Office of Research, Innovation and Economic Development

UT researchers, scholars, and creatives contribute to the advancement of knowledge and understanding and to cultural and economic growth on multiple scales—local to global. Our community’s contributions have made the university a top 10 US research university in fields as diverse as materials and manufacturing, supply chain management, and the humanities. Our faculty body includes seven members of the National Academies, 84 AAAS Fellows, 77 CAREER/PECASE awardees, 33 NEH Fellows, 13 Governor’s Chairs and scores of faculty who’ve earned other nationally-and internationally-recognized awards and distinctions.

Our community engages in ground-breaking multidisciplinary work facilitated by two university-level research centers—the Baker Center for Public Policy and the UT Humanities Center—and four university-level research institutes—the UT Institute of Agriculture, the UT Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, the UT Space Institute and the National Institute for STEM Evaluation and Research.

The Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development team is here to support you—our faculty, staff, students, and postdoctoral fellows—as you set about realizing your goals as researchers, scholars, and creatives.

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Get Support at Every Stage of Your Research

ORIED supports the Grant Life Cycle from ideation to results! The following progression provides an overview of the grant proposal submission and award process.

	Find Funding Navigating funding announcements and opportunities can be challenging. To support your research, scholarship and creative work, our Research Development team can help identify the most promising federal sponsor match, our foundation engagement staff can help identify relevant private foundation sponsors, and our Partnerships and Economic Development team can help connect you with corporate sponsors. These teams work together to provide you with comprehensive support for your work.
	Develop Your Proposal Grant writing can often be a daunting task, but the Research Development, foundation engagement, and Partnerships and Economic Development teams are here to provide the support you need to generate winning proposals, including helping you develop multidisciplinary partnerships for success.
	Submit your Proposal & Negotiate Your Award The Division of Research Administration ensures all proposals—except those submitted to foundations which are handled by the foundation engagement staff—comply with sponsor requirements. The DRA team reviews, negotiates and accepts grants, contracts and cooperative agreements on the university’s behalf and sets up the accounts you need to access your funds. Gift acceptance is supported by foundation engagement staff.
	Conduct Your Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities The Research Integrity and Assurance team helps the UT research community create a strong culture of research integrity, providing training and compliance support for policies regarding, for example, the use of humans and animals in research, complying with export control and controlled or restricted research regulations, research misconduct allegations, and managing conflicts of interest and commitment.
	Protect Your Ideas The Partnerships and Economic Development team and our University of Tennessee Research Foundation colleagues help academic innovators and creatives protect their ideas developed with UT and sponsor resources.
	Manage and Close Out Your Award The Division of Research Administration also handles the post-award administration to ensure the proper financial administration of projects for which UT faculty and staff have received external funding.
	Share Your Results The Office of Research Communications can help publicize your findings.