Pilot Project Grant
Call for Proposals
Deadlines
The College Dean must approve and submit the proposal by the following RSP deadlines:
- Fall 2026: October 14 before 5 PM PST
- Winter 2027: January 27 before 5PM PST
- Spring 2027: April 21 before 5PM PST
Applicants will be notified of award decisions before the end of each quarter.
Application Resources
Overview
The Pilot Project Grant (PPG) program offers a $5,000 award designed to support early-stage ideas that can lead to new, long-term directions in research, creative work, or scholarship at Western Washington University (WWU). Pilot grants are intended to enrich and expand WWU’s portfolio of scholarly and creative programs by stimulating the pursuit of opportunities representing new lines of inquiry for the principal investigator (PI), that are of high value to the discipline, and that are expected to have long-lasting impact. The program is designed to allow applicants from all disciplines the opportunity to compete successfully, even if their discipline is not traditionally connected to sponsored research. Thus, PPG’s need not necessarily aim at producing extramural funding, though they may do so.
ELIGIBILITY
- The program is open to all non-student employees with formal appointments to the university. This includes staff, research associates, tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure track faculty.
- Recipients may hold only one PPG at a time.
- Recipients may not have held a PPG in the previous 12-month period.
- Proposals are accepted from individuals and teams; for team proposals one member serves as the PI and the eligibility criteria are applied only to that individual.
- Members of the review committee are eligible to apply to the program, but must recuse themselves from the review of their own application
Funding Information
Activities Supported:
Funds may be used for supplies, equipment, project-related travel, student salaries, user fees, as well as other expenses necessary for getting significant new ideas off the ground. Examples of the kinds of activities supported by the program include, but are not limited to:
- Proof-of-principle activities that would orient the PI’s work in a fundamentally new and promising direction
- Planning meetings or site visits for a significant new venture involving outside partners
- Gathering preliminary data for an important new interdisciplinary collaboration
Program Limitations:
PPGs are intended to seed sustainable, long-term directions and as such, are not suitable for most fixed-term activities, such as individual performances, productions, tours or investigations. The program does not support already-ongoing activities, routine preliminary studies, or activities that would typically be expected to occur anyway within disciplinary norms without PPG support. Teaching buyouts or summer salary to provide time for preparing extramural proposals are also not typically supported unless the impacts would be unusually widespread or significant. Unallowable expenses include those related to conference attendance, symposia, the development of instructional materials, curricula, dissertations, publishing or similar costs, or the acquisition of general-purpose (departmental) equipment.
Award Management:
Grants are made for a fixed term of 12 months. Awarded grant funds will be available for use until the completion of the project or for one year after the award is made, whichever comes first. Any significant changes to project scope or budget must be pre-approved by RSP. Any unexpended funds remaining at the end of the grant period will be returned to the program.
Instructions
Applicants must use the official proposal template which is not to exceed a total of 5 pages (maximum 3 pages for the narrative and maximum 2 pages for the CV).
Helpful tip: Open the proposal template in the desktop client for the best functionality.
Narrative Guidance
Use the following headings, included in the template, to address key merit criteria within the project narrative:
- Proposal Narrative
- Significance
- Expected Results/Timeline
- Future Submissions (if applicable)
- Bibliography (if applicable)
Keep in mind that reviewers are an interdisciplinary group of faculty and may not be familiar with field-specific terminology, methods, or theoretical frameworks. As such, applicants should:
- Minimize discipline-specific jargon.
- Clearly explain specialized methods or techniques.
- Ensure any charts, figures, or graphics are legible and fit within the page limit.
CV Guidance
Following the 3-page narrative, applicant must also include a current CV highlighting qualifications relevant to the proposed project not to exceed 2-pages.
Budget Guidance
Follow the required template to describe how you will allocate grant funding.
Prior to Submission
The 3-page narrative template and the 2-page CV must be combined into a single PDF document and attached to the application form.
Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be reviewed by a faculty panel whose recommendations are provided to the Vice Provost for Research. The selection process is expected to be competitive. Proposals are evaluated based on:
- Opportunity for opening a significant new direction for research, creative expression or scholarship at WWU
- Likelihood that the new direction will be sustainable after the PPG support has concluded
- Impact on the discipline/University/community
- Completeness, and strength of statement of need/problem/creative activity and expected impacts
- Suitability/feasibility of methods, resources, staffing and timeline
- Qualifications and previous track record of the PI/team members
- Clarity and feasibility of endpoints
Submission Procedure
Applicant
Using the required proposal template submit all required components as one pdf file attached to the Pilot Grant Application eSign Form and submit to your department chair for review and comment.
Chair
Review the application, enter your written comments on the eSign application form, and forward to your Dean for final submission to RSP.
Your comments are considered as reviewers' evaluate proposals and make recommendations for funding.
Dean
College Deans should review the materials and submit the proposal by approving the application to rsp.internalgrants@wwu.edu prior to the deadline.
Suggested Timeline
We suggest that application materials are sent to:
- Department Chairs: 2 weeks before RSP deadline
- College Deans: 1 week before RSP Deadline
*Be sure to check if your department/college has set specific internal deadlines!
Questions?
Contact us at rsp@wwu.edu.