2026 Proposal Development Grants

The Virginia Tech Center for Future Work Places and Practices (CFWPP) invites proposals for Planning Grants supporting exploratory research and creative projects that examine how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the future of workplaces and professional practices.

This planning grant program is designed to catalyze interdisciplinary collaboration across Virginia Tech and support early-stage, high-impact proposal development that investigates new models, tools, environments, and cultures of work in an AI-enabled world. The program will award two interdisciplinary faculty teams $10,000 each to support collaboration and proposal development activities leading to the submission of one or more external research proposals within 12 months.

As AI systems increasingly influence decision-making, collaboration, knowledge production, and physical and digital environments, urgent questions emerge about how workplaces are designed, organized, governed, and experienced. This program encourages proposals that engage spatial thinking across indoor, outdoor, and hybrid environments and its intersection with AI-enabled work practices.

We welcome proposals that advance exploratory, experimental, and forward-looking research. Example research questions include:

• Human–AI collaboration: How can human-centered design approaches reimagine workplaces where humans and AI systems collaborate effectively, ethically, and transparently?
• Workplace transformation: How might AI transform the design of workplaces, tools, workflows, and organizational processes in specific sectors?
• Worker agency: How does AI reshape worker autonomy, creativity, cognitive load, and well-being, and what design strategies can ensure that AI augments human agency and meaningful work?
• Data governance: Who owns, controls, and governs the data that underpins AI-enabled workplaces, and how does this shape power, access, value creation, and income?
• Workforce training: What new models of education and workforce training are needed to prepare individuals for AI-enabled work while maintaining integrity and responsible knowledge stewardship
• Future skills: What combinations of technical, social, and domain-specific skills will define future careers, and how are professional roles and expertise evolving with AI deployment?
• Collective adaptation: How can intergenerational learning and cross-sector collaboration (academia, industry, public) accelerate responsible adaptation to AI-driven change?

• Teams must include at least two researchers (PI + co-PI) from two or more colleges at Virginia Tech. The PI and Co-PI must also be CFWPP faculty affiliates (join here).
• Partnerships connecting faculty at Alexandria, Roanoke, and/or Blacksburg are welcomed.

Planning grant funds should be used to support proposal development activities, including but not limited to:

• Faculty summer salary or course release (as allowable by university and department policies).
• Graduate or undergraduate student support for preliminary research.
• Pilot user studies or data collection.
  Acquisition of research equipment or materials.
• Travel for team-building activities or federal agency engagement.
• Hosting planning meetings or stakeholder engagement sessions.
• Proposal development support (e.g., workshops, consultants, grant writing assistance).
  

• Up to 2 awards are anticipated for 2026–27.
• Each award provides up to $10,000.
• Application deadline: August 31, 2026.
• Funds will be transferred as overhead funds on or after September 30, 2026 to the PI’s home department for local management.
• All funds must be used by August 31, 2027. Carryover (if any) will be approved/managed by the PI’s department.

• Timely proposal submission
  • Applicants must clearly identify the external funding program(s) they are targeting in their submission. Any change to the external funding program after the award must be approved by the CFWPP director.
  • Applicants must indicate the deadline or expected submission date of their external research proposal, which must occur before December 31, 2027.
     
• Total budget commitment
  • Within 12 months, teams awarded a planning grant will receive $10,000 to develop an external research proposal with a total budget ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 or more. 
     
• Modified total direct costs (MTDC) commitment 
  • All PIs and their department heads/managers must agree that at least 25% of the MTDC (Modified Total Direct Costs) of the total budget will be routed through the CFWPP (Fund Org #039905). If the external proposal is declined, the PIs should re-submit if possible, and any resubmissions must continue to route the committed 25% of the MTDC through the CFWPP (Fund Org #039905).
     
• SUMMIT entry requirement
  • Prior to receiving the planning grant funds, PIs must ensure that the external proposal information and an initial budget reflecting the commitments above are entered into Virginia Tech’s SUMMIT system.
     
• Compliance
  • Failure to adhere to these requirements may preclude the PIs and their students from participating in other CFWPP funding programs until the requirements are met or remedied to the satisfaction of the CFWPP director.
     
• In summary
  • $10,000 grant to develop an external research proposal (available upon award and after SUMMIT entry requirement is met).
  • $100,000 to 500,000 or more total budget required of the external proposal.
  • 25% of the MTDC must be routed through CFWPP (Fund Org #039905).

The planning grant proposals must be submitted as PDFs and should adhere to the following formatting guidelines:

• Five pages in length, excluding references (e.g., a proposal with two pages of references could be up to seven total pages).
• Standard paper size (8.5” x 11”).
• At least 1-inch margins.
• Arial 10-pt or larger font.
• Single-line spacing is recommended.
• Use the Google Doc template.

The planning grant proposals will be reviewed by an ad hoc committee of volunteer Virginia Tech faculty (both internal and external to the CFWPP) with significant external funding experience.

Reviewers will be asked to evaluate proposals based on the following criteria:

• What is the potential for the proposed activity to:
  • Advance knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields (intellectual merit); and
  • Benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes (broader impacts)?
• To what extent does the proposed activity address the implications of AI for the future of work, including human-AI collaboration, worker agency, workforce training, or broader societal and organizational transformation?
• To what extent do the proposed activities suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts?
• Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on a sound rationale? Does the plan incorporate a mechanism to assess success?
• How well qualified is the individual, team, or organization to conduct the proposed activities?
• Are there adequate resources available to the PI (either at the home organization or through collaborations) to carry out the proposed activities?
  
  

To apply, please complete the CFWPP Planning Grant Program application. You will need to submit a fully signed cover sheet and PDF of your Planning Grant proposal.