This program provides early-stage peer feedback on draft proposal ideas and helps faculty frame these ideas to develop a compelling proposal strategy.

To assist faculty in developing more competitive funding proposals, the Engineering Office of Research & Innovation will facilitate a Grant Brewing Cohort Workshop on Friday 10/17/25. Testimonials from faculty who participated in previous workshops are included at the end of this email. This program provides early-stage peer feedback on draft proposal ideas and helps faculty frame these ideas to develop a compelling proposal strategy (such programs are sometimes referred to as “grant brewing”). It will draw on a cohort and peer review model similar to that used in Course Design Workshops held by the Center for Teaching Excellence. Participating faculty will:

  • Provide a 1-page proposal summary in advance of the workshop for distribution to panelists;
  • Present a brief 5-minute overview of their proposal ideas and requested areas for panel feedback at the workshop, and participate in a 25-minute discussion;
  • Receive written and verbal feedback from a panel of three faculty, made up of a senior faculty member and two other faculty participants;
  • Serve as a panelist and provide written and verbal feedback to two other faculty participants;
  • Have the option of watching the feedback discussion of the other participating faculty.

In addition to helping faculty write more competitive proposals, this program will help share knowledge across the School and will encourage collaborations.

The workshop will be held on Friday Oct 17, 2025. The grant brewing program is an excellent opportunity for faculty to receive early feedback on proposal ideas in a collegial and safe setting, so that these early ideas can be refined and reshaped well in advance of the proposal deadline.

Faculty participants will provide a one-page draft of their initial proposal ideas no later than Monday Oct 13, 2025 so that the panel has time to read the draft. The single page summary should follow the format of the NSF Project Summary, NIH Specific Aims page, or the equivalent.

Faculty wishing to participate in the cohort workshop should send an email to Jeff Fox (jjf5x@virginia.edu)  with the following information no later than Monday Sept 15, 2025:

  • Name of the faculty member’s departmental mentor (the mentor will be invited to serve as the senior faculty panelist)
  • Target program/solicitation (including the URL if possible)
  • Sponsor deadline
  • Rough estimate of the total proposal budget

The Senior Associate Dean for Research and the Office of Research & Innovation will work with the mentor to identify a panel of 1 senior faculty member (who may be the mentor) and 2 participants. The panel will read the proposal summary, participate in the discussion, and provide oral and written feedback. Written feedback should be provided to the faculty member no later than one week following the workshop. The Office of Research & Innovation will organize the workshop and facilitate feedback. If the faculty member is interested, the Office of Research & Innovation will also review and provide feedback on a subsequent proposal draft.

 Eligibility: this program is open to all Engineering faculty.

Requirements:

  • The sponsor deadline should be roughly 2-3 months, and ideally 5-6 months, after the workshop date of 10/17/25.
  • The presentation to the faculty panel should be approximately 5 minutes and briefly summarize the proposal as well as highlight requested areas for the panel to provide feedback and suggestions. 25 minutes will be reserved for discussion with the panel.
  • The faculty member must provide at least a 1-page proposal summary in the format appropriate for the sponsor (i.e., for an NSF proposal, the summary should include a brief overview and sections on Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts) by 10/13/25