Research Support Awards

Support provided through Research Support Awards is in the form of research assistantships, research support and/or publication subventions. Research assistantships must be for Illinois graduate students. Research support encompasses such things as equipment, materials and supplies, wages, travel, and/or miscellaneous items.

Research Assistants

Research Assistants must be current graduate students at Illinois – post-doctoral and undergraduate students are not eligible for Research Board support. Support may be requested for fall semester, spring semester, the academic year, or two months of summer session; support may be requested for multiple RAs or for multiple semesters. The percentage appointment is restricted to 50%, 33%, 25% or 17% - no other percentage request will be considered.

Beginning with Fiscal Year 09 (August 2008), the support for RAs has changed. The amount provided toward the cost of an awarded RA will be flat amount based on percentage appointment and period of support. The flat amount of support will include the funds to defray the cost of graduate health insurance charges, workers’ compensation and/or any other benefit charges made to the appointment line (this may on occasion include social security and/or medicare charges). The table of RA support for Fiscal Year 09 follows:

Dollar Amount Needed for Appointment
% Appointment Academic Year Fall Semester Spring Semester Summer Session
50%$18,500$9,250$9,250$4,120
33%$12,200$6,100$6,100$2,710
25%$9,260$4,630$4,630$2,060
17%$6,290$3,150$3,150$1,400

The stipend paid to an RA is required to follow the set rates for RAs in the unit. If the total cost of the RA is less than the stipulated amount, the excess funds may not be used for any other purpose; the excess will be recovered to the Campus Research Board at the expiration of the award. If the total cost of the RA is more than the stipulated amount, the excess amount will need to be covered by another source of funding (not including any research support funds which may be awarded by the Campus Research Board) or the percentage of the RA may be reduced to cover the total cost.

Research Support

Research Support (RS) requested from the Campus Research Board may be for such items as equipment, supplies, wages, travel, or miscellaneous expenses.

Equipment: This category includes all inventoried equipment items, defined by the campus as equipment valued at $500 or more. The cost of freight or shipping charges may be included in the amount requested, if applicable. Any equipment request to upgrade existing research capabilities must be accompanied by a complete description of at least one planned project utilizing the new equipment.

Supplies: For Campus Research Board purposes, this category includes all items normally considered to be supplies, including any devices (or equipment) that are valued at less than $500 and thus not inventoried.

Wages: Salaries and/or wages needed for personnel other than RAs are included in this category. However, salaries for faculty, post-doctoral research associates, research technicians, or computer programmers are not supported by the Campus Research Board.

Travel: This category includes the amount needed for travel purposes, such as to the research site, and may include the normal University approved per diem rates.

Miscellaneous Expenses: Often times funding for other miscellaneous expenses is needed to complete the project. Typical examples of miscellaneous expenses include photocopying, computer software, participant or subject fees, film processing, mailing costs, fees for machine usage, or other items not encompassed within one of the other categories.

Other Types of Support: Requests for other types of support will be considered if the request represents a critical research need or an important opportunity. For example, a special library acquisition might have important implications for a particular faculty research effort; a workshop or conference might be needed to discuss an important new technology or to consolidate a substantial faculty group effort; or, expenses associated with special performances and exhibitions may be needed in the fine and applied arts. (These examples are intended to be illustrative, not all-inclusive.) Applicants are encouraged to present and justify their most critical needs for consideration, recognizing that the Campus Research Board’s resources are limited in relationship to the needs of the campus for research support.

Types of Support NOT Funded: The Campus Research Board has identified certain types of support which it will not fund. These include:

Applicants are encouraged to consult with the Executive Secretary of the Campus Research Board at 333-0030 or via e-mail at reschbd@illinois.edu regarding requests for unusual purposes or for categories of expense normally not funded by the Campus Research Board.

Publication Subventions

A publication subvention is sometimes required by a publisher to help defray the expenses of publishing a scholarly book. The Campus Research Board normally only provides publication subvention assistance in cases where the publisher is a non-commercial press; uses a peer-review mechanism for selecting books to publish; and, stipulates that the subvention is necessary for the book to be published, as in the case where the anticipated sale is too small or too slow to permit timely recovery by the publisher of initial production expenses. Note: Authors should not suggest the possibility of a publication subvention in their communications with the publishers.

For a publication subvention, the proposal narrative should include the following items in addition to the normally required items:

The Campus Research Board’s policy for publication subventions requires that: