91²Ö¿â

Engagement Awards

2026 Engagement Awards

 

RELEASE DATE: Tuesday, January 13, 2026

  • Application Deadline: Monday, February 16, 2026

  • Announcement of Awards: Friday, March 6, 2026

The Community Engaged Research Institute at 91²Ö¿â invites proposals to support community-engaged research and creative scholarship that identifies and addresses disparities affecting communities at local, regional, national, or global levels. This funding is designed to support research teams and pilot data collection that advances proposal development for competitive external grant submissions. All full-time faculty are encouraged to apply.

Proposals must be transdisciplinary and include faculty investigators from different departments, schools, colleges, or campuses within the KSU system. In addition, proposals must include community investigators as integral partners in research, leveraging their local knowledge and contextual expertise to strengthen research design, data collection, and expected outcomes. Proposals should demonstrate a strong likelihood of leading to a competitive external grant submission.

Projects may address any area of research, provided they meaningfully engage community partners and produce knowledge with public impact. Such engagement involves active collaboration with a variety of partners, including individuals, organizations, and anchor institutions such as government agencies, schools, libraries, health and social service providers, nonprofits, cultural institutions, and businesses. Successful proposals will clearly demonstrate how the project reflects the principles of reciprocal partnerships, mutual benefit, co-creation of knowledge, and scholarship that is relevant and accessible to the public.

CERI will make awards in two distinct categories: the Established Community Partnership Award and the Emerging Community Partnership Award. 

  • Established Community Partnership Award. This award supports research teams that are working with existing community partners and seek to strengthen, expand, or leverage established relationships to develop competitive external grant proposals. Proposals should demonstrate a history of collaboration and articulate how prior engagement informs the proposed research questions, design, and outcomes. PIs of Established Awards must submit the resulting external grant application by September 2028.
  • Emerging Community Partnership Award. This award supports research teams that are building new or early-stage research relationships with community partners. Proposals should focus on relationship development, trust-building, co-design of research questions, and preliminary activities that lay the groundwork for future, externally funded submissions.

Award amounts are $5,000, $10,000, and $20,000. These amounts vary to reflect differences in research development stage, partnership maturity, project scope, and timeline required to achieve external grant readiness. Established partnerships may require larger investments to support advanced pilot work and near-term external submissions, while emerging partnerships may be best supported through smaller, flexible awards that prioritize relationship-building and early-stage development. All requests must be accompanied by a budget justification that aligns project needs with anticipated outcomes and grant readiness.

Proposals should provide the names of participating investigators, description of how time and funds will be used to develop the research plan, a timeline ending with an anticipated date of external grant submission, and a clear statement indicating whether the proposal is for the Established or Emerging Award. Please be advised that a condition of this funding is that those receiving an award will seek internal or external peer review of the future grant application. CERI will work with awardees to identify potential reviewers before submitting the complete grant proposal.

Proposals that incorporate undergraduate investigators (through the SURE, Sophomore Year Experience, or McNair Programs) will be given priority. CERI will subsidize the costs of SURE fellows participating in funded Engagement Awards. Proposals must also include a letter of support from the appropriate unit director or department. Awards will be issued after the successful completion of the IRB approval process, as applicable.

If awarded, you will be enrolled in the KSU Award Management Program and asked to submit progress reports biannually. Recipients must also provide CERI with a detailed final report summarizing the project’s impact and related activities no later than six (6) months after the award has ended.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

  • Applicants must be 91²Ö¿â, full-time TT or NTT faculty.
  • Teams of at least two (2) 91²Ö¿â faculty may submit a proposal.
  • Teams must include at least one (1) community investigator.
  • The proposed project should focus on reciprocal engagement and knowledge production and have the potential to generate data that can be used for grant applications to external funding sources.
  • Though not required, the incorporation of undergraduate investigators is strongly preferred.
 

CERI Engagement Awards

Application Outline

  1.  Cover Sheet (1-page limit)
    1. Title
    2. Investigator names with KSU Departmental, School, College, or Campus
    3. Community Investigator name
    4. Amount requested
  2. Project Description (5-page limit for items a-d, references no page limit)
    1. Describe the project and how this pilot funding will support the collaborative effort to submit a competitive external grant application.
    2. Describe history with, commitment to, and expected contributions from community partner in terms of data collection and research outcomes
    3. Plan for activities related to developing a full proposal for external funding, including a timeline and tasks of each investigator.
    4.  RFA/RFP to which you will submit a complete proposal/application resulting from this pilot funding, including the complete URL for each RFA/RFP.
    5. References
  3. Biosketch for each investigator (1-page limit for each investigator)
    1. Use NIH, NSF, or another appropriate agency format
  4. Budget (1-page limit)
    1. PIs may use the funds for materials, supplies, equipment, travel expenses related to ground/fieldwork, offsetting the costs for student assistants, and supporting participant incentives.
    2. Faculty may not use the funds to support faculty effort (workload allocation).
    3. CERI will support one undergraduate investigator through the SURE program for your funded project in summer 2026 or 2027. The funding for the SURE student is separate from your project’s budget.
  5. Budget Justification (1-page limit)
  6. Chair/Director/Dean Memo of Support

Submit the complete application to ceri@kent.edu by 5:00pm (EST) on Monday, February 16, 2026. Please direct questions to Michael Rosengarten at mrosenga@kent.edu 
 

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