Research enabling grants (REGs) are intended to provide financial assistance to pre-tenure ladder faculty facing work/life or personal/family challenges that threaten to impede their academic research and/or their progress at Harvard.

The goal and purpose of this program is:

• to assist in the advancement of pre-tenure ladder faculty who have extenuating work/life circumstances.
• to enable collaboration and cost sharing between FD&D and individual schools in the service of advancement of scholars.
• to provide direct support to the faculty member or to a project for which they are directly responsible.

These competitive 1-year grants, for up to $40,000, are to offset the expenses incurred. Your related expenses must be a direct threat to your research, be temporary in nature, and fall into one of the following categories:

• Additional dependent care (child, elder, or other adult) for a specific period of time to enable research, including extended field work.
• Additional personnel directly related to your research (postdoctoral fellow, technician, research assistant, or grant manager).
• Costs associated with the management of disruptive personal circumstances (i.e. death of a spouse, disability, housing disruption, or other catastrophic circumstances causing a disruption in work/life responsibilities).
• In exceptional circumstances, purchase of equipment that would enable more efficient research.

The REG program will not fund computers, except under unusual circumstances.

The program’s goal is to support scholars who have the potential to become tenured faculty. Successful applications will describe:

• The nature of the candidate's significant personal work/life challenge and how it hinders the candidate's research.
• A compelling case for how the REG award would support the advancement of the candidate's academic career.
• Why the candidate's current grant funding does not adequately support the unique work/life circumstance.
• The school's cost sharing element (course relief, research funds, time, resources, etc.).

There are two funding rounds for academic year 2012-2013. The application deadlines are Wednesday, November 21, 2012 and Friday, March 8, 2013.

Please be sure you meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Work in a benefits-eligible position.
  This means you must be:
  • working at least half-time (usually 17.5 hours-per-week) at Harvard, and
  • on a regular Harvard payroll (paid by the President and Fellows of Harvard College).
• Be employed in one of the following capacities:
  Job Code, Title:
  • 000202 Professor, Assistant
  • 000263 Professor, Assistant Chaired
  • 000152 Professor, Associate
  • 000192 Professor, Associate Chaired
  • 000072 Instructor, Convertible
  • 000303 Benjamin Pierce Lecturer on Mathematics

Applications should be submitted via the FD&D online form. Please follow the link on the right under NEXT STEPS.

Among Harvard Medical School Faculty, only those based primarily in the Quad's basic and social science departments are eligible. Faculty based in the Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals and research centers are not eligible.

If funded, REG recipients are expected to participate in a comprehensive assessment on how the REG award contributed to their professional development.

Questions may be addressed to the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity: fdd@harvard.edu.