Please check back regularly to learn of new funding opportunities from federal agencies, and foundations dedicated to social science research. Internal (BU) funding sources are provided on the Faculty Opportunities page. If you would like to announce a funding opportunity, please share with CISS using the Contact form here.
CAS Faculty Grant and RFP Page NIH-OBSSR – Notices of Funding Opportunities Pivot-RP – BU offers all faculty and staff a free subscription to this extensive database for funding across disciplines. Updated on a daily basis with a wide variety of federal, non-federal, foundation, and private funding opportunities in every discipline. With the BU subscription, members can save search criteria and receive weekly updates on new and upcoming funding opportunities. Learn how to set up your account to get started on the Office of Research website. Grant-Seeking Resource for Faculty The Foundation Relations team is creating a new grant-seeking resource for BU faculty—an informal database of foundation-related service. Have you served in a capacity that has given you insight into a funder—e.g., scientific advisory board member, proposal reviewer? If so, please contact Cecilia Lalama at clalama@bu.edu and ofr@bu.edu. Only the Foundation Relations team will have access to this database, which they will use to connect faculty when the opportunity arises. William T. Grant Early-Career Reviewer Program recruits early-career researchers to serve as peer-reviewers of grant proposals submitted to the William T. Grant Foundation for studies on improving the use of research evidence. Apart from reading and evaluating grant proposals in their areas of expertise, early-career reviewers receive personalized feedback from Foundation program officers and have access to additional reviews prepared by senior peer-reviewers. Altogether, this professional development program aims to build early-career researchers’ understanding of the proposal evaluation and peer-review process for use of research evidence grants to strengthen their own grant writing skills and ultimately advance their careers. 🗓️ Application Deadline: September 12, 2024. Posted: 6/18/24 NEW Stanford Humanities Center Fellowships for External Faculty External fellowships are intended primarily for individuals currently teaching in or affiliated with an academic institution, but independent scholars may apply. Faculty fellowships are awarded across the spectrum of academic ranks (assistant, associate, and full professor) and a goal of the selection process is to create a diverse community of scholars. Applicants who are members of traditionally under-represented groups are encouraged to apply. There are no citizenship requirements for these fellowships; non-U.S. nationals are welcome to apply. Awards are made from an applicant pool of approximately 350. 🗓️ Application Deadline: October 1, 2024. Posted: 8/20/24 IES Invites Applications for FY 2025 Education Research and Special Education Research Grant Programs The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has issued a notice inviting applications (NIA) in support of its FY 2025 Education Research and Special Education Research Grant Programs. IES is funding four competitions in the notice, two of which will be supported through the National Center for Education Research (NCER) and focus on education research and statistical and research methodology. The other two competitions will be supported through the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) and focus on special education research and special education research training. Through the Education Research and Special Education research grant programs, IES seeks to expand and improve developmental and school preparedness outcomes for youth with or at risk for a disability, and better understand and improve education outcomes for learners at all levels of education. IES’s support of research training through NCSER is intended to provide support for individuals to conduct innovative, rigorous, and salient special education research on issues relevant to education lawmakers and across the education community. Eligibility: Applicants for the Research Training Programs in Special Education must be a US institution of higher education. For the other three competitions, eligible applicants include (but are not limited to), institutions of higher education, nonprofit and for-profit organizations and public and private agencies and all applicants who have the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research are invited to apply. 🗓️ Application Deadline: September 12, 2024. Sources and Additional Information: William T. Grant Institutional Challenge GrantThe Institutional Challenge Grant supports university-based research institutes, schools, and centers in building sustained research-practice partnerships with public agencies or nonprofit organizations in order to reduce inequality in youth outcomes. The grant requires that research institutions shift their policies and practices to value collaborative research. Institutions will also need to build the capacity of researchers to produce relevant work and the capacity of agency and nonprofit partners to use research. We welcome applications from partnerships in youth-serving areas such as education, justice, prevention of child abuse and neglect, foster care, mental health, immigration, and workforce development. We especially encourage proposals from teams with African American, Latinx, Native American, and Asian American members in leadership roles. The partnership leadership team includes the principal investigator from the research institution and the lead from the public agency or nonprofit organization. Funding: The award will provide $650,000 over three years. 🗓️ Application Deadline: September 12, 2024, 3 PM ET Posted: 4/8/24 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Sloan Research Fellowship 2025The Sloan Research Fellowship Program recognizes and rewards outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study. Successful candidates for a Fellowship generally have a strong record of significant independent research accomplishments that demonstrate creativity and the potential to become future leaders in the scientific community. Nominated candidates are normally several years past the completion of their Ph.D. in order to accumulate a competitive record of independent, significant research. In keeping with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s longstanding support of underrepresented scholars in the sciences, the Foundation strongly encourages the nomination of qualified Black, Latinx, Native American, Alaska Native and women candidates. FUNDING INFORMATION: $75,000 for a two-year fellowship. Fellowship funds may be used by the fellow for any expense judged supported of the fellow’s research, including staffing, professional travel, lab expenses, equipment, or summer salary support. INTERNAL SELECTION PROCESS: Candidates must be nominated by a department head or other senior researcher. Submissions unaccompanied by a nomination from a senior researcher will not be accepted. Each department may submit up to 3 nominations. 🗓️ Nomination Deadline: Sunday, September 15, 2024 Posted: 07/29/24 Purpose: To support proposals related to freedom of expression and academic freedom in economics, education, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology. Eligibility:no exclusions Funding:up to $50,000, including 10% IDC Note: $250,000 will be available for award in 2024 🗓️ Application Deadline: September 15, 2024 Past BU engagement with funder For questions and assistance applying: The staff of the Foundation Relations office at BU works with the faculty to identify funding opportunities that are available from private foundations, associations, and societies; we also assist in the preparation of funding requests. For questions and assistance applying this or other foundation grants, please contact Cecilia Lalama (clalama@bu.edu). Posted 08/12/24 NEW Nominations: Library of Congress Kluge, Maguire, Kislak, and Kissinger Chairs 2025-2026 Each year, the John W. Kluge Center in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building brings a small number of prominent scholars and thinkers to the Library of Congress to use the rich and often unique materials available here. It is our hope that they will stimulate thinking by sharing their insight and analysis through informal discussions and formal presentations within the Center and the Library. The Chairs are suited for the most accomplished and innovative scholars who are at the height of their creative and intellectual powers. There are eight Chairs at the Kluge Center that are filled by nomination: The Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance focuses on legal, constitutional, and political issues related to the institutions of American government. NOMINATION PROCESS: Provide the name and a short statement of rationale for up to three candidates per chair, and send via e-mail to klugechairs@loc.gov. Please do not share news of your submission with colleagues or nominees. We encourage you to re-nominate candidates you have previously nominated if their scholarship continues to be outstanding and attention-worthy. 🗓️ Nominations Deadline: Friday, October 18, 2024 Posted: 8/22/24 Fulbright Canada Scholar Entrepreneurship Awards support scholars in conducting research in Canada while providing the necessary resources to transform innovative ideas into successful entrepreneurial endeavours. Awards are US$12,500 for four months and for a start date of September 2025 or January 2026. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Applications will be accepted until September 16, 2024. Posted: 7/2/24 Fulbright Canada Research Chair Awards is open for awards to be taken up in the 2025-26 academic year. American scholars looking for a research opportunity in Canada can now apply. Awards range from US $25,000 to US $50,000 and from four to nine months. These opportunities are open for a start date of September 2025 or January 2026. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Applications will be accepted until September 16, 2024. Posted: 7/2/24 NEH Summer Stipendsare awarded to individual faculty members and support full-time work on a humanities project at any stage of development for a period of two months. The maximum award amount is $6,000. Applications to the NEH require official institutional nomination. For more information and to apply for nomination by BU, please see the NEH Stipends for Summer 2025competition on BU’s InfoReady Review portal. 🗓️ Application Deadline: September 18, 2024, 3 PM ET Posted: 6/17/24 William T. Grant Youth Service Capacity-Building Grants (YSCG) program supportsactivities to strengthen the organizational infrastructure of small nonprofit organizationsin the five boroughs of New York City that provide direct services to young people ages 5 to 25. The long-term goal of the YSCG program is to help build stronger, more stable youth-serving organizations that tackle inequality in youth outcomes. These grants provide general operating support so that small nonprofits (operating budgets between $250,000 and $1 million) can determine the best way to address capacity-building needs that have been identified through a formal or informal assessment. 🗓️ Application Deadline: September 18, 2024, 3 PM ET Posted: 6/18/24 Fulbright Canada Short-Term Entrepreneurship Awardsare designed for professionals, students, and scholars whose aim is to bring their ideas and expertise to market. The award aims to equip experienced individuals with the tools and knowledge necessary to succeed in entrepreneurial endeavours. Awards are US$10,000 for four weeks and for a start date in 2025. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Applications will be accepted until September 30, 2024. Posted: 7/2/24 NEW The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Environmental Justice (EJ) Scholars ProgramThe program invites environmental justice experts from outside of NIH to share their knowledge, skills, and lived experience to help inform, build, and strengthen NIH capacity in the field of environmental justice. EJ Scholars will be invited to collaborate with NIH staff on one or more research, education, or training-relevant activities, contributing to the broader NIH community. Mid‐career to senior scientist candidates and environmental justice community leaders from academic, non‐profit, or private sectors are eligible to apply for the inaugural 2024–2025 cohort. 🗓️ Application Deadline: October 11, 2024 If you have additional questions, please reach out to EJScholars@nih.gov. Posted: 8/22/24 Laura Bassi Scholarship The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed, within their disciplines. The scholarships are open to every discipline and are awarded three times per year: December, April, and August. The value of the scholarship is remitted solely through editorial assistance as follows: Master’s candidates: $750 These figures reflect the upper bracket of costs of editorial assistance for master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, and academic journal articles, respectively. All currently enrolled master’s and doctoral candidates are eligible to apply, as are academics in the first five years of full-time employment. There are no institutional, departmental, or national restrictions. How to Apply Applicants are required to submit a completed application form along with their CV using the portal prompted by the ‘Apply’ button below by the relevant deadline.To help defray the Scholarship’s administrative costs, applicants are subject to a voluntary USD 10.00 fee.All applicants who are unable to pay the application fee are welcome to take advantage of the fee waiver option on the application portal. If you wish to pay the application fee in a non-USD currency, please consult the FAQ below for instructions. Answers to common questions about the application process are provided in the FAQ section. In order to avoid delays, applicants are encouraged to read the FAQ carefully before writing to us with their questions. Please donotsubmit your application material by email, as this would breach our impartiality rules and potentially invalidate your application. If you wish to update your application material, please upload your documents afresh using the same email address as your initial submission. Your dossier will then update automatically. Please also note that your application documents need to be uploaded together rather than separately. 🗓️ Winter 2024 Application Deadline: November 24, 2024 Posted 03/25/24 The Inter-American Foundation Research Fellowship ProgramTheInter-American Foundation(IAF), in conjunction with the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), welcomes applicants for its new Research Fellowship Program to advance rigorous field-based research on actionable questions about community-led development in Latin America and the Caribbean.* The IAF will award up to ten Fellowships in 2025. Each of the ten fellowships includes a stipend of $20,000 to support an individual researcher working over the course of twelve months in one or more of the countries in the region where the IAF works (seeIAF.gov/Where we work), participation in a three-day in-person orientation workshop, and engagement with the network of IAF Fellows. 🗓️ Application Deadline: December 3, 2024. Apply onlinehere. Posted 04/30/24 The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has forecasted a release of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) aimed to expand knowledge and advance the development of new methods, approaches, and tools to enhance health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). USAID anticipates inviting interested parties to collaborate in co-creating, co-designing, and co-investing to support the agency in developing, piloting, and scaling innovative R&D solutions to address global health issues outlined in the BAA problem and challenge statements, including reducing child and maternal mortality, addressing HIV/AIDS, and combating infectious diseases through addenda to the BAA, which will be issued sometime after the BAA is published through no later than February 20, 2028. Those interested in this opportunity are encouraged to look at the forecast here. Posted 07/31/24 GeoCAFÉ! We are excited to introduce GeoCAFÉ, a new NSF-funded RCN seeking to accelerate the pace climate and health research by fostering greater collaboration between those who understand and focus on studying the environment from where the triggers of many climate-related health issues arise and experts who study the impact and treatment of health conditions driven by those triggers. As a starting point, we’re now accepting applications from researchers at US academic institutions interested in being part of our first GeoCAFÉ climate and health cohort. Cohort members drawn from the health and geosciences will participate in a series of virtual and in-person events over the next 12 months. Fulbright Canada Entrepreneurship Awards for Specialists are short-term collaborations on curriculum and faculty development, institutional planning and a variety of other activities at Canadian institutions. Specialists receive the necessary resources to transform innovative ideas into successful entrepreneurial endeavours. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Applications are accepted throughout the year. Posted: 7/2/24 TESS Young Investigator Competition You may already know about the TESS Experiments – short for “Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences,” a National Science Foundation-funded initiative that provides academic researchers access to NORC’s AmeriSpeak Panel for U.S. population experiments. TESS is holding a special competition for young investigators. Successful applicants will be able to field their experiment using AmeriSpeak at no cost. Bogliasco Foundation The Foundation welcomes applications from individuals doing creative or scholarly work in the following disciplines: archaeology, architecture, classics, dance, film/video, history, landscape architecture, literature, music, philosophy, theater, and visual arts. The Foundation awards approximately 60 Fellowships each year in seven residency periods that run from September through May. An American nonprofit with a program in Italy, the Bogliasco Foundation awards one-month Fellowships to individuals of all ages and nationalities who are developing significant new work in the arts and humanities. Fellows live and work in bucolic surroundings on the coast near Genoa, where natural beauty combines with an intimate group setting to encourage inquiry and transformative exchange across all disciplines. Apply: https://bfny.org/en/apply 🗓️ Application Deadline: Rolling Collaborative Research Proposals in Sociology as part of the NSF-BSF in Sociology is open to receive applications anytime throughout the year. As part of the NSF-BSF joint program, the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) invites collaborative research proposals in Sociology, in the Social, Behavioral and Economics Sciences (SBE) Directorate at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Call for Proposals can be found here. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Applications are welcomed throughout the year. Teagle Foundation Program: Education for American Civic Life The program supports efforts to prepare students to become informed and engaged participants in the civic life of their local and national communities. The funder seeks to elevate the civic objectives of liberal arts education by partnering with institutions offering bold and coherent initiatives that endow students with the content, skills, and sensibility to participate in a political system designed for self-governance. The program is focused on funding in two particular areas: (1) anchoring significant questions in democratic thought in local history and community and (2) strengthening preparation for public service. Funding: up to $300,000 over up to 3 years Proposals for planning grants in the range of $25,000 over 6-12 months are strongly encouraged. 🗓️ Application Deadlines: Concept papers for this initiative will be reviewed three times per year with submissions due by December 1, March 1, and August 1. The Fulbright Specialist Award is designed to provide U.S. and Canadian faculty and professionals with opportunities to collaborate on curriculum and faculty development, institutional planning, and a variety of other activities. Short-term grants of two to six weeks are available to provide leading U.S. scholars and professionals with opportunities to collaborate with their Canadian counterparts. HOW TO APPLY: American scholars and professionals interested in joining the roster of Fulbright Specialists are advised to contact our cooperating agency, World Learning, for detailed program information. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Rolling Colorado specific funding options: El Pomar which focuses on arts and culture, civic and community initiatives, education, health, and human services, learn more. They also offer funding via several additional funds, learn more. Boettcher Foundation, which in 2023 is focused on community connections and their Rural Catalyst Grants, learn more. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Rolling Call for Collaborative Research Proposals in Sociology: NSF-BSF The Sociology Program supports basic research on all forms of human social organization — societies, institutions, groups and demography — and processes of individual and institutional change. The program encourages theoretically focused empirical investigations aimed at improving the explanation of fundamental social processes. Full proposals are accepted throughout the year in all programs. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Rolling Overview of Federal Funding Opportunities for Behavioral and Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities BU in collaboration with Lewis Burke Associates has produced a compendium of potential funding sources. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Rolling Sawyer Seminars, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer seminars bring together faculty, foreign visitors, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students from a variety of fields for intensive study of subjects chosen by the participants. Each seminar normally meets for one year. Seminar leaders are encouraged also to invite participants from nearby institutions, such as community colleges, liberal arts colleges, museums, research institutes, etc. Awards provide support for one postdoctoral fellow to be recruited through a national (or international) competition, and for the dissertation research of two graduate students. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Rolling Spencer Foundation. The Spencer Foundation, a leading funder of education research since 1971, seeks to improve education, make education systems more equitable, and increase opportunities to learn across the lifespan. The Foundation’s programs provide funding for education-focused research projects, research training fellowships, and additional field-building initiatives. 🗓️ Application Deadline: Rolling NIH Common Fund’s Transformative Health Disparities Research Initiative Community To stimulate transformative research to address health disparities and advance health equity, the NIH Common Fund is developing a new program planned to launch in fiscal year 2023. Through a series of facilitated listening sessions with the community, the NIH Common Fund’s Transformative Research to Address Health Disparities and Advance Health Equity working group seeks your input on new, innovative research into health disparities, minority health, and health equity. 🗓️ Application Deadline: RollingSpring/Summer 2024 Opportunities
Fall 2024 Opportunities
The Kluge Chair in Technology and Society focuses on the impact of fast-changing technologies on human societies.
The Kluge Chair in Modern Culture focuses on modern arts and media and their impact on civic life.
The Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the North focuses on the history and cultures of North America, Europe, Russia, and East Asia.
The Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South focuses on the history and cultures of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and Oceania.
The Jay I. Kislak Chair for the Study of the History and Cultures of the Early Americas supports scholars in archaeology, history, cartography, epigraphy, linguistics, ethno-history, ethnography, bibliography, and sociology, with an emphasis on projects that combine disciplines in novel and productive ways. With a focus on the Western Hemisphere, the Chair may consider regions from the Arctic to Patagonia, including the Caribbean, from the eras before the arrival of Europeans to about 1825.
The Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations supports research on foreign policy and international affairs.
The Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History supports exploration of the history of America with special attention to the ethical dimensions of domestic economic, political, and social policies.
Doctoral candidates: $2,500
Junior academics: $500
Results: December 8, 2024
Spring 2025 Opportunities
Rolling Deadlines
AmeriSpeak is the first U.S. multi-client household panel to combine the speed of panel surveys with enhanced representativeness of the U.S. population, an industry-leading response rate, and the NORC Card, an innovative sample quality report card. AmeriSpeak is the most scientifically rigorous multi-client panel available in the U.S. market. Our sampling captures a true picture of America, providing better representation than other panels for hard-to-reach populations.
While anyone can submit a proposal via the regular TESS mechanism, this Special Competition is limited to investigators who are either graduate students or no more than three years post-PhD / post-residency for MDs. Check out tessexperiments.org for more information and please pass this along to colleagues, graduate students, or anyone you know who might be interested.
If you have any questions or want to learn more about the AmeriSpeak Panel, reach out to us at AmeriSpeak-BD@norc.org.