Organized Research and Creative Activities (ORCA) Program
ORCA Program Overview
The ORCA program provides small project grants to Tenured and Tenure-Track faculty to support research, scholarship, and creative activities. Each year, the Office of the Provost and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) oversee the distribution of internal funds to awardees based on a peer review process involving a university-level review committee. Proposals for ORCA are accepted through the first Monday of October for each academic year. Details regarding the process can be found in the ORCA policy.
Interested tenured/tenure-track faculty should review the current PS 06.A.08 Organized Research and Creative (ORCA) Program. In this policy, you will find information on: proposal evaluation criteria, applicant eligibility, the proposal review process, and a general timeline. Other resources can be found below:
ORCA RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM SPRING 2025
The 2025 Symposium program is now available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Note: Faculty taking release time for funded research/scholarship/creative activities should not engage in teaching overloads during the release period.
August 23, 2024 ORCA Workshop Video:
ORCA Report
Per section 3.6 of the ORCA Policy, recipients are required to submit a final report summarizing the results of the funded project. This report must be submitted within 18 months of the end of the semester in which the ORCA grant is received.
Example: ORCA grant awarded in December 2022 = report due by June 2024. Failure to submit this report may render an applicant ineligible for future ORCA grants.
ORCA Final Report
ORCA Research Symposium
The ORCA Research Symposium is an annual event that takes place during the spring semester. ORCA awardees present their funded projects to the larger UHD faculty community. The symposium provides an opportunity for faculty to learn more about each other’s scholarship as well as to encourage faculty to submit proposals to the ORCA program. The call for proposals for the symposium typically goes out in March of each year. If you are a past ORCA awardee, please consider submitting a proposal to present your funded work.
Past ORCA Winners
2024-2025 ORCA Winners 2023-2024 ORCA WinnersPast ORCA Research Symposiums
Materials: