Pivot

What is Pivot?

The University of Chicago (via URA) is excited to offer unlimited access to ProQuest’s Pivot database to help faculty and other researchers, staff members, and students find funding opportunities and potential collaborators for research and scholarly endeavors. The Pivot database is updated daily and provides information about billions of dollars in funding opportunities from federal, non-federal, foundation, corporate, and other private sponsors across all disciplines.

Through Pivot you can save search criteria and receive weekly updates on new and upcoming funding opportunities that matter to you. Access to Pivot is limited to authenticated users only, so you must have an email address that is issued by the University. To access Pivot without signing in, you will need to be connected to the UChicago network.

How Do I Set Up My Account?

To set up an account, click https://pivot.proquest.com/shibboleth/login and sign in with your UChicago credentials (CNetID or UCHADID). After you enter your name and UChicago email address, click through the confirmation email that is sent to you.

You may also claim your profile, which will allow the system’s proprietary matching algorithm to suggest funding opportunities and potential collaborators to you. The prepopulated information you see was pulled from publicly available information sources to give you a jump start. Click the “Edit Profile” button to add/update information. Your funding matches will then automatically update based on the new content.

How Do I Search Funding Oportunities?

To search funding, choose the Funding tab (shown above) and enter a research topic or discipline in the search bar.  Users logged in with their CNetID's will have the option to immediately begin searching opportunities by sponsor, or by keyword. Initially, we recommended using broad terms to generate the most search results, and then refining those results using advanced search. 

How Do I Set Up a Recurring Search?

The Pivot Quick Search is an easy way to search all funding opportunities available. Type the keywords you want in the search box then click “Search Pivot” – you can then refine your search further to target just those opportunities you want. Once you have a good working list, click the “Save Search” button to send the results to your inbox on a weekly basis.

How do I Track Opportunities?

Within the search itself, Pivot gives users multiple options to organize and flag opportunities. Tracking an opportunity will cue the system to send out an email alert or notification each time an opportunity is updated by the sponsor. Check the box next to any opportunity in your search results, then choose “Track” from the list of buttons above. Tacked searches will appear with saved searches on your home page.

How do I Share Opportunities?

Pivot not only allows users to find opportunities for themselves, but also to share them with individuals or groups by email. Each opportunity listing includes the option to share via email and to track it on behalf of specific researcher. To share an opportunity in Pivot, click "options" next to the search result and select "share" from the dropdown menu. You can then share it with as many individuals, or emails, as you'd like.  

All Pivot users can search opportunities and send matches to UChicago faculty and students -no administrative access needed. 


For additional information, please see our Pivot - User Guides page.
Please also see/review the Pivot Permitted Uses policy.