UNC research funding totals $678 million - up 11%

UNC News Services
September 16, 2008 

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s research grants and contracts totaled $678.2 million in fiscal 2008 – more than double the amount from a decade ago.

This year’s total is up 11 percent over the record-setting $610 million received for research grants and contracts last year.

More than half of the 2008 total – about $356 million – reflected a 13 percent gain in grants and contracts awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), at a time when the agency’s funding has grown stagnant. The NIH is traditionally the University’s largest source of research grants.

Chancellor Holden Thorp announced the figures last week at his first Faculty Council meeting.

Although no official comparative numbers among UNC’s top peers were available, Thorp said anecdotal evidence suggested the 2008 performance ranks among the best anywhere for a public university this year.

“Carolina faculty are outperforming the market for research grants,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine another public university that had these kinds of numbers.”

Thorp thanked the faculty for their energy and excellence. “That’s what is being recognized by the reviewers and funding agencies,” he said.

Thorp also told Faculty Council members that while he is pleased with the progress reflected in the new numbers, the figures alone were not the most important aspect of the University’s research success. “What’s really important about this is the work we are doing,” he said.
Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development, said that awards were up across the board.

“We have both a greater number of awards and a greater average size,” Waldrop said. “That’s significant, because the jump in total funding was not attributable to one or two exceptionally large awards.”

“This year’s remarkable performance by the faculty has far exceeded our expectations given the past year’s federal funding trends,” he said. “And it shows strong potential for future growth as we continue to expand our research facilities as part of the University’s capital construction program.”

Results from top-performing University units this year include:

School of Pharmacy: up 26 percent to $16.5 million.
School of Social Work: up 26 percent to $12 million.
School of Medicine: up 19 percent to $356.8 million.
College of Arts and Sciences: up 19 percent to $68.6 million.

In many cases, researchers from multiple University schools, departments and units collaborate on research grants, contracts and studies. That approach reflects the University’s emphasis on interdisciplinary teaching and scholarship between and among the health, natural and social sciences, as well as the liberal arts and the humanities.

For more on UNC research figures, visit: http://research.unc.edu/resfacts/charts.php