Research & Discovery University News

August 31, 2020 | Jessica McBride, PhD - College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources

UConn Launches Funding Program for COVID-19 Research

UConn's Office of Vice President for Research is announcing a new rapid-response funding program open to researchers studying aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Getty Images)

While the United States is still battling the novel Coronavirus, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, pointed to some reasons for hope in a recent interview. Those reasons were all thanks to the quick shift of many scientists and researchers to focus on SARS-COV-2, the pathogen responsible for the global pandemic.

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) announced today it will launch a new internal funding program to support researchers at all of UConn’s campuses who are using their expertise in fields as diverse as wastewater and chemosensory testing to find novel solutions to help the nation and the world address this crisis. The program will award up to $50,000 to recipients. The OVPR anticipates making up to three awards.

“Many researchers at UConn and UConn Health have already shifted their focus and are using their expertise to tackle this virus,” says UConn Vice President for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Radenka Maric, PhD. “The goal of the UConn COVID-RSF is to be a catalyst and advance our most promising COVID-19 research projects for use against the COVID-19 crisis.”

The UConn COVID-19 Rapid Start Funding Program (COVID-RSF) follows the example of several federal funding agencies that are providing emergency support to address key scientific problems related to the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Coronavirus.

The program aims to fund high-impact projects that will be ready to launch in a short period of time in areas that have been identified by funding agencies like the National Institutes of Health as high priority. These include, but are not limited to, wastewater detection of SARS-COV-2, novel biosensing from skin and mouth, surveillance methods for high risk populations, automatic detection and tracing, use of artificial intelligence, and data management.

Just like the virus itself, this funding program will move quickly to address this urgent need. Researchers interested in applying should submit proposals no later Friday September 11, 2020 at 12PM EST. Award notices are expected to be issued by September 18, 2020 and awards will be issued by October 1, 2020, upon completion of compliance review.

To learn more, visit the UConn COVID-RSF website.

 

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