Scholarly and Research Incentive Funds (SARIF) are selectively awarded by the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development (ORIED) to cover the costs of faculty research programs, proposals, travel, equipment purchases, administrative fees, and other necessary resources. In general, these funds are available to tenured/tenure-track faculty, however exceptions may apply (particularly in academic units where tenure-track appointment are not the norm). An overview of programs may be found at the Research Development – Internal Funding webpage. Please also note that all funding requests are now processed through the InfoReady portal.
Domestic Travel Fund
This program provides funds to defray the cost of domestic travel expenses associated with performing, exhibiting, or otherwise disseminating creative activities within the United States. Detailed instructions and eligibility criteria can be found within the InfoReady portal.
The College will provide up to $250 in matching funds for this program, with a maximum of one trip supported per faculty member, per fiscal year.
EPPE Fund
The Exhibit, Performance, and Publication Expenses Fund helps cover the costs of disseminating the results of scholarly activity through publication, performance, or exhibit. EPPE funding is for works that have already been accepted.
The maximum award for EPPE programs is $1,650, and matching requirements vary per sub-category. More information on the EPPE fund categories and requirements is available within InfoReady.
Equipment & Infrastructure Fund
This program aims to enhance the research, scholarship, and creative work portfolio at UT by providing support for the acquisition, repair, replacement, or upgrade of equipment or other research infrastructure. A request for proposals will be issued early each Fall, with the deadline for submissions being around the end of calendar year. As soon as the call is issued, the College office sends a follow-up memo to all A&S departments with instructions for the procedure if a request will include a contribution from A&S.
ORIED expects the combination of individual, departmental and College funds to cover at least 50% of the total cost, and would prefer more. Proposals that demonstrate cross-departmental impact and support are reviewed more favorably than single-investigator/single-department requests (and even more so for cross-college impact). Awards from this program range from $1,000 – $150,000, including all sources of support (ORIED funds and cost matching). More information on the SARIF E&I program can be found within InfoReady.
Federal, Corporate, and Foundation Opportunities (FCFO) Fund
The purpose of this program is to improve UT competitiveness on external funding opportunities by providing funds to defray the cost of faculty travel to meet with federal, corporate, or foundation program officers. In-person program officer contact should aim to increase sponsor awareness of UT research strengths and improve UT alignment with or preparation for a future external funding target, especially when this contact may allow UT to shape the funding opportunity itself and position UT to win. Funding may also be used for expenses related to hosting a program officer during a visit to UT for the same purpose.
ORIED expects a 1:1 match of funding for this program, with 50% of total costs coming from the department and/or the College. Total award amount, including matching funds, equals $2,000 ($1,000 limit from ORIED). Detailed instructions and eligibility criteria can be found within the InfoReady portal.
Foreign Travel Fund
The college will contribute matching funds for faculty members to travel overseas to give presentations at professional conferences. Detailed instructions and eligibility criteria can be found within the InfoReady portal at the SARIF Foreign Travel program link.
Faculty members will be supported if they are giving presentations at professional conferences. Heads should verify that the conference is indeed of high value professionally, based on standards of your discipline. Geographic regions within North America (Mexico, Canada) or the Caribbean will have reduced award funding available.
In most cases, faculty members will receive support of up to $500 per trip from College funds, with one trip supported per fiscal year. In exceptional cases, additional support from the College may be considered. For locales in North America/Caribbean, the maximum college award is $250 from the College.
Faculty members who have other sources of funds, such as start-up funds or external grants or contracts, should use those funds for travel rather than requesting ORIED/college support. This may need to be explained to the new faculty members whose start-up packages are not large enough to require an itemized budget.
Opportunities Fund
The Opportunities Fund provides a vehicle for institutional investment in large or strategically significant opportunities. This fund is reserved for activities with the potential for broad impact across UT and beyond, such as those related to the development of transdisciplinary research centers.
There is no upper limit to this award program, and matching funds are requested (but not required). More information on the Opportunities Fund is available within InfoReady.
Scholarly Projects Fund
This fund supports workshops, colloquia and conferences, visiting artist performances and exhibitions, or similar activities held at UT.
There is no upper limit to this award, but ORIED expects a 1:1:1 match between College and department sources. Costs must be adequately justified and reasonable for the scope proposed. Please visit the InfoReady portal for detailed instructions and priority guidelines.
Submission & Reimbursement Guidelines
How to submit an InfoReady program request and apply for reimbursement from Arts & Sciences:
- Prepare & route your request via the InfoReady system. Please review the guidelines closely and include all required attachments regarding your project/trip, such as registration and conference information, letters of support, project descriptions,etc, as well as a short budget explanation (including matching sources, where required).
- Your department head will need to approve within InfoReady and indicate departmental level of support, where required.
- The ADR (Larry McKay) or delegate (Drew Haswell) will review each request in InfoReady and indicate College level of support, where required.
- Responses from ORIED with award details are delivered via e-mail to you, your department personnel, and to the college.
- Please charge your project expenses to your department (non-grant funds, in most cases). In order to request reimbursement, after all expenditures have been accrued, your department financial administrator should send a detailed listing of expenses and IRIS details (document #s, invoice support, etc) to Drew Haswell (ahaswell@utk.ed) via a forwarded copy of the ORIED award announcement for the submission. Please follow reimbursement procedures provided by ORIED to receive reimbursement from them.
PLEASE NOTE: A&S reimbursements will be pro-rated based upon the actual expenditures documentation provided, against the proportionate amount of college commitment indicated in the proposal.