Fostering a collaborative research culture through early-stage funding of multidisciplinary teams pursuing new research ideas.

3Cavaliers is a seed funding program that provides $80K or $15K awards to support teams of three faculty members from at least two different unit. The program encourages teams to self-assemble and pursue creative, high-impact interdisciplinary research ideas — projects that may not yet be ready for traditional funding or that fall outside existing funding priorities — fostering a collaborative research culture across the university.

How to Get Started

• Form a project team. Proposals must represent new research and may not continue or extend previously funded work, including prior 3Cavaliers awards. Teams must include faculty from at least two schools* who are not currently collaborating on the proposed topic, and cross-school partnerships are strongly encouraged.
• Review. Projects are reviewed to verify they meet the requirements of the specific funding tier. $15k applications will not be reviewed and will be selected using a semi-random process. $80k applications will be selected by an interdisciplinary research review committee.
• Awards. Project owners are notified their project has been selected, and funds are set up for use at the start of the funding period (July 1).
• Project Period. Research is conducted over a period of 18 months, with a possible six-month extension. Projects begin July 1 and will end December 31, with possible no cost extension to June 30.
• Required Activities. The Project must submit a final project report. Create a poster (using provided template) about their project, and at least one member from each project must attend poster session. We will additionally ask each team to complete an updated survey to help us track outcomes with the project approximately a year after the end of the project.

Learn the Lingo

Project 

A project is a new research idea shared by a faculty member on 3Cavaliers. Proposals seeking $80K will be submitted under a designated topic area and evaluated by a subject-area review committee, with final funding decisions made by the executive committee based on top-reviewed submissions.

All submitted proposals will also undergo an administrative review to ensure they meet the program requirements:

• New Research: Projects must represent new research. At the time of submission, the three faculty members may not all be participating together on an existing sponsored research project related to the proposed work.
• Use of Funds: Funds may not be used to extend existing externally funded projects. The program supports research activities only and may not be used for course development, teaching initiatives, or student programming.
• $80K Award Review Criteria: Proposals requesting $80K will be evaluated based on the following criteria.
  • Significance of the research question
  • Innovation and originality of the proposed idea
  • Expected impact and outcomes of the project
  • Alignment with priorities of external funding agencies or organizations, potential for external outcomes (such as peer-reviewed publications), and the ability to raise the visibility of UVA research
  • Qualifications of the research team
  • Budget justification

Teams

• Interdisciplinary Teams: Teams must include faculty from two or more schools who are not currently or actively collaborating on the proposed research topic. Faculty are strongly encouraged to form collaborations beyond their home school or department.
• Team Eligibility: A faculty member that received funding through a previous 3Cavaliers award may not apply again with the same project team, even if the project is different. However, teams that include two members of a previously funded project are eligible. At least one must be a new member of your team.
• Faculty members can be on only ONE submission. You may not be on more than one application, this includes $15K & $80K, a total of one.
  • Applicants must hold a faculty appointment. All faculty appointment types are eligible. Applicants must apply through their primary (home) department or school and may not submit under a joint or secondary appointment.
• Unit: You must indicate the school or unit of your primary appointment. If your appointment is outside of a school, select “Other” and specify the unit (e.g., Provost’s Office). If you select “Other,” please confirm with your reporting unit that they are willing to provide the required matching funds. Participating schools have already agreed to the matching requirement; other units have not been preapproved. For additional details, please review the list of school-specific guidelines on the individual project pages.
  • Please Note: within the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences are considered separate units for this program.

Funding

Funding is provided by the President's Office, Provost Office, and VPR office with a "match" by the Dean's office of the participating PI. There is no cost to the individual PI to participate. 

Deliverables

• A brief final report is required. Guidelines and the due date will be provided near the end of your project.
• Project teams will be asked to provide additional outcomes approximately 12–18 months after the award period ends. This helps us demonstrate the effectiveness of the program.
• You must create a poster about your project. At least one team member must participate in the in-person poster session. A template, dates, and other details will be provided as you approach the end of your project.
• All project teams are expected to submit at least one proposal to an external funding agency and/or demonstrate progress toward the gold standard of scholarly excellence in their field. Refer to your individual school’s requirements for specifics.