Get Externally Funded: Elevate Your Work

"Across higher education, Western Michigan University's engagement in discovery continues to be nationally known, respected and productive, as represented by our faculty winning national awards and grant funding."-President Edward Montgomery. 

Extramural funding for research and creative activity can propel your research to the next level, both in terms of financial support, but also in terms of your profile and the recognition your work may receive. In many disciplines, external funding is a necessity to compete and to generate the data and analysis that leads to publishable work. 

One way of looking at the process of obtaining and implementing externally funded grants is through the idea of the sponsored project lifecycle. At every stage, ORI provides support to researchers. To begin, Research Officers (ROs) from the Pre-award team assist with external funding searches, internal approvals for proposal preparation, and successful submission. Once an award is made, Restricted Fund Accountants (RFAs) from Grants and Contracts assist with award set-up, management and closeout.  The Compliance team helps you follow all the required rules and regulations. Finally, if the project results in new inventions of any kind, the Director of Technology and Commercialization assists with contract negotiation and intellectual property. 

Research Ready

Image of paper planes

Working with external funds, especially those from federal sources, requires conscious planning. ORI maintains an inventory of policies that follow federal regulation and procedures designed to maintain integrity in research and creative activities.

GrantForward is a powerful tool to search for funding. WMU employees can easily create an account and customize search criteria. In cases where a funding opportunity has limitations on the number of submissions, an internal competition will be facilitated on InfoReady. InfoReady is also the platform used for internal funding applications.

Researchers have a lot to navigate when preparing an external funding proposal for the first-time. A very important piece is securing internal approvals. Use the Proposal Approval Form to coordinate proposal preparation with campus partners: ROs, department personnel, college advisors, directors etc.

Students in a lecture hall

Graduate Student Support

Investigators can request ORI's incentive for graduate student support on proposals for external funding. This may materialize as reimbursement for partial academic year appointment tuition or summer wages.

University-designated funding made available for internal support is determined by the WMU-AAUP contract, governed by the Faculty Senate's Research Policies Council, and administered by ORI.​

More Resources

  • Workshops ORI hosts Discovery Acceleration sessions covering many of the topics described above and then some. Watch recordings and request content of interest.

  • University Libraries Countless resources, programs and services are accessible through University Libraries. Looking for journal access, databases, or help with data management plans? Staff are ready to help with this and so much more.

  • Evaluation Center This on-site resource is committed to advancing the theory, practice and utilization of evaluation through research, education, service and leadership.

  • Interdisciplinary Research ORI's Research Development Administrator helps coordinate large, interconnected proposals and supports Innovation Networking Sessions.