Biennial Research Competition Request for Proposals
RFP 2026-2028
Texas Sea Grant periodically seeks proposals from investigators at ALL Texas universities and colleges. Others eligible include nonprofit, non-academic institutions; for-profit organizations; state, local and Indian tribal governments; and unaffiliated persons.
Description
The Texas Sea Grant biennial research competition supports applied research and education initiatives that align with the program’s mission to enhance the sustainable use and conservation of Texas’ ocean and coastal resources. Reflecting the diverse programmatic priorities outlined in Texas Sea Grant’s current Strategic Plan, this competition welcomes proposals from a wide array of disciplines—including natural and social sciences, engineering, planning and design, science communication, policy and legal studies, business, education, and the arts and humanities.
Outcome-oriented research is defined as research that provides quantifiable evidence for short-term (learning: awareness, knowledge, skills, motivations), medium-term (action: behavior, practice, decisions, policies), and/or
long-term (consequences: social, economic, environmental) impacts in Texas, with community engagement.
A key requirement is that each project be designed and carried out in collaboration with an end-user (such as a government agency, industry partner, non-profit organization, or other stakeholder) who will use the research outcomes in ways that produce meaningful economic, social, and/or environmental benefits for coastal communities. Where appropriate, applicants are encouraged to partner with Texas Sea Grant Extension personnel to enhance outreach and end-user engagement, ensuring that results are translated into real-world applications.
Funding
Funding is to support two-year applied and end-user-driven projects focused on priorities identified in Texas Sea Grant’s 2024-27 Strategic Plan. Approximately 5 two-year projects of up to $188,650 each will be funded. Matching is required of at least 50% from non-federal sources.
Eligbility
Texas Sea Grant seeks proposals from investigators at all Texas universities and colleges. Others eligible include: nonprofit, non-academic institutions; for-profit organizations; state, local and Indian tribal governments; and unaffiliated persons.
Timeline
Frequently Asked Questions
We do fund research that includes modelling and have a few active research projects now that include modelling.
Integrated research and extension projects that improve the understanding, wise use and stewardship of Texas’ coastal and marine resources, outcome-oriented research that spans broad areas of natural, physical, social, behavioral and economic sciences and engineering, policy, law and planning. Therefore, the most competitive research proposals will respond to one or more of the research priorities established for this RFP (see p. 2) and achieve one or more of the focus area(s) and goal(s) identified in the Texas Sea Grant Strategic Plan 2024-2027, and has an end user identified.
We want to see outcomes relevant to your proposed research. Everyone project should result in peer-reviewed publications and should train students. These are the default outcomes. We want more than the default outcomes. See list of outcomes in the PPT.
Yes. The PI must be from a Texas institution/organization. Collaborators can be from outside of Texas.
No. We need you to select the Focus Area and Goal from the Strategic Plan, and we need you to select the Research Priority established by the RFP. Then, we need you to describe in words how your proposed research project relates to the Focus Area, Goal and the Research Priority and how the research will achieve the goal selected. Why? Because this is one of three criteria our reviewers will use to evaluate each pre-proposal (see page 5, Review Criteria: The degree to which the proposed research relates to Texas Sea Grant focus areas and research priorities identified in the RFP).
Every Sea Grant program operates differently. Some years we receive a small amount of extra funds from the National Sea Grant Office for specific types of projects and we will give mini-grants when these funds come to us. In other years, we have had leftover funds from research projects that we funded but did not use all of their money and we have redistributed this small amount of leftover funds to new research projects. These mini-grant funds are typically called “program development” funds by the National Sea Grant Office and some Sea Grant Programs budget for these funds annually in their four year omnibus proposals/awards. Texas Sea Grant does not do this. Programmatic funds are not viewed as, counted as, nor coded as “research” in the National Sea Grant Office PIER reporting system and because state programs are required to spend 40-50% of their core federal funds on research, this can become problematic at evaluation time.
Full Proposal Webinar
Resources
Templates
Pre-proposal Templates
RFP Contact
For questions about proposal development, submission and review or the InfoReady Proposal system, please contact:
Mia Zwolinski
Associate Director, Research Coordinator- mzwolinski@tamu.edu
- (979) 458-0449