding opportunities, the Principal Investigators are ultimately responsible for identifying research opportunities that fit their expertise. Funding identification and fit are best determined by discussing research topics with chairs, deans, program officials, and experienced colleagues in their field.

Grant Databases

Grant Databases

PIs have access to several different grant and funding databases in which they can access relevant funding opportunities.

Pivot

While there are many ways to search for external funding opportunity, the most common way is through databases. UNT subscribes to Pivot—a powerful funding search engine that houses not only grant opportunities, but also conference information, researcher profiles, and more research and academic resources. PIs are encouraged to contact untresearchdevelopment@unt.edu for Pivot questions and group training sessions.

Federal Funding

For federal opportunities, researchers can access Grants.Gov and search under the search grants tab for a list of relevant federal opportunities by using the keyword search feature.

Private or Philanthropic Funding

For private funding opportunities to support research, UNT libraries hold a subscription to the funding information network. This is a UNT-subscribed public access database for private, philanthropic, and non-profit sources (must be accessed in the Sycamore Library). PIs are encouraged to contact subject-matter librarian Jen Rowe for questions or a free consultation.

In addition to signing up for listservs and newsletters from your preferred funding agencies, PIs should discuss new appropriate networks and funding sources with their chair or colleagues (e.g., associations, laboratories, private sources).