LIONS Tiers
LIONS Tiers 0 - 1: Formative, Early Ideation Support. These services are for faculty who have a concept or idea and need guidance on how to best proceed.
| Service | Service Level | Description | Min. Lead Time to Request Services before Sponsor Deadline |
|---|
| Research Development Plan Assessment | L-T0 | Faculty can complete a LIONS research development plan and discuss the findings with our RD team to determine team preparation, composition, fit and readiness to develop a competitive grant proposal. | n/a |
| Funding Opportunity Consultation | L-T1 | We offer 1:1 consultations to identify and validate funding opportunities for LIONS submissions. | n/a |
LIONS Tier 2: Early Concept Paper Development, Project Ideation, Team Building Support. This service level is for faculty who have a strong idea and an identified funding opportunity.
| Service | Service Level | Description | Min. Lead Time to Request Services before Sponsor Deadline |
|---|
| Funding Opportunity Alignment Review | L-T2 | We will carefully review the request for proposals and create briefing materials to ensure that your proposal idea is responsive and conforms to all specific instructions and requirements. | 120 days |
| Landscape Analysis | L-T2 | Once an opportunity is identified, we can provide a landscape analysis of previously funded proposals. | 120 days |
| Concept Paper Development | L-T2 | We offer early advice to help faculty develop concept papers and connect with program officers. We provide assistance developing the concept paper and help faculty develop a communication strategy for contacting program officers. | 120 days |
| Early Team Formation | L-T2 | We offer early guidance to help faculty form competitive interdisciplinary teams, including building effective teams, ensuring strong team culture, and facilitating roles and responsibilities conversations. | 120 days |
LIONS Tier 3: Proposal Development Support. This service level is for faculty with a strong established team, plan and identified, well-fitting funding opportunity.
| Service | Service Level | Description | Min. Lead Time to Request Services before Sponsor Deadline |
|---|
| Communication and Meeting Coordination | L-T3 | We provide proposal project management. This includes establishing: team timelines, benchmarks, proposal checklists, file sharing protocols, meeting coordination, overseeing communications, and tracking action items. | 90 days |
| Proposal Template Creation | L-T3 | We assist in the preparation of proposal sections by providing templates that will enhance the cohesiveness and appearance of the final product. | 90 days |
| Institutional Coordination | L-T3 | We coordinate internal data and support requests to ensure all materials are requested and received in a timely manner. | 90 days |
| External Coordination | L-T3 | We communicate with external partners, coordinating the creation and collection of non-technical documents. | 90 days |
| Proposal Review | L-T3 | We will review all proposal documents and supplementary materials to ensure completeness, accuracy, clarity and responsive to the solicitation. | 90 days |
| Color-Team Review | L-T3 | We facilitate internal/external review of the 95% complete proposals | 90 days |
How to Request Support
To maximize the effectiveness of our support and your proposal's competitiveness, it is essential to request services as far in advance as possible, with minimum recommended times to deadline outlined for each service tier. To request support for any of the above services, please use the LIONS program support form.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are requests evaluated and prioritized?
The Office of Research & Graduate Studies receives more high-quality requests for support than can often be provided. Reviews of new requests are conducted by the Associate Vice President for Research and the Research Development team, taking into a number of factors that include:
- Current portfolio workload, timeliness of request
- The potential for multi-, inter-, or transdisciplinary research
- The degree to which the proposed research spans college boundaries
- The impact on the PI team as evidenced by diversity in discipline and career stage
- The impact on students (undergraduate and/or graduate) as evidenced by the budget and training program
- The impact and size of the budget relative to discipline
Does the total dollar request for a proposal impact my chances of receiving support?
Budgets vary significantly across disciplines, and we are committed to supporting research across the entire PSU community, using the above criteria as a guide. For STEM fields, “large” might mean several million dollars, while humanities proposals may be more modest. Investigators across all disciplines are encouraged to apply for assistance when developing proposals.