The University of North Carolina System Research Opportunities Initiative (ROI) provides targeted funding for innovative and potentially game‐changing research initiatives. The Fiscal Year 2025 (so noted due to first year of funding) round of awards will focus on institutional block grants to fund initiatives designed to increase research capacity in one of the eligible research areas. Funded by a recurring annual appropriation from the North Carolina General Assembly, the ROI represents a significant financial investment in the UNC System’s strategic goals.

Priority research areas eligible for ROI funding include advanced manufacturing; marine and coastal science; defense, military, and security; pharmacoengineering; energy; and data science. ROI awards demonstrate North Carolina’s growing appreciation of the role that university research can play in supporting economic development across our state.

The UNC System ROI accepts proposals from any institution in the UNC System. We invite submissions that propose a large-scale initiative involving multiple strategies designed to deliberately support and increase the research footprint in one of the eligible areas. The initiative should have broad impact and involve multiple researchers and collaborators. Strategies might include start-up packages for new faculty; graduate and undergraduate student support (tuition excluded); equipment acquisition and up- fit; space up-fit (no capital improvements); travel (no international travel); and conference organization (keeping in mind possible continued interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Proposed activities may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Shared equipment, core facilities, and lease/up‐fit of research space (labs, shops, studios) --funds are not to be used for capital improvement expenditures

• Student (graduate and undergraduate) and postdoctoral support (tuition is unallowable)

• Non‐recurring support for faculty (e.g., startup packages or release time; ROI funds cannot be used to support faculty beyond the defined funding period)

• Workshops/conferences on emerging multidisciplinary research areas or seminar series to promote networking for innovative project formation (food for meetings and conferences is unallowable)

• Pilot or feasibility studies; proof‐of concept funding for early data collection

• Domestic travel

• Identification and recruitment of partners (industrial, academic, not‐for‐profit, or government)

• Creation and support of resources such as websites, research collaboration sites, or other social networking tools to facilitate large scale research projects

The maximum total funding cannot exceed $1,500,000 for a three-year funding period with the following maximum amounts per year: FY2025: $500,000 FY2026: $500,000 FY2027: $500,000.

Please read the full RFP at https://rede.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/383/UNCSystem-ROIFY2025RFP_withappendix.pdf