Administrative Services

Things You Need to Know From the Office of Research & Scholarship — Aug. 28, 2026

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If you plan to submit an IES proposal this fall, please submit a Grant Request Form by Sept. 3, 2026. If you’re planning a proposal for another September or October deadline (NSF, Spencer, etc.) and have not already notified us, please do so as soon as possible.

The ORS team expects a busy proposal season. Early notification helps ensure you receive the support and required editing services you need.

Before you begin writing, read your RFA carefully, even if you’ve applied to IES before. We’ve already identified several changes, including:

  • New Appendix F requirement related to SEER alignment.
  • Revised page limits for some competitions (for example, the 84.305D Project Narrative is now limited to 15 pages rather than 20).
  • Data Management and Sharing Plans are now optional for some RFAs.

We also encourage all applicants to:

Bottom Line:

  • IES proposal? Submit your Grant Request Form by Sept. 3, 2026.
  • Other fall proposal? Let ORS know ASAP.
  • Applying to IES? Review the RFA carefully. Requirements have changed for some competitions.

Important Upcoming Funding Deadlines

News and Announcements

The UW–Madison Fall Competition is now accepting proposals for this year’s competition. Completed proposals are due by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026.

UW–Madison’s new Center for Humanistic Inquiry into AI and Uncertainty has opened its 2nd annual call for internal faculty research fellowships. This year’s theme is AI and Creativity. Applications are due Oct. 2, 2026.

Serve as a mentor this year for a Mercile J. Lee Scholar. Faculty, staff, and community leaders are invited to mentor students in the program. Mentors support scholars in academics, campus engagement, and career development. If interested, complete the interest survey by Sept. 11, 2026.

Support UW–Madison in the Big Ten We Give Blood competition. The annual Big Ten blood drive begins Aug. 28. Donors who give blood and register their donation on behalf of UW–Madison can help the university compete for a $1 million Abbott prize, earn a T-shirt, and potentially save up to three lives. Last year, UW–Madison led the conference in donations.

The IRB has developed a QI/QA Registry Self-Certification Tool to assess whether the creation of or data sharing with a repository or registry qualifies as quality improvement or quality assurance (QA) or constitutes research. This tool applies to UW–Madison or UW Health (UWHCA or UWMF) personnel who use data from Health Link (including through CRDS) to create internal registries or who share data with external (i.e., third-party) registries.

The NIH Guide recently released two notices relevant to career development funding. NOT-OD-26-098 announces NIH-wide updates to the structure and availability of future Career Development (K) Award mechanisms. The second, NOT-OD-26-095, is a Request for Information inviting community input on how NIH might better support mentored investigators as they work toward independence as clinical trial investigators. This is an important opportunity to share your perspective on a topic that affects many of our trainees and early-career faculty.

A recent change in eRA Commons now limits delegation functionality for Just In Time (JIT) requests. Only the PI can upload JIT in eRA Commons. ORS will coordinate with RSP, who formally reviews and submits. Contact ORS if you have questions about an upcoming JIT request.

The Tools Competition is back, and you’re invited to join The Learning Agency for its launch event on Sept. 10, 2026, from 11 a.m. to noon to get a first look at this year’s competition. The Tools Competition brings together innovators and researchers from around the world to take on major challenges in education. This year’s competition will prioritize evidence-based tools that apply recent technological advances to improve outcomes, build trust, and foster deeper thinking and creativity, with a clear focus on safety.

The Reilly-Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment is a competitive grant program that fosters public engagement and the advancement of the Wisconsin Idea, the principle that education should influence people’s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom. Learn more and find an info session online.

Events and Learning Opportunities

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