Stanford Research Development Office
Please contact limitedsubmissions@stanford.edu with any questions about university-wide limited submission programs or the internal application process.
Details on current and archived competitions are available on the Stanford Limited Submissions Opportunities Portal
“Limited Submission” describes funding opportunities in which the sponsor (e.g., NSF, NIH, Keck Foundation) limits the number of applications that an institution may submit. An internal selection is required if the number of faculty who wish to apply exceeds the allowable submission limit.
Applications or nominations submitted without institutional approval may cause a return without review of the proposal or automatic exclusion of all Stanford proposals to a given opportunity.
Application or proposal submission limits are usually specified in the sponsor's program guidelines or solicitation. Some agencies publish a clear limit while others may be less clear. Please contact limitedsubmissions@stanford.edu for help determining if an opportunity is limited.
A list of university-wide and VPDoR-managed limited submission programs is available on the Stanford Limited Submissions Opportunities portal.
The materials required for each competition will vary by program based on the sponsor requirements and time until the sponsor's deadline. In all cases, we aim to have the internal competition materials to be informative for selection and as useful as possible for the Principal Investigator to prepare a full submission while limiting the burden. Please review the individual competition page for specific details on the required Stanford internal proposal elements.
Limited submission programs with a clinical or biomedical research focus are facilitated by the Research Management Group on behalf of the School of Medicine.
Want to learn about new limited submission opportunities? We invite you to subscribe to the weekly limited submissions newsletter.
The VPDoR Limited Submissions (LS) Announcements Newsletter is available to anyone who wants to receive announcements directly from the VPDoR Limited Submissions Program Team. While faculty will continue to receive timely LS announcements also through their school channels, this weekly digest of new and active limited submission opportunities may be the only way for staff and students to learn about ongoing internal competitions via email.
We invite you to subscribe to the weekly limited submissions newsletter. For a listing of current and past competitions, visit the Stanford Limited Submissions Opportunities Portal.
VPDoR LS complements RMG LS which covers NIH and biomedical opportunities.
In most cases, the internal application should be submitted by 11:59 pm on the internal competition deadline date, which is typically several weeks or months before the sponsor deadline. Please see the specific limited submission opportunity’s competition for details, as the submission timeline may vary by program to accommodate the sponsor's deadline.
When requested, the Notification of Interest (NOI) is an important first step in the internal Limited Submission process. Submitting an NOI ensures that your application receives full consideration.
Key points:
If the number of NOIs does not exceed the sponsor’s submission limit, we may close the competition and move directly to approvals, streamlining the process for everyone.
Submitting an NOI guarantees your eligibility to compete for a slot.
We cannot guarantee we will find and announce every limited funding opportunity.
Investigators interested in submitting a concept or proposal to a limited submission funding opportunity not listed on the VPDoR limited submission programs page must fill out the VPDoR Limited Submission Notification Form as soon as possible. We will determine if an internal competition is necessary and contact you regarding next steps for securing institutional approval.
Unless otherwise stated, only applicants with PI eligibility (members of the University's Academic Council or UML faculty) may participate in the limited submission internal competition. View the policy on Principal Investigator Eligibility and Criteria for Exceptions for more information on eligibility to act as a PI or co-principal investigator on externally funded projects.
Unless the specific competition instructions state otherwise, use a professional, highly legible font.
To ensure consistency across applications and to respect reviewers’ time, any pages beyond the stated limit will not be included in the review.
The campus announcement will only provide basic instructions, so we strongly advise applicants to carefully review the funding opportunity solicitation and program criteria. In general, a competitive campus application will:
If the internal deadline has passed and interest did not exceed the program limit, then the VPDoR Limited Submissions Program Team may grant additional approvals to apply to the sponsor on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please contact limitedsubmissions@stanford.edu if you are interested in submitting after the internal deadline has passed and we will follow up regarding the process and next steps.
An approved applicant who needs to decline the selection must contact limitedsubmissions@stanford.edu as soon as possible. VPDoR may permit another investigator to submit if there is still time to prepare a competitive application.
A normal selection process begins with an announcement from VPDoR defining the timeline and internal proposal elements. Prospective PIs submit internal applications through the Stanford Limited Submissions Opportunities portal and if the number of submissions exceeds the sponsor's limit, then applications are subsequently reviewed by the Limited Submissions Faculty Review Committee. Applications are selected and approved to submit on behalf of the university based on the merit of the project and PI's potential to be successful with the sponsor. When a high proposal volume is expected, a separate selection process at the school level may precede the VPDoR-led selection process.
Only approved investigators should complete a SeRA Proposal and must submit to OSR or RMG according to the University Proposal Deadline Policy. View the Proposal Preparation and Submission guidelines to learn more about proposal development and routing.
Stanford uses a third-party internal proposal portal called InfoReady Review to manage the limited submissions competitions. The InfoReady support team has some helpful videos and applicant resources to help users. While in the portal, you can also access help topics in the top right corner of the window.
Please email limitedsubmissions@stanford.edu if you have Stanford/program-specific questions
The VPDoR Limited Submissions Faculty Review Committee is responsible for the selection of proposals submitted to a limited submissions program, and for fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive intellectual community through a fair, competent and objective assessment of the application.
To keep committee members’ workload manageable and to provide for the most suitable review, the Committee is split into two Sub-committees, characterized by the program classification:
Internal proposals are reviewed by principal committee members, who are typically Senior Associate Deans (SAD), or their proxies, from the STEM Schools. The committee might invite reviews by additional faculty or SADs when a specific disciplinary expertise is required. Current committee members are as follows.
Greg Beroza, Wayne Loel Professor of Earth Science, chairs the Topical Committee. Internal proposals are reviewed by a pool of standing committee members elected by their school deans who participate on multiple, but not all, review sessions of topic specific opportunities, depending on the technical domains of relevance to the program.
The standing selection committee is experienced at evaluating proposals and candidates based on the sponsor eligibility and selection criteria. In addition to the proposed project, this may include the quality of the applicant’s academic record and research, evidence of exceptional creativity and productivity, and the candidate’s potential. They may also take into account past university nominations as well as other prestigious programs they select for and aim for a portfolio of nominations that is balanced over time.
Limited submission opportunities identified fewer than two months before the sponsor deadline fall outside the typical process. In these cases, VPDoR evaluates interest and timeline constraints to determine a path forward, such as an expedited competition or a first-come, first-served approach.
When a selection process isn’t feasible, VPDoR may allocate slots on a first-come, first-served basis. This approach helps ensure Stanford can take advantage of the opportunity while giving approved teams time to prepare their submissions.
Notices of Intent submitted through the Limited Submission Notification Form are timestamped and serve as the official record. Submission time helps us track interest and determine whether an internal selection process is necessary.
If we’ve already confirmed selections with the teams who submitted first, we unfortunately cannot approve additional applicants. We understand how disappointing this can be and are always working to improve visibility and coordination.
We encourage Principal Investigators, Postdocs, RAs, and OSR to notify us as early as possible when there is interest in a limited submission. Because we cannot guarantee identifying and announcing every limited funding opportunity, we rely on the research community to alert us promptly. Anyone may submit the Limited Submission Notification Form. Early submission helps us identify limits and, when possible, coordinate a fair internal review.
Created: 08/19/24
Updated: 03/30/26