Limited Submission Survey Results

December 18, 2014

In order to evaluate whether ORC is meeting the needs of research faculty and staff, we recently conducted a survey of users of the limited submissions program.

Approximately 150 faculty and staff completed the Limited Submissions Satisfaction Survey.

Overall, faculty and staff are satisfied with the current length (3 pages) for limited submission proposal abstracts that are required to be submitted for internal competitions, and with the utilization of an ad hoc anonymous internal competition review committee. ORC will maintain these standard operating procedures.

Faculty and staff however, are less than satisfied with the lack of diversity in disciplines/fields represented in the limited submission funding announcements. At the Office of Research & Commercialization (ORC), our primary responsibility is to disseminate available information on current limited submission funding announcements, many of which are STEM. But, we’d like to remind you that our staff can run targeted as well as broad funding searches in all disciplines, from private, federal and state sponsors. Please contact Madhavi (Maddy) Chokshi, who can assist you in locating research and programmatic funding opportunities.

Nearly a quarter of faculty and staff who have not submitted a limited submission proposal abstract in the past three years felt that they did not have enough time to prepare an abstract. A few written responses indicated that faculty and staff found it difficult to translate technical concepts into laymen’s terms for a non-expert review panel.

To assist faculty in their grantsmanship, ORC would like to remind you of the ORC toolkit where there are resources for grant writing. Faculty and staff who are looking for proposal samples to specific funding announcements should contact Madhavi (Maddy) Chokshi or Josh Roney. Mr. Roney also provides editorial proposal reviews focusing on flow, clarity, and persuasiveness. Additionally, Dr. Debbie Reinhart is available to provide proposal reviews and to ensure that the proposals are responsive to review criteria. Finally, if there is a lack of expertise among UCF faculty to provide an adequate technical review, depending on the faculty member’s home unit, there may be funds to solicit external
reviews .

To help faculty and staff feel more comfortable while navigating the limited submission process, there will be a byline at the top of the weekly limited submission email reminding faculty and staff that they can learn more about the limited submission process on our website.

Thank you to all faculty and staff who completed the survey!