Strike Teams
Strike Teams are interdisciplinary teams committed to propose to a specific, qualifying funding opportunity within a sufficient, limited time period, w/ focused support from ORSP RD.
Team Formation: Prospective Interdisciplinary Research (IDR) proposal investigative teams self-assemble, and identify a UM lead investigator (Team Captain); potentially one or more co-leaders from distinct UM disciplines or departments (Co-Captains); and perhaps additional investigators/contributors (Team Members). Assembled teams submit a short internal application in the UM InfoReady Review Portal requesting access to enhanced research development services towards a specific, qualifying funding opportunity (the Goal). Team leaders must make a good-faith, time-bound commitment to develop and submit a proposal (the Strike) to the Goal. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis; the most promising applications/teams will be recognized as Strike Teams, and provided research development support for a specific, limited Strike Period.
Support Provided: Well ahead of, in addition to, and in coordination with the back-end review/approval services provided to all UM proposals by the ORSP Pre-Award Team (and in coordination with any support provided by local units and sponsored programs personnel at any other collaborating institution(s)), the UM ORSP Research Development (RD) Team will provide focused front-end support to Strike Teams from the time of Team selection/recognition until at least the transmittal submission to ORSP Pre-Award. Actual RD support provided will depend on identified needs per team, and may include one or more of the following services:
- Monitor the sponsor/program website for updates to share with the team
- Help connect the team with additional resources
- Read, understand, summarize funding opp. details, and communicate them to the team
- Work with the Team Captain to develop a timeline, to-do lists, due dates, & reminders
- Assist with navigating institutional support requests and letters
- Help coordinate F&A sharing plans among collaborators
- Provide access to internal and external enhanced proposal review services
- Create application in sponsor portal; collect, review, and upload proposal documents
- Submit transmittal to ORSP Pre-Award for institutional review and approval
- Coordinate institutional review & submission to sponsor/agency with ORSP Pre-Award
- Support “Just-In-Time” information requests and post-submission requirements
Team Fate: Strike Teams formed around a time-bound goal(s) will be dissolved once the Strike is made and Result is received (a Score or a Miss)—or is called off. A Strike Period may be extended—for example, to take a repeat Shot following a Miss. Otherwise, support for Teams will automatically expire at the end of the Period. Members may reconstitute later into new Strike Teams.
Tracking: ORSP will count and report the Strikes (proposals submitted), Scores (decisions to fund), Misses (declinations), and Impacts (e.g., award dollars).
Criteria: To be considered competitive for ORSP support, prospective Strike Teams:
- Must involve multiple investigators ((Co-)Captains and Team Members)
- Must involve multiple disciplines, units, and/or institutions
- Must demonstrate a reasonable chance for success, including relevant track record and qualification set, relative to the Goal
- Must identify a target funding opportunity (the Goal)
- Each Goal will have an announced or anticipated submission window/due date.
- must allow lead sufficient time for a competitive submission
- suggested lead time: 3 to 15 months
- shorter lead times may be considered for already-well-developed teams
- We may prioritize Goals with:
- Expected funding of at least $500K
- Full F&A recovery (indirect costs)
- No cost share requirement
- To benefit the broadest possible UM IDR community, we will thoughtfully consider all Strike Team proposals, even those that do not check these boxes.
- Each Goal will have an announced or anticipated submission window/due date.
- Must have a UM leader/point of contact (Team Captain) and may have one or more UM Co-leaders (Co-Captains)—collectively, the Core Team, who:
- Commit to work together, with other Team Members, with ORSP RD, and in communication with their unit leadership, to develop and submit a competitive proposal to the Goal within the Strike Period.
- Reflect Diversity within UM. Each Team Captain or Co-Captain should represent a different discipline, department, or center (required). Teams are further encouraged to select leaders who reflect diversity in other dimensions as well.