April 2018
Funding Opportunities in the Social Sciences

You are receiving this newsletter because you are subscribed to our mailing list. All Harvard University faculty and administrators may subscribe here, and you may unsubscribe at any time. Please feel free to   to interested colleagues.
Unless otherwise noted, all proposals to funders outside of Harvard must be submitted to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) five business days prior to the sponsor deadline. We can help you navigate the routing process for your proposal.

Questions? Please contact Erin Hale, Senior Research Development Officer at 
[email protected] or 617-496-5252.
Internal Opportunities
For a more comprehensive list of Harvard internal funding opportunities, please see  here .
External Opportunities
Non-Federal Opportunities:
Federal Opportunities:
Internal Funding Opportunities
pfic
Deadline: May 18, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $20,000
Eligible Applicants: The designated faculty leader(s) must hold primary Harvard faculty appointments at the rank of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor or senior non-ladder faculty appointments including Senior Lecturer, Senior Preceptor, and Professor of Practice.
 
The Provost Fund for Interfaculty Collaboration (PFIC) was developed to promote faculty collaboration across multiple Harvard Schools. This fund can be used to support a variety of projects, including but not limited to cross-School interdisciplinary course support, research working groups, and small-scale conferences. The Fund will occasionally prioritize particular forms of collaboration, and during the 2017-2018 academic year, funding priority will be given to proposals intended to advance cross-School teaching. 
 
To be eligible for support, the designated faculty leader(s) must hold primary Harvard faculty appointments at the rank of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor or senior non-ladder faculty appointments including Senior Lecturer, Senior Preceptor, and Professor of Practice, and the project must engage faculty and/or students from at least two Harvard Schools. Priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received funding from the grant. Colleagues from outside Harvard may be included as well.
 
These one-year grants should be considered seed money rather than continuing support. Funding should be expended within a year of the award. Preference will be given to proposals that illustrate the potential cross-School impact of funding (e.g., cross-listed courses, sponsored research opportunities, resulting scholarly products) as well as to proposals that leverage other resources (e.g., cost-sharing with a Department, School, or outside funder).
fhb
Deadline: Last day of February, May, August and November
Award Amount: $40,000 for ladder faculty; $5,000 for doctoral students and post-docs
Eligible Applicants: Harvard University full time doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, and ladder faculty.

The FHBI provides seed grants to support transformative research in the social and behavioral sciences. Successful proposals will be those that promise to advance understanding of the social, institutional and biological mechanisms shaping human beliefs and behavior. Funds will be used to support interdisciplinary social science research projects based on innovative experimental or observational designs that make use of sophisticated quantitative methods. The Fund also supports seminars, conferences, and other research-related activities.
External Funding Opportunities
guggenheim
Harvard OSP Deadline: July 24, 2018 
Sponsor Deadline: August 1, 2018 
Award Amount: $15,000 to $40,000 per year for one or two years

The foundation welcomes proposals from any of the natural and social sciences and the humanities that promise to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence and aggression. Highest priority is given to research that can increase understanding and amelioration of urgent problems of violence and aggression in the modern world. Questions that interest the foundation concern violence and aggression in relation to social change, intergroup conflict, war, terrorism, crime, and family relationships, among other subjects.  

wtgrantscholars
Harvard OSP Deadline: June 27, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: July 5, 2018
Award Amount: $350,000 distributed over five years
Target Applicants: Tenure-track faculty who received their terminal degree in 2011 or later

This is a limited submission opportunity and Harvard may put forward only one nominee from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. To determine if an internal competition is required, FAS faculty who wish to apply for this opportunity should contact Erin Hale at [email protected].

The W.T. Grant Foundation funds research that increases understanding in one of two focus areas:
  • Programs, policies, and practices that reduce inequality in youth outcomes, and
  • Strategies to improve the use of research evidence in ways that benefit youth.
The foundation seeks research that builds stronger theory and empirical evidence in these two areas. While it is not expected that any one study will create that change, the research should contribute to a body of useful knowledge to improve the lives of young people.
 
The William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand junior researchers' expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas. Scholars Program applicants should have a track record of conducting high-quality research and an interest in pursuing a significant shift in their trajectories as researchers. Proposed research plans must address questions of policy and practice that are relevant to the Foundation's focus areas.
rsf_vsp
OSP review not required
Sponsor Deadline: June 28, 2018
Award Amount:  Supplemental salary support of up to 50 percent of recipient's academic year salary when unavailable from other sources (up to a maximum of $125,000 for the full academic year, or up to a maximum of $62,500 for a half year)

The Russell Sage Foundation's  Visiting Scholars Program  provides a unique opportunity for select scholars in the social, economic and behavioral sciences to pursue their research and writing while in residence at the Foundation's New York headquarters. Research carried out by Visiting Scholars constitutes an important part of the Foundation's ongoing effort to analyze and understand the complex and shifting nature of social and economic life in the United States. While Visiting Scholars typically work on projects related to the Foundation's  current programs , a few scholars whose research falls outside these areas are occasionally invited as well. 

All scholar applicants must have a Ph.D. or comparable terminal degree, or a career background that establishes their ability to conduct high-level, peer-reviewed scholarly research. Most selected applicants are typically several years beyond the Ph.D. 
srf
OSP review not required
Sponsor Deadline: June 15, 2018
Award Amount: $60,000

The Smith Richardson Foundation Strategy and Policy Fellows Program supports young scholars and policy thinkers on American foreign policy, international relations, international security, military policy, and diplomatic and military history.  The purpose of the program is to strengthen the U.S. community of scholars and researchers conducting policy analysis in these fields.  Within the academic community, this program supports junior or adjunct faculty, research associates, and post-docs who are engaged in policy-relevant research and writing. Within the think tank community, the program supports members of the rising generation of policy thinkers who are focused on U.S. strategic and foreign policy issues. 

Please note that the Fellowship program will only consider single-author book projects.  It will not consider collaborative projects (e.g., edited or multi-authored books, conference volumes or reports, or a collection of previously published articles, chapters or essays.)
rita_allen
Harvard OSP Deadline: May 23, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: May 31, 2018
Award Amount: Selected teams will receive  travel funds for up to two team members to participate in the forum . Two of the participating teams will be selected to receive Misinformation Solution Prizes, with a  top prize of $50,000  and an additional prize of  $25,000 . 

On October 4, 2018, a Misinformation Solutions Forum at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C., will bring together academic researchers, technology professionals, data scientists, journalists, educators, community leaders and funders to explore up to five promising ideas for curbing the spread of misinformation. The Rita Allen Foundation is now seeking submissions for ideas to be featured in the Misinformation Solutions Forum. Interventions should be focused on reducing behaviors that lead to the spread of misinformation or encouraging behaviors that can lead to the minimization of its influence. Proposals for interventions with technological, educational, and/or community-based components are encouraged. Projects involving science communication, public health and diverse populations are of special interest. Ideas should be submitted by teams of at least two people with skills, expertise, experiences and networks that can help their solution take shape and reach key audiences. 
rsf
OSP review not required for letter of inquiry
Sponsor Letter of Inquiry Deadline: May 24, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $150,000

The Russell Sage Foundation dedicates itself exclusively to strengthening the methods, data, and theoretical core of the social sciences as a means of diagnosing social problems and improving social policies. For the May 2018 letter of inquiry deadline, Project and Presidential Awards will support social science research in the following program areas:
  • Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration: This program is concerned with the social, economic, and political effects of the changing racial and ethnic composition of the U.S. population, including the transformation of communities and ideas about what it means to be American.
  • Behavioral Economics: This program focuses on research that uses behavioral insights from psychology and other social sciences to examine and improve social and living conditions in the United States.
Letters of inquiry for the foundation's other regular programs, Future of Work and Social Inequality, will be accepted in August.
rsf_immigration
OSP review not required for letter of inquiry
Sponsor Letter of Inquiry Deadline: May 24, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $150,000

The Russell Sage Foundation/Carnegie Corporation Initiative on Immigration and Immigrant Integration seeks to support innovative research on the effects of race, citizenship, legal status and politics, political culture and public policy on outcomes for immigrants and for the native-born of different racial and ethnic groups and generations. This initiative falls under RSF's Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration Program and represents a special area of interest within the core program, which continues to encourage proposals on a broader set of issues.

The Foundation is especially interested in novel uses of under-utilized data and the development of new methods for analyzing these data. Proposals to conduct laboratory or field experiments, in-depth qualitative interviews, and ethnographies are also encouraged. Smaller projects might include exploratory fieldwork, a pilot study, or the analysis of existing data. RSF encourages methodological variety and inter-disciplinary collaboration.  Proposals for comparative, cross-national work will be considered only if they have strong implications for U.S.-centered issues.
rss_bioss
OSP review not required for letter of inquiry
Sponsor Letter of Inquiry Deadline: May 24, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $150,000
 
This initiative will support innovative social science research on social and economic outcomes that improves our understanding of the interactive mechanisms by which environmental influences affect biological mechanisms, and vice versa. This includes research that: (1) estimates how the structured nature of the social environment and intra- and intergenerational social inequalities affect biological processes, (2) identifies which indicators of biological processes interact with the social environment to affect different life domains and how, and (3) yields new conceptual frameworks that holistically characterize the complex relationships among biological, psychological and environmental factors to predict a range of behavioral and social outcomes. The foundation is primarily interested in research that explores and improves our understanding of social and economic predictors and outcomes.  
rsf_css 
OSP review not required for letters of inquiry
Sponsor Letter of Inquiry Deadline: May 24, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $150,000

The Russell Sage Foundation's initiative on Computational Social Science (CSS) supports innovative social science research that brings new data and methods to bear on questions of interest in its core programs in Behavioral Economics, Future of Work, Race, Ethnicity and Immigration, and Social Inequality. Limited consideration will be given to questions that pertain to core methodologies, such as causal inference and innovations in data collection. 
gladys
OSP Deadline: May 23, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: May 31, 2018
Award Amount: $50,000 - $100,000
The Foundation considers major grant applications in the fields of libraries and education.
 
Grants for Libraries: Applications will be considered for resource endowments (print, film, electronic database, speakers/workshops), capital construction, and innovative equipment. Projects fostering broader public access to global information sources utilizing collaborative efforts, pioneering technologies, and equipment are encouraged.
 
Grants for Educational Institutions: Applications will be considered for: educational endowments to fund scholarships; endowments to support fellowships and teaching chairs; and erection or endowment of buildings and equipment for educational purposes.
radcliffe
OSP review not required
Sponsor Deadline: May 15, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $77,500 per fellow

Radcliffe Institute Fellowships are designed to support scholars, scientists, artists, and writers of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment who wish to pursue work in academic and professional fields and in the creative arts. The Radcliffe Institute encourages applications in all disciplines and on any topic. Clusters are made up of two or three individuals. As a fellowship cluster you would spend the year pursuing your cluster's research interests or project. The Institute encourages the inclusion of junior faculty. All members of the cluster (excluding creative artists) must have been awarded their doctorates by December 2017. Only scholars who have published at least two refereed articles in journals or edited collections are eligible to apply. 

Radcliffe Institute fellows are in residence for a period of nine months between September 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020 and receive a stipend of $77,500 plus an additional $5,000 to cover project expenses. Applicants may apply for either one or two semesters. Single-semester Radcliffe fellows receive a $38,750 stipend plus an additional $2,500 to cover project expenses.
ghs
Gerda Henkel Stiftung Foundation: Special Programme Islam, the Modern Nation State and Transnational Movements
Harvard OSP Deadline: May 9, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: May 16, 2018
Award Amount: Limit not specified. Applicants may request costs for personnel, travel, materials and/or other costs.

The special programme "Islam, the Modern Nation State and Transnational Movements" is aimed at researchers who, with an eye to current developments, are examining the emergence of political movements in the Islamic world at the national and/or transnational level. Historical studies are encouraged and supported, together with projects in the areas of religious, cultural or political science. Proposals will be supported that address the particularities and contexts of cultural and historical environments and relationships. The projects' deliverables should be able to make a contribution to diverse and expert discussions in public and political circles.
whiting
OSP review not required
Sponsor Deadline: May 2, 2018
Award Amount: $40,000

The Whiting Foundation supports works in progress to enable authors to complete their books. Its chief objective is to foster original, ambitious projects that bring writing to the highest possible standard. This grant is intended to support multiyear book projects requiring large amounts of deep and focused research, thinking, and writing at a crucial point mid-process, after significant work has been accomplished but where an extra infusion of support can make a difference in the ultimate shape and quality of the work. Whiting welcomes submissions for works of history, cultural or political reportage, biography, memoir, the sciences, philosophy, criticism, food or travel writing, and personal essays, among other categories. Applicants must be US citizens or residents and must be under contract with a publisher and at least two years into their contract as of the May 2 application deadline. 
wtgrant
William T. Grant Foundation: Research Grants
OSP review not required for letters of inquiry
Sponsor Letter of Inquiry Deadline: May 2, 2018
Award Amount: $100,000 to $600,000 over 2-3 years for reducing inequality research grants; $100,000 to $1,000,000 over 2-4 years for improving the use of research evidence grants 

The W.T. Grant Foundation is focused on youth ages 5 to 25 in the United States, funding research that increases our understanding of:
  • programs, policies, and practices that reduce inequality in youth outcomes, and
  • strategies to improve the use of research evidence in ways that beneit youth. 
The foundation seeks research that builds stronger theory and empirical evidence in these two areas and informs change. While it is not expected that any one study will create that change, the research should contribute to a body of useful knowledge to improve the lives of young people.
Federal Funding Opportunities
neh_stipend
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: July 9, 2018
Sponsor Deadline (if nominated): September 26, 2018
Award Amount: $6,000 for two consecutive months of full-time research and writing beginning May 2019 or later
 
This is a limited submission opportunity. Faculty members teaching full-time at colleges or universities must be nominated by their institutions to apply for a Summer Stipend. Harvard may nominate two faculty members for this program. Please see the link above for information on the internal competition.

Summer Stipends support individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both. Eligible projects usually result in articles, monographs, books, digital materials and publications, archaeological site reports, translations, or editions. Projects must not result solely in the collection of data; instead they must also incorporate analysis and interpretation. Summer Stipends support continuous full-time work on a humanities project for a period of two consecutive months. Awards support projects at any stage of development.
nhprc
Harvard OSP Deadline: June 6, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: June 13, 2018
Award Amount: Up to $200,000. The Commission provides no more than 50 per cent of total direct project costs so cost sharing is required.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks proposals to publish documentary editions of historical records.  The goal of this program is to provide access to, and editorial context for, the historical documents and records that tell the American story. Projects may focus on the papers of major figures from American history or cover broad historical movements in politics, social reform, business, military, the arts, and other aspects of the national experience. The historical value of the records and their expected usefulness to broad audiences must justify the costs of the project.  Applicants should demonstrate familiarity with the best practices recommended by the  Association for Documentary Editing  or the  Modern Language Association Committee on Scholarly Editions. 

All new projects must publish a digital edition which provides online access to a searchable collection of all documents. (Ebooks or volumes in PDF do not qualify for the purposes of this grant program.) New projects may also prepare print editions as part of their overall publishing plan, but the contents of those volumes must be published online within a reasonable period of time following print publication.  

otherfederal

Agency for International Development (USAID)
Department of State
National Institutes of Health


National Endowment for the Humanities
alerts
Sign up for agency-specific funding alerts:

For assistance, please contact:
Erin Hale
Senior Research Development Officer
[email protected] | 617-496-5252
 
To see previous Social Science Funding Newsletters, please visit our email archive.

Research Development | RAS | research.fas.harvard.edu