Division of Research Resources

Established in March of 2003, the Division of Research Resources is the newest Division within the University of South Florida's (USF) Office of Research. The Division of Research Resources is charged to promote and support the research and creative scholarship activities of faculty, staff, and students, and to make available the tools and resources needed to help researchers navigate through the challenging research process.

Using the Office of Research's website as a venue, Research Resources hosts a dialogue on topics that affect the researcher: news, announcements, ethical questions, policies and guidelines, intellectual technology, trends and developments, and funding opportunities.

Research Resources offers a wide array of funding source/solicitation information and educational opportunities, centrally and on-site, in such subjects as electronic proposal submissions, funding searches, and general grantsmanship.

Annually, Research Resources hosts a New Research Faculty Orientation to ensure all new faculty members with a smooth transition into the policies and guidelines adhered to by USF research faculty.

Mission

Our mission is to provide the tools and resources that researchers need to help them realize their scientific and creative scholarship goals.

Resources for Funding

SOURCES - SOURCES is an online publication, updated biweekly with at least fifty new funding announcements organized by discipline: Biomedical, Business, Cross-Disciplinary, Education, Engineering, Graduate Studies, Humanities, Mathematics, Medicine, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Undergraduate Studies, Women, Minorities, and Homeland Security. Funding opportunities that encourage collaboration are listed under Cross-Disciplinary.

SOURCES HIGHLIGHTS: When Research Resources receives information that is of potential interest to faculty members or a funding opportunity with a fast-approaching deadline, the Research Resources staff will send out announcements via Research Talk (a research exclusive listserv), USF News (USF general listserv), and/or via e-mail to target groups of research faculty.

Funding Tools and Resources

Research Resources subscribes to the following funding databases:

Community of Science (COS) features more than 23,000 records, representing over 400,000 funding opportunities from around the globe, totaling over $33 billion; Illinois Researcher Information System (IRIS), is a database of funding opportunities maintained by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and focuses primarily on opportunities within the continental United States. The COS and IRIS databases contain funding announcements from state, local and federal government, foundations, corporations, societies, professional organizations and charities.

Four types of services are available, and Research Resources staff offer training on any of the four:

COS Customized Funding Alert: Research Resources staff will assist you in setting up customized funding alerts using the COS “workbench” feature. A COS Funding Alert is a personalized electronic notification service of funding information. Weekly COS Funding Alert subscribers will receive an e-mail containing a customized list of funding opportunities based criteria provided by the subscriber. The COS Funding Alert feature also offers a number of advanced search options, such as:

The ability to specify certain demographic information (citizenship, activity location) to be used as a filter for all results.

The option of receiving e-mail or having the alert posted directly to the individual's COS Workbench.

The use of "Archived Results" to keep track of previous COS Funding Alert results.

IRIS Alert: The IRIS Alert Service allows a user to create an IRIS search profile. The search profile will be run automatically at specified intervals and will alert the user by email to upcoming funding opportunities in those specific areas of interest.

COS and IRIS: Either can be utilized without establishing a workbench or automated “funding alert.” Users can go directly to the respective websites and conduct very broad or specific searches using their search engine features.

Funding Workshops: Research Resources staff members offer workshops on how to find funding online and to use the funding databases most effectively. Each workshop lasts approximately forty-five minutes. There is no fee to attend. Further information regarding workshops and schedules can be found on the web at: http://www.research.usf.edu/workshops/

Sponsor Specific Searches

Any member of the University community interested in finding funding from a specific sponsor may contact the Research Resources staff. The staff member will request the name of the sponsor, a list of keywords, and a brief description of that person’s research project. The staff member will then use that information as a guide for a funding search, and will correspond with the interested party via e-mail. If desired, additional funding announcements will be forward to the researcher for consideration monthly.

Custom Funding Searches

Custom funding searches are available to any member of the University community who needs assistance in locating funding for his/her project(s) the interested party may contact the Research Resources staff. The staff member will request a list of keywords, and a brief description of that person’s research project. The staff member will then use that information as a guide for a funding search, and will correspond with the interested party via e-mail. If desired, additional funding announcements will be forward to the researcher for consideration monthly.

Community of Science Workbench

Users who would like to use COS off-campus will need to “join” or register to use COS from an on-campus computer. Joining will establish a user’s Workbench; a customized virtual "work space" based on the details he/she provides at the initial registration. This will establish a basic “COS Expertise” profile or online curriculum vitae. The Workbench platform will provides access to numerous databases and services including:

Listing of COS Expertise – COS members (faculty at the subscribing institutions) post their curriculum vitae (CV) in COS Expertise, instantly becoming a member of a network of over 480,000 researchers worldwide, which is accessed by businesses, industries, and government agencies who use the database to search for experts in various fields and disciplines. Search the database for an expert in your discipline and discover what funding agencies he or she submits to.

CV Home Page – the member receives a personal CV home page with a static web address to distribute on business cards, in e-mail signature lines, etc.

Funded Research Database – the member may research and track information on active research projects funded by NIH, NSF, USDA, SBIR, and MRC.

COS Bookstore – the member may search for and order books from more than 100,000 titles. The member may opt in to receive e-mail alerts about upcoming books.

Online CV – the member may generate a curriculum vitae using COS Quick Form for CV as well as a PHS 398 Biographical Sketch. This tool creates personalized CVs using information from his/her COS Expertise profile, generated in Microsoft Word, formatted and fully editable.

Research Resources Library

The Research Resources staff maintains a collection of internal and external resource materials, which members of the University community may use in their funding search. From annual reports to directories, containing contact and financial information on foundations and corporations, faculty and staff may take advantage of the liberal lending policy to check out items that may be of significant benefit to the grant process.