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2026 Request for Proposals: Grand Challenges 2.0

University of Maryland Grand Challenges ProgramAs part of our efforts to further strengthen the resilience of our university and its research enterprise, we are excited to continue the Grand Challenges Grants program with a new, second round of awards. This unique program has proven to be an incredibly worthwhile investment over the past three years. As a result of our first round of GC grants, we have achieved a significant return on investment, with more than $55 million secured in external funding. These awards led to unique experiential learning and research opportunities for our students, engaged a broad range of partners, and made a significant impact in our communities. Additionally, the multi-disciplinary approach across colleges has provided excellent research results and highlighted the achievements of this collaborative and impactful work. In the first round of grants, every college was represented in several project initiatives. Select examples of successful projects from the first round of awards can be found here: Global FEWture Alliance, The Maryland Democracy Initiative, Using Machine Learning to Measure and Improve Equity in K-12 Mathematics Classrooms, Programmable Design of Sustainable, All-Natural Plastic Substitutes, Microbiome Sciences. Descriptions of all of the Grand Challenges 1.0 projects can be found here. 

Request for Proposals: 

The University of Maryland invites Grand Challenges 2.0 Grant proposals from faculty to forge new and creative initiatives to address some of the most pressing and vexing societal challenges of our time. All projects require collaboration across multiple disciplines and involve teams representing two or more colleges. Institutional award teams must represent three or more colleges.

Funding Priorities: 

Proposals must highlight the importance of how the proposed effort can and will significantly impact an enduring or emerging grand challenge that impacts society. Proposals should not focus on incremental or piecemeal advances, but must rather put forward a compelling, transformative, and forward-leaning approach that will make meaningful advances to address a major societal challenge. 

Two tracks are available to apply for grant support:

  • Institutional Award (up to 3 awards, each project will be eligible to receive $1.5M total over 3 years)
  • Team Award (up to 7 awards, each project will be eligible to receive $600,000 total over 3 years)

InfoReady Proposal Submission Links:

Eligibility: 

Tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, and professional track faculty are eligible to apply as principal investigators (PI). Previous Grand Challenges PIs are not eligible to apply as PIs or serve as Co-PIs. Previous Grand Challenges Co-PIs may apply for funds on new and distinct projects as either a PI or Co-PI.

Successful Proposals must:

  • Articulate a highly compelling need for the proposed project and the expected direct impact as a result of the project.
  • Detail the proposed reach, impact, and potential of the proposed project to address a grand challenge. 
    • Measured impacts over the course of the project will include:
      • Direct local/regional/global impact
      • Impact on policy/legislation/community issues
      • Impact on health/education/equity/ justice issues
      • Impact on economy/jobs/growth
      • Level of societal/external stakeholder engagement
      • Level of campus engagement
      • Number of partnerships
      • External funds secured
  • Provide innovative and new opportunities for students’ experiential learning and classroom experiences, and incorporate an Office of Undergraduate Research initiative (including both ForagerOne and VIP). Engagement with the Graduate School and Discovery House is also encouraged.
  • Describe internal and external partnerships that will enable, scale, and expand the impact and visibility of the effort. Projects that include community engagement partnerships will coordinate with the Center for Community Engagement.
  • Demonstrate a path to financial sustainability (including how internal funding will be leveraged to secure new grants, contracts, philanthropic support or other external funding and revenue sources, etc.). 

Proposal Process: 

  • Grand Challenges Information Sessions and Innovation Workshop: Optional information sessions and an Innovation Workshop will be available to interested participants following the issuance of this RFP to provide assistance to teams that seek such support. 
  • All submissions will be reviewed and scored in response to the questions and criteria listed under “Proposal Requirements.” The evaluations and scores will be provided to the Senior Vice President & Provost and the Vice President for Research for final funding decisions.
  • INSTITUTIONAL GRANT PROPOSALS: A 10-minute presentation to University Leadership is required. Additional details on the presentation will be provided to the invited teams selected to participate.
  • TEAM GRANT PROPOSALS: A 3-minute video presentation detailing your project in lieu of a formal leadership presentation. Additional details on the video will be provided to the invited teams selected to participate.

Proposal Requirements: 

In no more than five pages, please address the following topics to outline your proposal:

1. Challenge Idea/Area:

  • Explain the work you are trying to do.
  • Describe how the proposed work is important to society, and how it will result in a direct impact to address a grand challenge of societal importance.
  • Demonstrate clear objectives/goals using absolutely no jargon.
  • Articulate how the results would not be otherwise attainable or difficult to achieve without funding.

2. Impact:

  • Describe the impact the new project will have in addressing a grand challenge in the region, nationally, and/or globally.
  • Describe how this new project could ultimately improve the lives of millions of people.
  • Explain the impact over 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years.

3. Innovation/State of the Art:

  • Describe how efforts to address this challenge are done today, and what the limits of current practice are.
  • Explain what is new in your approach, how it is different from other existing approaches, and why you think it will be successful.
  • Articulate the technology/policy/methodology/process/cultural innovation you hope to achieve to reach your goal.

4. Metrics & Milestones:

  • Explain how quickly your project will see measurable results in Year 1 and into Year 2, and your plan for project start-up.
  • Describe how you will measure success throughout the project.
  • List important milestones that will be achieved with a corresponding qualitative or quantitative metric.

5. Risks:

  • Describe what the risks are to the successful execution of the proposed project. Explain what could go wrong or delay your project’s success, and how your team would mitigate these risks.

6. Partnerships:

  • Describe internal and external partnerships that will enable, scale, and expand the impact of the project.
  • Projects with community engagement elements are expected to coordinate with the Center for Community Engagement.  

7. Experiential Learning & Opportunities for Students 

  • All projects are expected to have a focus on experiential learning for students highlighted across project activities. Proposals should include various approaches to experiential learning and delineate undergraduate versus graduate student engagement and involvement.
  • Projects are expected to coordinate with the Office of Undergraduate Research to engage undergraduate students through both ForagerOne and VIP. Engagement with the Graduate School and Discovery House is encouraged.

 

8. External Visibility and Funding for Sustainability:

  • Proposals must identify how internal funding will be leveraged to secure external grants, contracts, awards, revenue sources, and/or new visibility for the University of Maryland.
    • Projects should consider and identify a diverse potential funder portfolio (federal, private, foundations, industry, etc.) for maximum success and sustainability.
  • It is expected that PIs will work with development officers to explore philanthropic efforts for program support through the life of the grant award. The Dean’s letter of support (see below) should identify the development officer who will be assigned to the project.

9. Resources/Budget Narrative:

  • Explain expected costs over three years, and include a brief budget narrative. The budget narrative is excluded from the five-page limit of your proposal and is added as an addendum with the budget.
  • Applicants must use the Budget Template provided. 

Additional Requirements:

  • Project leadership must include one principal investigator and a minimum of one co-principal investigator from each college represented on the project.  
  • Projects are encouraged to have at least one faculty member at the rank of assistant professor (or assistant research scientist or equivalent) on the team or as a Co-PI. There is no limitation on the number of team members for projects.   
  • Projects must demonstrate how their team's individual and collective components will work in collaboration and harness the complementary expertise of all team members and partners. 
  • Grand Challenges RFP workshops will be scheduled before the application deadline. PIs/applicants are highly encouraged to attend. 

Budget Guidelines:

  • Proposals must use the Budget Template provided. 
  • Awards will start on July 1, 2026. The project budget should be structured with the first expenditures incurred in July, 2026. Funds should be spent over 3 years.
  • Eligible expenses should include well-justified requests for salary support (including for temporary positions, research associates, laboratory equipment, software, marketing/communication needs, and project-specific development needs. 
  • Faculty and students' stipends may vary depending on the amount of work involved for each person. Stipends must be calculated according to the unit’s or program’s guidelines.
  • Pro-rated fringe benefits must be included as a project cost in the proposed budget. Student wages must be calculated according to the unit’s or program’s guidelines.  
  • No overhead should be included in the budget. 
  • Budgeted items should be at or below the total amount of funds available per proposal (Institutional Awards: $1.5M total; Team Awards: $600,000 total). 
  • Proposals must include information about the roles and responsibilities of each team member (including students, if applicable) and how they will collaborate to advance the proposed work.
  • A 2:1 ratio contribution must be made by all participating colleges/schools, meaning that for every $2 of institutional grant funding, there will be a college matching investment of $1, split proportionately between the represented colleges for each grant. The contributions to the match can be drawn from a variety of sources, including cash and/or in-kind. In-kind matches are documentable non-cash sources of support that can be attributed to a project. Examples include: course buyout, portion of faculty salary, cost associated with workspace if the space is not owned by the campus, equipment and technology usage if a charge is already assessed to campus users for its use (not the equipment cost itself). Fund balance usage may not be counted as a financial contribution to project budgets. In-kind support cannot be from existing funding that is purpose-dedicated.
  • A letter of support from the Dean and the Department Chair of the PI is required with the project proposal. The letter of support must include: (a) a description of the importance of the project; (b) a statement of matching commitment from the relevant Dean(s) & Department Chair(s) to support the project if it is selected for funding; and (c) should identify the development officer who will be assigned to the project. The letter of support does not count against the page limit. 
  • Equipment purchased and software licenses procured through GC-funded projects will remain at UMD even if a PI or team member were to leave the university.

Grant Recipient Requirements: 

Grand Challenges grant recipients agree to the following:

  • Annual submission of grant reports, including metrics, outcomes, accomplishments, and financial expenditures.  This includes a set of metrics for all GC projects specified by the GCG program team. 
  • Coordination with the Center for Community Engagement and the Office of Undergraduate Research, as specified above. 
  • Participation in Grand Challenges showcase events and leadership meetings. 
  • Participation in media training with the Office of Strategic Communication. 
  • Cooperation with Maryland Today and/or other media inquiries to promote the work of the GC program.
  • Important: It is expected that each funded project will submit proposals for significant external funding from agencies/foundations directly as a result of this specific funded collaboration. Subsequent years of funding for the project may be delayed without corresponding proposal activity. 
    • For example, Institutional Grants should aim to submit at least three proposals by the end of the second year of funding. Team Grants should aim to submit at least two proposals by the end of the second year of funding. 

InfoReady Proposal Submission Links:

More Information:

Timeline and Key Dates

Resources for Grant Applicants

Additional Information, Questions: Please direct any additional questions to Katie Yaeger, Program Manager, Grand Challenges Grants Program (kyaeger@umd.edu).

 

 

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