Frequently Asked Questions

UAB has multiple ways to support interdisciplinary research. This includes the University Wide Interdisciplinary Research Center (UWIRC) program, the Institutional Research Cores, Team Science Program support (through the UWIRCs and VPR Office).

We are just beginning our budget planning for FY 27. As in similar years, we will aggregate mandatory cost increases and institutional level funding requests that address regulatory, compliance and safety needs. These budget needs will be evaluated and prioritized in conjunction with FY 27 revenue projections during the budget process.

We encourage the diversification in funding sources for research to include foundations, non-profits, industry, and federal agencies in addition to NIH.

The VPR Office is sponsoring a months-long program to equip young faculty to pursue NSF Career Awards. The Provost’s office is supporting the Rethinking Your Research Funding course for faculty and will continue to provide support for similar efforts.

UAB can accept F&A rates published in the RFA.

For research related concerns, please contact the Office of Research to find specific units, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (205) 975-2401.

While we cannot speak on behalf of individual departments, divisions, units, schools, or colleges, we are happy to share information about resources available through the central office that are designed to support our faculty. We encourage you to learn more about programs such as Presidential Bridge Funding and RSI Faculty Recruitment Funding, which are intended to provide strategic support for faculty research continuity and recruitment efforts.

Based on our current investments in both the facilities and the recruitment/retention of top talent, as well as our current research funding trajectory, this ambitious but attainable initiative will ensure that UAB continues to be a national leader in cutting-edge research. As we are a public R-1 with a top academic medical center, it is fundamental to our mission to discover new knowledge, provide novel treatments to our patients, and continue to drive a robust, tech-based economy for our community and state.

This initiative will help us assess our current processes and infrastructure and consider a strategic investment plan that identifies priority areas of investment and the resources needed to accomplish our goal in the coming years.

Once we have Huron’s recommendations for improvements in processes, infrastructure, and additional funding opportunities, we will develop a strategic implementation plan that considers and prioritizes strategic investment areas, associated costs, the timeline for this implementation, and the identification of resources needed to fund this research growth initiative in the coming years.

$1 billion is a monetary target, that functions as a measure to gauge research growth. UAB’s growth in research expenditures over the last decade has multiplied our positive impact on the world around us. If we continue to grow our research portfolio and funding, and make purposeful, strategic investments with the right support, we will exponentially multiply the positive impact we have on countless people’s lives around the world. That is a responsibility we take very seriously, and it deserves the strategic focus of this critical initiative.

Given the research growth trajectory we have achieved this past decade (89 percent), and the Fiscal Year 2022 research expenditure level ($713 million), a $1 billion growth is an achievable milestone. This would put us in an elite company of research institutions nationwide with more than $1B in research expenditures (there are currently 24) and allows us to remain competitive in retaining and recruiting top talent.

Based on the recommendations we receive, and our prioritization of them considering achievability and potential impact, we will review the resources needed and associated cost and prepare annual budget requests through the RCM budgetary process.

A big part of this initiative is to identify opportunities to enhance processes and systems that create efficiencies and better support research faculty and staff, as well as create more opportunities. The initiative will help identify areas of opportunities and improvements in technology, as well as in transparent and streamlined operations and processes. This will help faculty and staff concentrate their collaborative efforts on research and scholarship.

The results of this process will help highlight potential new funding opportunities and provide more robust, efficient platforms to support existing and future strategic plans and drive research initiatives.