General Resources

“Where do I start?”

We created this webpage to help Dunlop School researchers answer this question. With so much information out there, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start looking for funding opportunities or who to ask about data management plans, as just two examples. The school, campus, and sponsors all offer different but complementary resources and information. Therefore, this high-level page is a curated starting point. As always, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, just email us at bio-research@uci.edu.

Finding Funding Opportunities

Information about funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) are available at several locations.

PIVOT: A comprehensive funding database that allows researchers to search for grants, fellowships, and other funding opportunities across disciplines. Users can create profiles, receive personalized funding alerts, and track opportunities relevant to their research interests.
Grants.gov: The central portal for federal funding opportunities across all U.S. government agencies. Researchers can search, filter, and apply for grants directly through the site.
NIH Grants & Funding: The official source for National Institutes of Health funding opportunities, grant policies, and guidelines. Updated daily, it includes active and expired NOFOs, Notices of Special Interest (NOSIs), and links to NIH Institutes and Centers. Researchers can subscribe for updates and use advanced search tools to find opportunities that align with their work.
NSF Funding Search: Provides access to current funding opportunities from the National Science Foundation, supporting research and education in science, engineering, and related fields.
California Grants Portal: A user-friendly platform for discovering grants and loans offered by California state agencies, with tools to filter by eligibility, category, and deadline.
UC Irvine Internal Funding: Lists funding opportunities available within UCI, including school-specific grants, center initiatives, and limited submission programs that require internal coordination.

Proposal Writing and Preparation

Grants.gov Learn Grants: A centralized resource for understanding and applying for federal funding. It offers guidance on the full grants lifecycle—from opportunity search to application submission.
NIH General Grant Writing Tips: Provides crosscutting advice for crafting strong narrative sections in NIH grant applications, including strategies for clarity, significance, and alignment with review criteria.
NIH Peer Review Policies: Outlines how NIH evaluates grant applications, including scoring criteria, reviewer responsibilities, and conflict of interest policies.
NIH Study Sections: Describes the structure and function of NIH’s scientific review groups, helping applicants understand how their proposals will be assessed.
Common Mistakes in Writing Applications (NIH) Highlights frequent pitfalls in NIH grant submissions and offers practical tips to improve clarity, responsiveness, and competitiveness.
NSF Preparing Your Proposal: Offers essential instructions and best practices for preparing proposals to the National Science Foundation, including formatting, merit review criteria, and submission procedures.
NSF Review and Process: Explains NSF’s merit review system, including how proposals are evaluated, panel composition, and decision-making procedures.
Sponsor Review: : Refers to internal or external review processes conducted by funding sponsors to assess the quality, feasibility, and alignment of submitted proposals with program goals.
DMPTool: A free online platform that helps researchers create data management and sharing plans (DMSPs) that meet funder requirements and support open science practices.
SciENcv: A researcher profile system used to generate biosketches for federal grant applications. It integrates with ORCID and other systems to streamline the creation of compliant documents.

Campus Consultation Resources

UC Irvine has various entities that help with research development and submission of grants.

Corporate and Foundation Relations Builds strategic partnerships between UCI and foundations, nonprofits, and corporations to support research and innovation.
Statistical Consulting Offers expert statistical guidance and support to UCI researchers, students, and external collaborators, helping strengthen study design and data analysis.
Beall Applied Innovation Connects UCI research with industry and community partners, fostering entrepreneurship and translating academic discoveries into real-world impact.
UCI Libraries Assists with data management planning, open access compliance, and other aspects of the grant proposal process, supporting researchers throughout the funding lifecycle.
Relevant Research Guides:
Developmental & Cell Biology
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
Neurobiology & Behavior
Research Data Management

Collaboration and Team Science

Team Scholarship Acceleration Lab
Provides tools and strategies for building effective research teams, recognizing that collaborative approaches are essential for tackling complex scientific challenges.

Scholar Connect
Uses AI to transform CVs into structured data and enhance faculty profiles, making it easier to identify potential collaborators across disciplines and with external partners.

UCI Profiles
A research networking platform that connects UCI faculty with collaborators, mentors, and experts nationwide. It includes extensive data on publications, grants, and clinical trials to support interdisciplinary research.

Research Compliance Quick Links

HRP manages UCI’s human research protections program by providing administrative support to its Institutional Review Boards (IRB). The IRB is responsible for protecting the safety and welfare of human subjects.

Human Research Protections

This committee oversees all aspects of the Animal Care and Use program at UCI. Community members are individuals who are not affiliated with the university and help to provide an outsider perspective, representing the views of the general public.

Institutional Animal Care & Use

The IBC is responsible for establishing, monitoring and enforcing requirements for the safe use of hazardous biological materials and recombinant/synthetic nucleic acids to meet applicable regulations and guidelines.

Institutional Biosafety Committee

The UCI Human Stem Cell Research Oversight (hSCRO) Committee assures that human stem cell activities are in accordance with California state regulations and UCI policies and procedures

Human Stem Cell Research Oversight