Research and Innovation

Bridge Funding

Overview

The Bridge Funding Partnership Program (BFPP) is a partnership between the Office of the Provost and the Schools designed to support the research program of faculty, who are experiencing lapses in funding and require institutional support to maintain their research program. Bridge Funding provides up to 12 months of gap funding for research projects to enable the continuation of a basal level of lab activity such that a currently funded project may progress to funding renewal.

This program is intended to extend extramurally funded research projects only. Requests for pilot studies or other unfunded research will not be considered. Only projects administered through SEAS will be eligible for gap funding. Lastly, only those projects with a high likelihood of continued funding by the sponsor will be supported by this program. For example, this program will not support projects that have either received a poor score or that have completed the third review without being funded.

Any approved gap funding will cease upon either the start date of the award or the notification that the final round of funding requests was not awarded.

Eligibility:  All full-time SEAS faculty (tenure and research tracks)

 

Deadlines

The Office of the Associate Dean of Research accepts requests for Bridge Funding on August 15, December 15, and April 22.  Review a previous call for funding from OVPR here.

Review and Selection Process

Requests will be reviewed by a committee consisting of the Senior Associate Dean, Dave Meaney, Associate Dean of Research, Cherie Kagan, and Vice Dean of Finance and Administration, Mike Matthews, in consultation with the Dean and department chairs.  Awards will be made based on need, strength of the research program, and availability of funding.

Request Parameters

Requests should be made prior to the termination of existing funding. Justification should be provided if this is not the case.

Projects must have been submitted for renewal to the original funding agency at least once for consideration in advance of the termination deadline and the review must be in hand and provided with the application.

It is expected that the faculty member will have already explored all other possible funding sources with their home department chair. Requests will ideally be considered for individual unfunded projects if no overlap exists with other funded projects. If other funded projects exist, this factor will be considered by the committee and more stringent rules will be applied. In addition, the committee will take into consideration any discretionary funds (special purpose funds, technology transfer funds, unrestricted gifts/endowments, etc.) available to both the department and the PI prior to making a funding decision.

The requestor’s home department chair must determine whether the request has merit and must enthusiastically endorse the request in writing before it can be considered for funding. In the case of requests to support gaps in the funding of sub-projects within program projects (e.g. NIH P01, P50, SCOR etc.), the request must also have the written support of the program project principal investigator.

Recipients of Bridge Funding awards must provide a year-end report documenting the progress of the project, expenditures, and further attempts to acquire funding for the research program.

Budget Guidelines

  1. The request for bridge funding will not exceed 1 year.
  2. Funding may include essential project support personnel, services and supplies only.
  3. Equipment, travel and faculty salary should not be requested.
  4. See the linked Budget template for further details.

Submission Format

Bridge Funding Partnership Proposals should include:

  • All items detailed in the Required Documentation checklist;
  • Saved as a single PDF file named: [last name, first name_dept_BFPP -year];
  • Submitted by email to: adro@seas.upenn.edu.

 

Questions about Bridge Funding can be sent to:

The Office of the Associate Dean of Research (ADRO)

Greg Green
Director, Sponsored Research and Strategic Initiatives
Email: gregreen@seas.upenn.edu
Dept. email: adro@seas.upenn.edu