Amid federal funding uncertainties and a government shutdown, the University of Iowa is launching a grant program to better prepare researchers to apply for federal grants.
On Sept. 22, the UI announced the launch of its Large Grant Development Opportunity, offering up to $310,000 over several years.
David Schwebel, the vice president for research at the UI, said the program helps position the university in a more competitive spot among other researchers requesting grants from the federal government.
“Congress is discussing budgets for next year — we have to be patient and wait and see where that lands. We need to be competitive,” he said. “Iowa has amazing scientists, amazing researchers on this campus, and so this program helps to use skills and be competitive with everyone in the country.”
The grant application deadline is Jan. 31, 2026. Special priority is given to research working across the disciplines and will likely receive $7 million or more from their grant proposal to the federal government, Schwebel said.
“There’s evidence that working across disciplines innovates and comes up with creative ideas,” Schwebel said. “So by having social sciences and health sciences and natural sciences work together, you come in with different perspectives, and that can lead to creativity and innovation.”
The grant also extends priority to the university’s brain sciences and mental health, cancer research and patient care, and writing and communication departments.
“Those are priorities that have been set by the university as areas that we have real expertise in,” Schwebel said. “We already are world leaders in those areas. I expect we’ll give funding to all sorts of different topics, but those are topics that we see as priorities.”
Schwebel said the UI aims to support research that will gross $7 to $10 million in funding from the federal government but will make exceptions for fields with historically cheaper research, like history or English.
For researchers like Brian Ekdale, a professor in the UI School of Journalism and Mass Communications, the grant opportunity will mean new hope after federal funding shifts.
In spring 2024, the $1.7 million research grant for his study on how social media can impact national security was pulled away. The funding agency, the Minerva Research Project, overseen by the U.S. Department of Defense, had been discontinued and brought all its grants down with it.
“When the decision came, it was disappointing and disorienting,” Ekdale said.
The new grant opportunity allows him to be forward thinking, seeing opportunity for continuing his work rather than putting it away for good.
“This opportunity for the Provost Office is appealing to folks like myself that might have to recalibrate a bit of what they were doing to adapt to the new funding landscape,” Ekdale said.
As the government shutdown stalls federal operations, Ekdale said he believes it largely puts researchers on standby with their projects.
“Usually when there are shutdowns, it doesn’t necessarily mean researchers who are funded have to discontinue their work,” he said. “It does mean some of the back-end communication and accounting and logistics become more challenging.”
In Ekdale’s experience, previous government shutdowns entailed a waiting game. Grant review processes were extended due to an absence in staff.
Aaron Kline, director of the vice president’s Research Development Office at the UI, clarified the goal of the opportunity is to promote research prolonging and improving the quality of life of Iowans.
“It has nothing to do with the current funding landscape and the national research funding,” he said. “This is really about allowing our researchers to collect that pilot data to help them be more competitive when they do go after
that funding.”