Resources
UMN Resources
Research advancement and development play a crucial role in advancing the institution's research enterprise. It involves identifying funding opportunities, assisting faculty in developing competitive research proposals, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, and promoting strategic initiatives to enhance the quality and impact of research at the university.
University research administration supports and facilities the research endeavors of faculty and students. It involves managing grants and contracts, ensuring compliance with regulations, providing financial and administrative support, and fostering collaborations both within the university and with external partners to promote successful research outcomes.
Many of the UMN Colleges, Schools, and Departments also coordinate and offer support for the RA and RD activities within their own areas.
If you have a suggestion or update, please email us at RADPN@umn.edu.
Last updated October 30, 2023.
Institution-Wide
Office of the Vice President for Research
The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) is a central resource for faculty, staff, students, and external partners to conduct, manage, and sponsor research at the University of Minnesota, a top ten public research institution in the US.
Research support services provide U of M scholars and academics quick access to information and tools to plan, conduct, and disseminate their work.
Research Administration
Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA)
The Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) is a University-wide office authorized to submit research proposals and receive awards from external sources on behalf of the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota. SPA is also the fiduciary for the U on grant-related matters.
OVPR oversees the administrative units and regulatory bodies responsible for providing oversight of research activities across the University system and ensuring compliance with all relevant policies, regulations, and laws related to research.
Strategic Planning
SPARC engages researchers and practitioners across disciplines in the US and globally to establish new large-scale programs that catalyze collaboration, innovate for new discoveries, and deliver practical new solutions that address critical challenges.
Funding Opportunity Identification
University of Minnesota Foundation
The Corporate & Foundation Relations team leads the University’s relationship management efforts with philanthropic and corporate foundations. As part of that work, our team helps U faculty and staff connect to private funding sources matched to their area of expertise. Our team coordinates strategy and assists in successful proposals. The Corporate & Foundation Relations team also helps with awards, campus visits, and other grant-related needs.
Subscription Funding Databases
Industry Funding and Partnership Opportunities
Resource hub with links to external and internal funding resources .
Grant Proposal Development and Support
SPARC engages researchers and practitioners across disciplines in the US and globally to establish new large-scale programs that catalyze collaboration, innovate for new discoveries, and deliver practical new solutions that address critical challenges.
RADPN offers red team reviews to interdisciplinary University of Minnesota proposal teams seeking to improve the quality and competitiveness of their proposal prior to submission. The purpose of the red team initiative is two-fold--it aims to improve interdisciplinary proposals from the University of Minnesota and to train unit-level research development staff to conduct red team reviews for their own faculty.
Medical School Pre-Award and Proposal Development Services
Our unit is dedicated to supporting UMN Medical School (MS) faculty and staff with the development and submission of quality applications that are compliant with both the sponsor and university requirements. Located in the MS Dean's Office, Office of Research, we aim to provide a core set of pre-award services to the Medical School research community and prioritize requests from under-resourced departments, centers, institutes, and programs within both the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses, as well as faculty with dual UMN and VA appointments. Check out our pre-award templates! For more information, please contact us at MSPreAward@umn.edu
The Institute for Advanced Study provides small grants, project development assistance, and fundraising support for interdisciplinary project ideas, especially those that align with IAS priorities. We seek to incubate ideas that may go on to become IAS-administered grant-funded projects.
Training and Professional Development
Faculty and Academic Affairs is committed to the development of faculty members’ professional career life course at the UMN Twin Cities. We support opportunities for new faculty, mid-and late-career faculty, as well as emeriti faculty who wish to continue their life-long contributions to the vitality of the University community.
Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)
The CTSI offers a variety of training programs for faculty, staff, postdocs, and students engaged in clinical research.
Faculty career development programs
Translational Workforce Development
Collaboration and Networking
UMN has more than 300 centers and institutes.
Experts@Minnesota is are search information management tool that uses University records and publication data harvested from Scopus to create public profiles for University of Minnesota faculty and researchers.Whether you're looking for an advisor or a co-author, or putting together a group of people for a multi-disciplinary grant, Experts@Minnesota's public portal is a good place to start.
As a University-wide interdisciplinary center, the Institute for Advanced Study is a resource for scholars, artists, professionals, and students who are engaged in a wide variety of study and practice. The IAS also serves as a bridge between the University and the wider community as a place where people meet and ideas are exchanged. The IAS provides funding support for faculty research, interdisciplinary collaborative research, and public programming, as well as a range of other support for faculty, staff, students, the general public, and our community partners.
Industry Engagement
The University of Minnesota Corporate Engagement Center connects businesses, start-ups, entrepreneurs, and companies of all sizes with the vast resources of our research powerhouse.
External Partnership and Collaboration
The University of Minnesota Office for Public Engagement (OPE) is a national leader in advancing community-engaged research, teaching, and outreach that address the most pressing issues of our time. OPE builds and supports infrastructure throughout the University’s five-campus system that promotes deep, mutually beneficial partnerships for scholars, students, and communities throughout Minnesota and beyond.
MnDRIVE was initiated as a partnership between the University of Minnesota and the State of Minnesota. The program engages transdisciplinary teams of researchers across the University to address the MnDRIVE topic areas in partnership with industry and other community stakeholders.
Technology Transfer and Commercialization
University of Minnesota Technology Commercialization facilitates the transfer of University technology and ideas to licensee companies--both established and startup--for the development of new products and services that benefit the public good, foster economic growth, and generate revenue to support the University's mission.
Communication and Dissemination
Marketing and branding, public relations, internal communications, government and community relations.
Metrics and Evaluation
University Survey & Assessment Services (USAS)
University Survey and Assessment Services (USAS) has been in the business of data collection, processing, analysis, evaluation, and reporting for over 90 years. Whether your project is big or small, we can help turn your research and assessment questions into actionable insights.University Survey and Assessment Services (USAS) was formerly known as the Office of Measurement Services.
Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center (BDAC)
The Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center (BDAC) provides statistical and data management support, from study design to final analysis and publication of results.
Research Methodology and Consulting Center (RMCC)
With a combination of services unique to education and human development research, we offer consulting on everything from developing a hypothesis and selecting the appropriate statistical analysis to the development of data collection protocols and reporting templates. With specialized expertise in quantitative research methods, our work helps you achieve your research goals.
We provide research support to faculty, students, and staff in the College of Liberal Arts and across the University. With a high level of expertise in research methodology and research computing, our staff can assist with nearly every step of the research process. We provide support from the initial grant proposals to dissemination and long-term preservation. We specialize in human-subjects protocols, instrument design, experiment programming, participant recruitment strategies, technologically-assisted data collection, data management, and data analysis for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research.
Research Security - coming soon!
Investigators receiving most types of federal awards will soon be required to take research security training. OVPR is in the process of creating a research security program.
UMN listservs
GMUN-AC Community of Practice: https://research.umn.edu/units/spa/training/grants-management-user-network-gmun
Project and Change Management Collaborators Mailing List: https://pcmc.umn.edu/