Main Campus Research Newsletter – November 2025
Contents
- Welcome from VPR Jeff Urbach
- Upcoming Provost’s Award Reception
- Discretionary Research Funds Policy FAQ Updates
- Resources for Faculty Seeking External Funding
- Global Research Alliance of Jesuit Universities
- Mellon Foundation 2026 Higher Learning Open Call for Concepts
- Other Updates: DUA Process, Main Campus LinkedIn Page
Welcome
We’re launching this newsletter as a way for me to communicate directly with Main Campus faculty about issues that impact our research enterprise. We are starting with a list of all faculty, and will have an opt-in option to continue receiving these emails and for anyone missed on our initial distribution list. If there are items that you would like to see addressed in future newsletters, please contact me directly (viceprovostforresearch@georgetown.edu ), or share your thoughts with one of the members of the Research Executive Committee . I look forward to hearing from you!
Jeff Urbach, Professor of Physics and Vice Provost for Research
Upcoming Provost’s Award Reception
We would like to invite you to join us in honoring the 2025 recipients of the Provost’s Innovation in Teaching Award, the Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor designation, the Magis Prize, the Career Research Achievement Award, and the Distinguished Achievement in Research Award. The Award Ceremony will take place in the Bioethics Research Library on Thursday, November 6, 2025 from 2:30-5pm. Please register for the event ahead of time, and we look forward to seeing you next Thursday.
Research Funds Policy – New FAQ
As you hopefully are aware, we have instituted a new approval process for expenditures from internal research accounts (excluding gifts and externally sponsored research) that will exceed $5,000 in this fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). The primary purpose is to allow schools to project the spending from these accounts, because those expenditures draw from our general operating budget, meaning that the more we spend on research, the less flexibility we have to relax the onerous financial restrictions that are impacting our other operations (e.g on staff hiring and merit raises). Faculty are best able to determine what constitutes essential expenditures for their research programs, and the process is intended to allow you to communicate that information to us as efficiently as possible. We have added some new information to our FAQ page to better assist with this effort.
Resources for Faculty Seeking External Funding
JORA is your best resource for general questions about searching out and applying for external funding, If you don’t already have a contact there, you can reach out to your Cluster Research Administrator, who you can find on this list , or just email jora@georgetown.edu.
Given the current challenges with Federal funding, we are encouraging faculty to expand how they approach the search for support, and have launched Operation Mindshift to support this work. If you were not able to attend the first workshop, held on July 18, I encourage you to look at the slides and/or watch the video available in this Box Folder. In addition to providing actionable guidance on seeking funding, it provides an excellent introduction to the different Offices at Georgetown that can support your efforts.
The next workshop, Building Relationships with Foundations: Strategies for Success, will be held November 19th at 3pm. featuring a panel discussion with successful faculty sharing their strategies for cultivating meaningful connections with foundations and other private funders. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain actionable insights and enhance your funding prospects—register today!
Additionally, November 6 at 11:30am the Office of Institutional Partnerships (OIP) is hosting a training on how to find institutional funding opportunities that fit with your work. More generally, If you are interested in utilizing OIP’s support services or meeting with the team, please fill out our intake form .
Global Research Alliance of Jesuit Universities
Georgetown University is a charter member of the newly formed Global Research Alliance of Jesuit Universities (GRAJU), an international organization dedicated to fostering robust and sustainable research collaborations among Jesuit institutions of higher education worldwide. The inaugural GRAJU symposium, focused on The AI Frontier and the Distinctives of Global Jesuit Higher Education , is taking place at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines in March. Faculty are encouraged to consider attending and submitting a paper to present at one of the sessions. Please contact me if you are interested in attending and indicate if you are in need of financial support (limited funds available). In the coming months we will be exploring additional ways to engage with GRAJU. Please contact us if you are interested in being a part of this conversation.
Mellon Foundation 2026 Higher Learning Open Call for Concepts
The 2026 Open Call invites projects focused on one of two areas: 1) Unruly Intelligences → Projects that exemplify the role of the humanities in shaping contemporary understanding of artificial and other intelligences; 2) Normalization and Its Discontents → Projects that explore the paradoxical concept of normalcy. This opportunity is limited submission and requires a university nomination. Please see the Limited Submissions section of GU-PASS for additional information regarding eligibility and application. Internal applications are due November 21.
Other Updates
We are reorganizing and streamlining our process for approving Data Use Agreements. We will have a new process in place soon, but in the meantime please email JORA@georgetown.edu if you have immediate needs. Finally, as I announced earlier, there is now a Main Campus Research Linkedin Page ! We hope you will follow us, and send us research highlights to post!