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PSC-CUNY

Professional Staff Congress- City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) Research Award Program, and internal grant program, has been established as a major vehicle for the universities encouragement and support of senior faculty research of external funding. It seeks to enhance the university’s role as a research institution, further the professional growth and development of its faculty, and provide support for established and young scholars. Awards are distributed the University committee on Research Awards, a faculty committee, and administered by the Research Foundations of CUNY.

The Junior Faculty has full authority in the allocation of funds. Please complete the application process with the electronic system on the Research Foundations Website. Funding will support activities in the creative arts and all research in the areas of, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Including but not limited to, research related to curriculum development, improvement in teaching, adaptation of standard educational techniques to special clientele, lastly, the relationship between technical occupational training and the liberal arts curriculum. All full-time members of the instructional staff and untenured members of the faculty, who are on the regular university payroll processed through the Office of Comptroller of the City or State of New York, are eligible to apply.

In order to have access to this funding opportunity, a proposal must involve original research or creative activities by the principle investigator (PI). Grants will not fund the following activities:

  • Those that support fulfillment of degree requirements of the PI.
  • The writing of textbooks.
  • The development of a curriculum for specific courses or programs.

There are only three categories of grant awards:

  1. Traditional A Awards of up to $3,500
  2. Traditional B Awards of more than $3,600 up to $6,000
  3. Enhanced Awards of more than $6,500 up to $12,000

Traditional A and B Awards

In order to maximize opportunities for funding, approximately 80% of the funds available for these two categories of awards will be allocated to Traditional A Awards. For Traditional A Awards, a maximum of $3,500 may be requested. Please note that Traditional A Awards will not support requests for reassigned time. For Traditional B Awards, a Maximum of $6,000 may be requested. Traditional A and B Awards are subject to review only by the discipline-based review panel to which they are submitted. The review panels are not permitted to modify budget proposal; Successful applications will be fully funded. Therefore, the appropriateness and relevance of the budget to the proposal is an important review criterion.  The grant period will last for one year, from July 1st to June 30th. If a six-month extension is required, the time period to use the funds will be granted. Awardees must submit the extension request by email to the program administrator prior to the end of the grant period. Please be aware that ONLY ONE EXTENSION PERIOD WILL BE GRANTED.

Enhanced Awards

As part of the three-year pilot program, the university and the union identified new sources of funding to support up to 40 Enhanced Awards per year. In this category, which is the most competitive amongst the three categories, a maximum of $12,000 may be requested. Applications for Enhanced Awards should be significant scholarly or creative projects that required more than $6,000 to be successfully completed. Applications in this category must include a detail budget justification. Successful applicants will be fully funded, therefore the reviewers will seriously consider appropriateness of the budget and budget justification. Enhanced Awards will undergo two experts reviews in addition to the review conducted by the discipline-based panel to which they are submitted. The grant period will last for one year, from July 1st to June 30th. If a six-month extension is required, the time period to use the funds will be granted. Awardees must submit the extension request by email to the program administrator prior to the end of the grant period. Please be aware that ONLY ONE EXTENSION PERIOD WILL BE GRANTED.