Criteria and Eligibility

The CSBS small grants are intended to support activities that will result in the eventual submission of a proposal for external funding such as:

  • The development of new, innovative research projects
  • Small pilot studies to support larger funding proposals
  • The development of novel methodological approaches
  • The creation of interdisciplinary networking groups

Criteria for submissions to the CSBS small grant program:

  • Innovative approaches to addressing important issues related to a CSBS grand theme (e.g., Inequity & Poverty, Social & Behavioral Health, and Digital Revolution)
  • Rigorous methods and analyses that can answer the research questions and/or hypotheses
  • A clear path to writing and submitting one or more funding proposals to external granting agencies
  • Research that has the potential to contribute to the broader community of scholars working on issues related CSBS’s grand themes

The CSBS funds for small grants can be used to support the following project-related activities:

  • Personnel costs, such as a graduate or undergraduate student research assistant or a non-student hourly worker
  • Participant support costs
  • Supplies and materials
  • Data access or data set purchase
  • Transcription costs
  • Mailing costs

The CSBS small grants are NOT intended to support:

  • Expenditures generally made by departments and colleges (e.g., travel to professional conferences)
  • Delivery of outreach programs or services
  • Student master’s or dissertation research
  • Tuition waivers
  • PI/Co-I salary
  • Course buyouts
  • Meetings (e.g., seminars, workshops, conferences, or brown bags)
  • Travel, unless specifically required for data collection to carry out the research
  • Publication costs

Eligibility for a CSBS small grant is limited to:

  • Faculty members at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
  • Research professionals at UIUC (e.g., Research Scientist or Research Development Manager) Note: Graduate students and postdoctoral associates are not eligible to serve as a PI.
  • Faculty and staff who are not currently a PI on another CSBS small grant (i.e., PIs can hold that role on only one CSBS grant at a time)