UCCRI Application Guidelines

The Urban Collaborative Community Research Initiative

The Urban Collaborative Community Research Initiative (UCCRI) was established in 2021 with funds from the Julian Grace Foundation to support interdisciplinary, community-engaged research projects aimed at addressing key challenges faced by cities, especially—but not limited to—health equity, environmental justice, transportation, crime and policing, and sustainable urban development.

Grants for up to $25,000 for up to twelve months of work will be notified in the Spring Quarter of 2024. Applications due in 2024 Winter Quarter to be awarded for 2024-2025 academic year. Interdisciplinary teams of Urban Collaborative faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to apply for funding for research projects co-designed with community partners and external colleagues. Ideally, these grants will be used to accelerate early-stage research projects that have the potential to win larger external grants as they mature.

Application Timeline

The application timeline is outlined below and the maximum award is $25,000. Note that you are strongly to review the FAQ before applying.

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, projects must be interdisciplinary and co-designed by faculty in the Urban Collaborative and a community partner organization; it must also create opportunities for LAS students to participate as researchers on the team.

• The Principal Investigator (PI) must be a tenure-line LAS faculty member who is either in one of the programs or centers affiliated with the Urban Collaborative or contributes at least one course in the academic year of application (i.e. currently 2023-2024) to one of the Urban Collaborative’s majors, minors or graduate degrees.
• The Community Partner organization must be a non-DePaul domestic or international non-profit, governmental, or non-governmental entity.
• Additional subject matter experts may include full-time or adjunct faculty from across DePaul as well as researchers or practitioners external to the university.
• Faculty with experience working with external organizations in an academic context, or who have experience in community-based research are particularly encouraged to apply.

Application Requirements

Application requires submitting an online application between the application’s opening date (March 1, 2024) and closing date (April 5, 2024, at 11:59 pm).

The application requires the following items, each of which is described in detail below.

Review Process

All applications will be reviewed by a committee of faculty from the Urban Collaborative Advisory Council.

Download UCCRI Application Guidelines
Apply Here - Application closes April 5Submit Chair/Director Letter of Support