You can view the full RFP here.

The Research Institute (RI) Postdoctoral Support Program is an internal, competitive funding opportunity intended to strengthen SLU’s research enterprise by enabling faculty to recruit and support outstanding postdoctoral scholars. This program provides time limited institutional support to advance high impact research, enhance external funding competitiveness, and foster mentoring and career development for early career researchers.  The Postdoctoral Support Program will support scholars whose research advance SLU’s strategic research priorities and enhances interdisciplinary collaboration through intentional engagement with one of the following designated research entities:

• The Geospatial Center:
  Engagement may include geospatial data analysis, spatial modeling, GIS workflows, remote sensing, or collaboration with affiliated faculty, staff, or research programs. Contact: Vasit Sagan (vasit.sagan@slu.edu), Center Director.
• SCAER:
  Engagement may include collaborative research activities, methodological support, shared data, or participation in SCAER supported initiatives aligned with the proposed project. Contact: Takako Nomi (Takako.nomi@slu.edu), Center Director, or Mike Podgursky (mike.podgursky@slu.edu).
• AHEAD Institute:
  Engagement may include applied, policy relevant, or interdisciplinary research, community‑engaged scholarship, shared data, or collaboration aligned with AHEAD’s mission and focus areas. Contact: Eric Armbrecht (eric.armbrecht@slu.edu)

Projects funded through this program must integrate the postdoctoral scholar into the research, intellectual community, and/or infrastructure of at least one of these entities as a core component of the proposed work. The postdoctoral scholars will be part of a cohort focused on driving data science and analytics forward in applied fields.

The goals of this program are to enhance institutional research capacity through sustained postdoctoral appointments, support recruitment, retention, or continuation of high-quality postdoctoral scholars, enable focused research activity that strengthens competitiveness for external funding, and accelerates scholarly productivity and translation.

Eligibility

Applications must be submitted by a full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty member at SLU with support from their Department Chair and Dean. Eligible faculty must have an active research program and a clear plan for external funding. Projects must support scholars with PhD or MD with a PhD within 3 years of degree conferral, align with at least one of the identified centers or institute, and request no more than 24 months of support.

Individual faculty may only apply for one postdoctoral scholar. Centers or institutes can apply for up to 3 scholars with clearly differentiated research plans and clearly identified co-mentors to accelerate the success of several faculty as well as the postdoctoral scholar.  

New vs. Continuing Postdoctoral Scholars

Applications may support new recruitment or continuation of a current postdoctoral scholar. Continuation requests must include a one-page justification addressing the rationale for the funding transition and confirming avoidance of inappropriate cost transfers, in addition to required application materials.

Award Amounts

Budgets should not exceed $235,000 for two years or $120,00 for one year (no F&A allowed). Any proposed budget that exceeds $235,000 (or $120,000 for a one-year proposal) will be returned without review. Most of the budget will be for the post-doctoral salary. Salary rates should be in line with the NIH postdoctoral compensation guidelines.

Allowable Costs

Allowable expenses include recruitment costs, postdoctoral salary and fringe benefits, research-related computing, software, or equipment, professional travel, and other well-justified research expenses specific to postdoctoral training. The faculty member may include up to $5,000 for their own faculty development limited to conference fees, publication fees, or mentorship training.

Unallowable Costs

Graduate student support, faculty salary or stipends, tuition or fees, indirect costs, and pre-award expenses are not permitted. If the expense cannot be directly attributed to the post-doctoral position, it will not be allowed.

Performance Period

Awards are issued for up to a two-year (24-month) performance period. No-cost extensions (NCEs) are not permitted. All funds must be expended within the approved project period. All Postdoctoral Scholar Support Program funds must be spent by June 30, 2029.