Colorado State University

The School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES), which houses the CSU Climate Initiative (CCI), invites proposals for Collaboratory groups for the 2025-26 year.  Collaboratories will be research and scholarship communities designed to bring together CSU faculty across disciplines to explore critical climate and sustainability challenges. With an emphasis on discussion, synthesis, network-building, and early-stage ideation, these groups will foster inclusive engagement and deepen relationships across CSU’s faculty sustainability community.  

Each Collaboratory will be led by a small core team of two or more faculty members and welcome broader participation. After being funded, groups are expected to expand in size, with an open invitation to the campus community for participation. Groups will meet throughout the academic year, and applicants may define criteria for the scope of the group and engagement, including focal activities and whether to involve students, community members, or other external partners. Collaboratories could tackle areas of literature together, explore how to address or take action on a specific sustainability challenge, get to know each other’s research, or look at multi-disciplinary research, teaching, or engagement approaches to a major sustainability challenge. 

Collaboratories will receive $10,000 in funding, which should be devoted primarily to paying for group coordination, typically by funding time for a graduate student, faculty member, or staff member to schedule and facilitate meetings, gather literature, and maintain momentum. 

Each Collaboratory is expected to produce a shared product at the end of the year – such as a synthesis or scoping document, publication, creative work, patent application, white paper or policy brief, annotated bibliography, or report on progress and return on investment – to focus collaborative efforts and communicate impact. 

Our goal is to strengthen CSU’s climate and sustainability research community and provide new avenues for connection and ideation. Collaboratories will receive nine months of funding.  Expanded or continued support from SoGES may be possible, although the scope for expansion is something we have not yet determined, given that this is a new program. We anticipate funding 5-8 Collaboratories in FY26.

TIMELINE: 

Application deadline: September 15, 2025 

Notification of awards: October 2025 

Funding period: October 2025 – June 30, 2026 (must spend or encumber funds by May 31)

TO APPLY:  

Submit a one- to two-page proposal, single-spaced PDF document using 12-point Calibri font, and include the following elements: 

1. Name of Collaboratory 
2. Short description: Provide a concise 2–3 sentence summary that clearly defines your group’s focus and scope. The description will be used for the SoGES website and to invite prospective members to join. This should quickly convey the topic and relevance to help faculty members assess alignment with their interests.
3. Topic and approach: Describe the climate or sustainability topic that will be addressed by this group. Tell us why the topic is important and how the group will add value to the existing campus landscape.
4. Group characteristics: (A) Provide a list of the core team of faculty, who are jointly applying for Collaboratory funding; these individuals must be identified before submission to this program. (B) Describe who might join this group, including specific individuals or anticipated types of participants based on areas of expertise; use this space to describe what would make this an impactful community of practice. And (C) Describe how you will invite new members and expectations for members.
5. Coordination and plan of work: Describe how funds will be spent and who will organize, plan, and facilitate meetings and group progress. Be sure to identify your staffing plan for group coordination; we expect you to pay someone to take this on. Please also identify the faculty member on your team who will oversee the $10,000 of expenditures; funds will be sent to this person’s college as a budget adjustment. Tell us how you plan to structure meetings and how often you plan to hold meetings.
6. Shared product: Describe your anticipated shared product (draft publication, report, or other work). We recognize that this may change as your group forms and develops. Indicate what you would consider success after the first nine months and how you will assess the success of the group.

EVALUATION CRITERIA: Priority will be given to proposals that: 

1. Address especially important, novel, timely, and relevant climate and sustainability topics.
2. Fill a unique niche on campus. Proposals should clearly explain how the Collaboratory addresses a research, scholarship, or partnership gap at CSU, how it differs from or complements existing efforts, and the unique value added to CSU’s research and scholarly community.
3. Demonstrate a well-structured and inclusive team leadership and plan for inclusive engagement. Team leaders should clearly indicate how the group will bring together diverse perspectives, career stages, disciplines, and backgrounds, and how they will advertise and recruit new members.
4. Include a clear, achievable plan for meetings and coordination.
5. Define a realistic shared product and criteria for success.

EXPECTATIONS: 

Teams must be operationally self-sufficient (i.e., not relying on SoGES for organizational capacity) with organizational leadership built into the group’s design and spending plan. SoGES can provide access to conference rooms and offer some help with scheduling space. We ask teams to participate in the SoGES community at events and meetings as feasible. 

All groups must: 

1. Respond to an end of year survey from SoGES in May 2026.
2. Provide SoGES with a copy or draft of your shared product by June 2026
3. Acknowledge SoGES in all publications, presentations, reports, or other products fully or partially supported by this funding.