The Sustainability Institute (SI) is pleased to announce the FY2026 Sustainability Research Seed Grant Program for The Ohio State University research community. This funding aims to foster interdisciplinary research on sustainability and resilience topics at Ohio State laying a foundation for convergence research that generates solutions to pressing sustainability challenges. We invite proposals that:
- Involve research in one or more of the Sustainability Institute’s four priority research areas – Clean and Reliable Energy, Sustainable Waters, Circular Economy, or Healthy and Resilient Communities – OR focus on AI and sustainability
In addition, preference will be given to proposals that:
- Integrate climate adaptation or mitigation considerations
- Demonstrate potential for future funding
- Include early-career faculty
- Have a transdisciplinary focus or component, including a plan to share project results with any non-academic external partner(s) involved
Intention to Submit. The FY26 Sustainability Research Seed Grant Program will not include a pre-proposal stage. To arrange for appropriate reviewers, PIs should submit a letter of intent (Microsoft Word template provided) to Kathy Jackson, SI program assistant, by Friday, December 5, 2025. PIs are encouraged to email Kathy with questions about this solicitation and the application process early in the writing stage.
The award size is expected to be $25,000.
Full proposals are due Wednesday, January 21, 2026, by 5:00 p.m.
See below for proposal instructions and award details.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligibility: The PI must hold an Ohio State appointment as a faculty or research scientist and must be an SI faculty affiliate before any funds are received.
- Team Composition and Disciplinary Diversity: The proposed research must be conducted by a new team or by an existing team that has not yet received external funding for the proposed research. Team members’ roles must be described on the team roster (see Proposal Narrative #6, Team Qualifications, below), and each member must provide a signed commitment. The size and structure of the team is open and should be determined by the proposed research question and scope. At a minimum, we seek interdisciplinary teams comprised of two or more Ohio State faculty or research staff with distinctly different disciplines. While we recognize that interdisciplinary researchers may be from the same department, we also encourage diverse, interdisciplinary teams involving multiple departments or colleges.
- Topics: Proposals should involve research in one or more of the Sustainability Institute’s four priority research areas – Clean and Reliable Energy, Sustainable Waters, Circular Economy, or Healthy and Resilient Communities - OR sustainability and AI. The latter includes innovations using AI to advance sustainability solutions, e.g., for greater energy or resource efficiency, environmental monitoring and prediction, or lower emissions, or consideration of the environmental impacts of AI, e.g., on energy and water resources, resource extraction, ecosystem health, or other environmental harms. In addition, other impacts may be considered, including the impacts of AI on local/regional economy and jobs, communities or human health and well-being. Exceptional proposals on topics that are not inclusive of one of the research priority areas or AI and sustainability may be considered, but must clearly articulate the area of sustainability scholarship and have a compelling rationale for the research.
- Strong Preference: Preference will be given to proposals that 1) integrate considerations of climate adaptation or mitigation; 2) demonstrate potential for future funding; 3) include early-career faculty; and/or 4) foster transdisciplinary research by integrating the knowledge of non-academic partners, e.g., by having at least one existing or potential partner identified from a community or private, public, or non-profit sector organization or by including a plan to engage with an external partner to translate the research results into actionable information.
Proposal Instructions and Award Details
Scope of Projects: Projects must clearly address a sustainability challenge that considers both natural (earth, environmental, ecological, or biophysical) and human (social, behavioral, economic, governance, or technological) components. Grants will support teams who engage in scholarship activities that clearly build the capacity of interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary teams at Ohio State.
Fund Administration: Grant funds will be transferred to an account designated by the department of the named Principal Investigator (PI).
Grant Duration: Grant funds will be issued for up to sixteen months from the effective date of the award. Time extension requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Mid-project review and final report: Grantees will receive 100% of the funds at the start of the award. Grantees are required to submit a mid-project and final report for their awards. SI will provide templates for the submission of these reports. They should be concise, written for a general audience, include appropriate graphics (e.g. photos, charts), and be suitable for publication via online or print media.
Funding Use: Funds may not be used for capital improvements or faculty time. Any unused funds at the time of the final report shall be returned to SI.
Matching Funds: Cost sharing through matching funds, either cash or in-kind, is highly encouraged. Funds may be obtained from internal sources such as other seed grants, new faculty startup funds, colleges, centers, or departments, and other Ohio State grant programs, as well as from external partners. Proposals should identify the potential for securing additional support to continue project funding beyond the 2026-2027 academic year.
Proposal Components: Complete proposals will consist of five components:
- Proposal narrative: Detailed below
- Reference list: No specific citation format required
- Team roster: Microsoft Word template provided
- Budget form: Microsoft Word template provided in same document as team roster template above
- Summary slide: Single slide that 1) summarizes project and 2) includes key graphic related to the project
Proposal Format: Proposals must be in 12-point font with appropriate spacing and 1-inch margins to ensure readability. All five components (see Proposal Components above) should be combined into a single PDF document.
Proposal Narrative: The proposal narrative may not exceed 6 pages in length, including charts, tables and graphs. Narratives should include:
- Descriptive Proposal Title.
- Lay Summary (50-word maximum): A brief description written for a general audience. Should your proposal be funded, this summary (potentially edited) will be used in SI communications announcing the award.
- Identify One or More Impact Areas: From the Sustainability Institute’s sustainability research priorities area (see SI Research Grant Definitions and Relevant Concepts), identify which of the research priorities or AI and sustainability topics your proposal addresses (may be more than one). If the project falls outside this scope, then clearly articulate the area of sustainability scholarship being researched.
- Concept and Rationale: Document the significance of the compelling sustainability challenge and describe how the project will address the challenge, engage Ohio State people and partners, build on existing work or partnerships, leverage new resources and produce useful results. Clarify the system of study, including both the human and natural components and their key interactions.
- Objectives, Approach, and Expected Results: Describe specifically the project objectives, how the team plans to accomplish those objectives, the expected tangible outputs, and the expected short- and long-term benefits or results, including identifying at least one non-NSF potential source of funding for future related work (in narrative or logic model format).
- Team Qualifications: Describe the qualifications of the key team members, including the capacity of the team to succeed, the aspects in which this team is interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary, how the team will achieve effective interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary collaboration that integrates multiple disciplinary perspectives, the diversity of backgrounds or perspectives that are represented within the team and how this will inform the research.
- Community Engagement: Describe any aspects of the proposed project that includes community engagement and co-creation of knowledge. Also describe any plan to share results of the research project with any non-academic partner(s).
- Budget Justification: Describe team plans to use grant funding as well as any matching resources to carry out the project.
Submission Process: Submitted proposals should be uploaded in a single PDF format by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, to the Office of Research's funding opportunity portal for Opportunity 6057. Save the filename as follows: “Lastname-Firstname-SI-Seed-Proposal”. Send questions to the SI program assistant: Kathy Jackson (614-688-1177).
Notification of Awards: Applicants will be notified via e-mail about the outcomes of their proposals by March 27, 2026. Successful proposals will be published on the SI website.
Acknowledgment of Support: Any presentation or publications resulting from this research should appropriately acknowledge the Sustainability Institute. The acknowledgment should read as follows: "This work was supported in part by the Sustainability Institute at Ohio State." For external proposals resulting from work supported by this grant, the ePA-005 should list Sustainability Institute with at least a 0% allowance.
Official Project Timeline: Projects will begin May 1, 2026, and conclude August 31, 2027. Mid-project reports will be due on January 30, 2027. A final report must be delivered to SI no later than October 31, 2027.
Proposal Attachments: Microsoft Word templates for the Team Roster and Budget Summary are provided. These documents must be completed properly and included with the proposal PDF file for the proposal to be considered.
Important Dates
- RFP released: Monday, October 27, 2025
- Info Session #1 (virtual): Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at Noon
- Info Session #2 (virtual): Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at Noon
- Letter of Intent due (Microsoft Word template provided): Friday, December 5, 2025
- Proposals due: Wednesday, January 21, 2026
- Notice of awards: March 27, 2026
- Funds released: May 1, 2026
- Project start date: May 1, 2026
- Mid-project report due: January 30, 2027
- Project end date: August 31, 2027
- Final report due: October 31, 2027
Key Definitions and Relevant Concepts
Key Definitions:
Interdisciplinary research combines or applies data, techniques, theories or approaches from two or more disciplines to advance fundamental understanding or solve a problem(s).
Transdisciplinary research integrates experiential and non-academic knowledge alongside academic disciplines to create a holistic understanding of complex issues. This methodology transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries by actively incorporating insights from practitioners, community members and other stakeholders, facilitating collaborative problem-solving.
Sustainability is both an interdisciplinary field of study and an applied area of practice [1] that takes a broad, integrated approach to understanding interactions among human and natural systems. Similar to medicine, it is an interventionist science, meaning that sustainability scholars and practitioners use integrated systems knowledge to design and deliver interventions that lead to a better present and future for people and the planet.[2] It requires transdisciplinary approaches that are interdisciplinary and integrate academic and non-academic knowledge through engagement with end-users, stakeholders, communities and decision makers where solutions are implemented.[3]
Footnotes
[1] Clark, W. C., and Dickson, N. M. (2003). Sustainability Science: The Emerging Research Program. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100, 8059–8061. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1231333100
[2] Visiting Committee Final Report, Advancing Sustainability at Ohio State, August 2023.
[3] Shi, L., & Moser, S. (2021). Transformative climate adaptation in the United States: Trends and prospects. Science, 372(6549).
Image: Adobe Stock / kiimoshi