Opportunity Overview
The University of Nebraska FY2028 Nebraska Research Initiative Collaboration Initiative supports one-year seed grants that strengthen faculty competitiveness for federal extramural research funding. Projects may generate preliminary data for a federal application or resubmission, or build capabilities aligned with National Strategic Research Institute funding priorities.
Key Deadlines
Application deadline: January 15, 2027 at 5:00 PM Central Time. Required routing signatures are due January 29, 2027 at 5:00 PM Central Time. Potential Principal Investigators must register by October 9, 2026 and participate in the in-person Collaboration Initiative Annual Meeting on October 16, 2026 unless the Office of the Provost grants an approved waiver.
Funding
Single-year seed grants range from $10,000 to $100,000. The RFA states that the total FY2028 program budget is approximately $3 million, subject to funding availability and eligibility. F&A costs are not allowed. Allowable costs include technicians, postdocs, students, publication costs, equipment, and certain graduate research assistant costs. Construction, renovation, administrative assistance, release time from teaching, and academic-year salaries for PIs and Co-Investigators are not allowable. The controlling RFA does not state a mandatory applicant match or cost-share requirement.
Eligibility and Collaboration
Assistant, Associate, or Full Professors and equivalent-rank faculty with formal research apportionments employed by a University of Nebraska campus may serve as PI. Professors of practice, clinical faculty, and postdocs may participate as Co-Investigators but may not serve as PI. Meaningful multi-campus collaboration is required unless the stated NSRI content-expert exception applies. Investigators without extramural research funding in the last three years must identify an eligible grant-active research mentor.
Health and Education Relevance
The RFA identifies Health Sciences as a common research area and lists topic areas that include behavioral and mental health, cancer prevention and screening, clinical-trial collaborations involving prevention, diagnostics and therapies, disease mechanisms and treatment, drug and vaccine discovery, early childhood, and education and educational sciences.
Application Requirements
The online NuRamp application contains five sections covering administrative information, budget information, combined PI and Co-Investigator biosketches or CVs, strategic alignment/project goals/external reviewers, and compliance information. The project narrative is uploaded as a PDF and may not exceed eight pages including references, tables, figures, and appendices. Applicants must identify the targeted federal funding program or NSRI priority topic.
Atlas Assessment
Atlas Opportunity Score: 94/100. N9+ Fit Score: 70/100. This is a strong Nebraska health-research funding pathway because equipment is allowable and the RFA explicitly supports diagnostics, therapies, clinical research, behavioral health, and related health-science priorities. Any N9+ role must be justified by an applicant-controlled research protocol and cannot be presumed. Dr. Miltie is not independently eligible because the PI must be qualifying University of Nebraska research faculty.
Controlling source: FY2028 NRI Collaboration Initiative RFA.