Funding Opportunities

Online Lists of Grants and Foundations

Organizations and Opportunities

NOTE: Some of these opportunities’ deadlines have already passed. However, the information is still made available for the possibility of funding next year.

American Association of University Women

AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research

American Fellowship: Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowships

Type of project: Research
Description: American Fellowships support women doctoral candidates completing dissertations or scholars seeking funds for postdoctoral research leave from accredited institutions. Candidates are evaluated on the basis of scholarly excellence, teaching experience, and active commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities, professions, or fields of research.
Research topics: Postdoctoral fellowships are available in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: For women who will have earned a doctoral degree by Nov. 15, 2009. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

American Fellowship: Summer/Short-Term Research Publication Grants

Type of project: Preparing research for publication
Description: Same as above
Research topics: Fund women college and university faculty and independent researchers to prepare research for publication; however, funds cannot be used for undertaking research.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Applicants may be tenure track, part-time, or temporary faculty or new or established scholars and researchers at universities. Applicants must have received their doctorates by the application deadline. Scholars with strong publishing records should seek other funding.

International Fellowships

Type of project: Research
Description: International Fellowships are awarded for full-time study or research in the United States to women who are not United States citizens or permanent residents. Both graduate and postgraduate study at accredited institutions are supported. Several fellowships are available for study outside of the U.S.
Canadian Studies Grant Program

The Canadian Government provides support for teaching, research, conferences and program activities that further the knowledge and understanding of Canada in the United States.

Conference Grant Program

Type of project: Conference + publications
Description: The Canada Conference Grant Program supports conferences that address important and timely issues about Canada, its relationship with the United States, and its international affairs. The Conference Grant is designed to assist an institution in holding a conference and publishing the resulting papers and proceedings in a scholarly fashion. We welcome conferences that engage local government representatives, NGOs, the business sector, students and the general public as well as promote linkages with Canadian academics and institutions.
Research topics: Topics that are highly relevant to Canada-U.S. relations include smart and secure borders; North American economic competitiveness; regulatory cooperation; Canada-U.S. trade and investment partnership; energy security and sustainability; environmental sustainability; emergency planning and management; Canada-U.S. security and defense cooperation; Canada in Afghanistan; global health policy; and changing demographics in North America. We strongly encourage projects that include collaboration with researchers at Canadian institutions.

Program Enhancement Grant

Type of project: Research + consulting
Description: The Program Enhancement Grant is designed to encourage scholarly inquiry and multidisciplinary professional academic activities that contribute to the development or expansion of a program dedicated to the study of Canada or Canada-U.S. relations.
Research topics: We are particularly interested in innovative projects that promote awareness among students and the public about Canada and Canada-U.S. relations. We strongly encourage programs that foster student mobility (exchanges, study tours, internships, scholarships) to Canada and that promote institutional linkages and research collaboration in priority areas with Canadian institutions.
Timeline: The program begins August 2, 2010, and ends August 31, 2011

Research Grant Program

Type of project: Research
Description: The Research Grant Program promotes research that contributes to a better knowledge and understanding of Canada, its relationship with the United States, and its international affairs. The grant is designed to assist individual scholars, or a team of scholars, in writing an article-length manuscript of publishable quality and reporting their findings in a scholarly publication and at scholarly conferences, thus contributing to the development of expertise on Canada in the United States.
Research topics: Topics that are highly relevant to Canada-U.S. relations include smart and secure borders; North American economic competitiveness; regulatory cooperation; Canada-U.S. trade and investment partnership; energy security and sustainability; environmental sustainability; emergency planning and management; Canada-U.S. security and defense cooperation; Canada in Afghanistan; global health policy; and changing demographics in North America. We strongly encourage projects that include collaboration with researchers at Canadian institutions.

Faculty Enrichment Program

Type of project: Course development
Description: The Faculty Enrichment Program (Course Development) provides faculty members an opportunity to develop or update a course(s) with substantial Canadian content that will be offered as part of their regular teaching load. We encourage proposals that include one or more of the following components: the use of internet technology to enhance existing courses, including the creation of instructional Web sites and interactive technologies; course development projects that include a study component in Canada, providing students first-hand learning experience; and joint programs and courses with Canadian universities.
Research topics: We are particularly interested in projects that have policy relevance for Canada and Canada-U.S. relations. Topics that are highly relevant to Canada-U.S. relations include smart and secure borders; North American economic competitiveness; regulatory cooperation; Canada-U.S. trade and investment partnership; energy security and sustainability; environmental sustainability; emergency planning and management; Canada-U.S. security and defense cooperation; Canada in Afghanistan; global health policy; and changing demographics in North America.
Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation is committed to achieving lasting change that transforms people’s lives. Through our grant making, we support innovative thinkers, leaders and organizations that are working to reduce poverty and injustice and to promote democratic values, free expression and human achievement. When making grants, we think about long-term strategies, knowing that lasting social change requires decades of effort. And because our mission is broad and our resources are limited, we carefully target our support so it can be used most effectively and leverage the greatest amount of impact.

Research topics: Reforming Global Financial Governance, Advancing Economic and Social Rights, Ensuring Good Jobs and Access To Services, Promoting the Next Generation Workforce Strategies, Building Economic Security Over A Lifetime, Improving Access To Financial Services, and Expanding Livelihood Opportunities For Poor Households.
Deadline: We do not have submission deadlines. Applications are considered throughout the year.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: The vast majority of Ford Foundation grants go to organizations. Historically, we have provided a very limited number of fellowship opportunities for individuals, focusing on advanced degrees in areas of interest to the foundation. When available, recipients are selected by universities and other organizations that receive grants from the foundation to support fellowships.
Fulbright

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”

US Scholars: Core Fulbright Scholar Program

Type of project: Lecture and/or research
Description: The core Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year.
Research topics: Wide variety of academic and professional fields.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Certain requirements specified in award description. US citizen, a PhD or equivalent professional/terminal degree, college or university teaching experience, foreign language proficiency

US Scholars: New Century Scholars Program

Type of project: Multidisciplinary research
Description: The program description for 2010-2011 is to be determined. 2009-2010 theme is “The University as Innovation Driver and Knowledge Center”. NCS will provide a platform for scholars from the US and around the world to engage in debate and dialogue based on multidisciplinary research and to develop new global models for understanding the social context within which nations and communities shape their responses to the many challenges of the 21st century. While NCS Scholars’ pursuit of individual research objectives will be intrinsic to a collaborative and comparative analysis of the issues elaborated by the program, prospective applicants should be advised that NCS is not the best vehicle for conducting a traditional research project. Under the guidance of an appointed Distinguished Scholar Leader, NCS Scholars will be challenged to move beyond their individual research and to engage in collaborative, multidisciplinary examination of the announced topic.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: US citizen, a PhD or equivalent terminal degree in a relevant field if an academic applicant

US Scholars: Fulbright Specialist Program

Type of project: Short-term consulting
Description: The program is designed to award grants to qualified U.S. faculty and professionals, in select disciplines, to engage in short-term collaborative 2 to 6 week projects at higher education institutions in over 100 countries worldwide. Project activities focus on the strengthening and development needs of higher education institutions and do not fund personal research. Eligible activities include teacher training, short-term lecturing, conducting seminars, special conferences or workshops, as well as collaborating on curriculum planning, institutional and/or faculty development.
Research topic: Business Administration and Economics with several concentrations
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: US citizen, a PhD + minimum of five years of post-doctoral teaching or professional experience in the field in which you are applying

US Scholars: Fulbright International Education Administrators Program

Type of project: Seminar
Description: The International Education Administrators (IEA) seminars program helps international education professionals and senior higher education officials from the United States create empowering connections with the societal, cultural and higher education systems of other countries. Grantees have the opportunity to learn about the host country’s education system from the inside out as well as establish networks of U.S. and international colleagues. Grantees return with enhanced ability to serve and encourage international students and prospective study-abroad students.
Research topics: Countries involved: Germany, India, Japan, Korea
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: International education professionals and senior university administrators

US Scholars: Fulbright German Studies Seminars

Type of project: Seminar
Description: This opportunity features a two-week seminar in late October / early November for 25 grantees. Each year features a new and engaging topic related to contemporary Germany.
Research topics: 2010 seminar: The German Sozialstaat Re-Visited: A System in Turmoil
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: A Ph.D. or equivalent professional/terminal degree, college or university teaching experience

Non-US Scholars: Core Fulbright Program

Type of project: Lecture and/or research
Description: Individual Fulbright grants are available for scholars from selected countries to conduct research, lecture or pursue combined lecturing and research in the United States. Under the Visiting Fulbright Scholar Program, scholars apply in their home country for Fulbright awards. To determine if your home country participates in the program and/or deadlines, please contact your country’s Fulbright commission or the public affairs section of the U.S. embassy.
Research topics: Contact the specific country’s commission
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Citizenship or permanent resident status qualifying the applicant to hold a valid passport issued in the country in which the application is made, doctoral degree or equivalent professional training or experience at the time of application

Non-US Scholars: New Century Scholars Program

Type of project: Multidisciplinary research
Description: The program description for 2010-2011 is to be determined. 2009-2010 theme is “The University as Innovation Driver and Knowledge Center”. NCS will provide a platform for scholars from the US and around the world to engage in debate and dialogue based on multidisciplinary research and to develop new global models for understanding the social context within which nations and communities shape their responses to the many challenges of the 21st century. While NCS Scholars’ pursuit of individual research objectives will be intrinsic to a collaborative and comparative analysis of the issues elaborated by the program, prospective applicants should be advised that NCS is not the best vehicle for conducting a traditional research project. Under the guidance of an appointed Distinguished Scholar Leader, NCS Scholars will be challenged to move beyond their individual research and to engage in collaborative, multidisciplinary examination of the announced topic.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Non-U.S. applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of and residing in the country from which they are applying at the time of application, a PhD or equivalent terminal degree in a relevant field if an academic applicant

Non-US Scholars: Occasional Lecturer Fund

Type of project: Lecture
Description: The Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) provides travel awards through the Occasional Lecturer Fund, which enable Fulbright Visiting Scholars who are currently in the U.S. to accept guest lecturing invitations at colleges and universities. Occasional Lecturer Fund are granted at three different levels ($250, $500 and $750), which CIES determines based on travel distance involved.
Research topics: Based on university’s needs
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Needs to be a Fulbright Visiting Scholar and need a formal letter of invitation from an institution
German Marshall Fund

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a non-partisan American public policy and grant-making institution dedicated to promoting better understanding and cooperation between North America and Europe on transatlantic and global issues.

European Seminar of the German Ministry of Defense

Type of project: Seminar
Description: The Seminar aims to bring together 30 young leaders from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, and Slovenia to examine German and European security and defense policies. Through discussions with policy makers, the seminar hopes to further a common understanding of a European area of stability, contribute to international understanding, and maintaining good neighborly relations promoting a future-oriented concept of a united Europe.
Research topics: European security and defense policies
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Participants should be between 25 years and 35 years of age at the time of travel and have an outstanding record of achievement in their profession. Their background can be in academia, business, politics, government, or the think tank and NGO world.

Manfred Wörner Seminar

Type of project: Seminar
Description: Begun in 1982 as the Multiplikatoren Seminar (Multiplier Seminar) and co-sponsored by the German Marshall Fund and the Armed Forces Office of the German Defense Ministry, the annual Manfred Wörner Seminar brings together 30 young Americans and Germans to examine German and European security policy and to discuss U.S.-German and U.S.-European security interests. The Seminar serves to deepen understanding between participants from both countries and offers an excellent opportunity to broaden professional networks.
Research topics: Security and defense
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Candidates typically come from national and local governments, the media, business, academia, and the nonprofit sector and are between 25 and 35 years of age at the time of travel. Because the Manfred Wörner Seminar is intended to expand the community of Americans and Germans interested in and knowledgeable about transatlantic relations, preference is given to individuals who have not yet traveled – or have not traveled extensively – to Europe.

Transatlantic Academy Fellowships

Type of project: Research
Description: The Transatlantic Academy is comprised of six scholars – four fellows and two junior fellows. Fellows are in residence at GMF’s Washington office for up to 10 months, and actively participate in a collaborative environment, sharing and discussing their work with each other and Academy guests. Working together from a transatlantic and interdisciplinary perspective, Academy fellows use research, publications, and ideas to make policy-relevant contributions to policy debates facing the transatlantic community
Research topics: 2011-2012 theme: The Competition for Natural Resources: The New Geopolitical Great Game?

Transatlantic Fellows Program

Type of project: Develop programs and initiatives
Description: A critical part of the German Marshall Fund’s capacity to help shape important policy debates between the United States and Europe is its Transatlantic Fellows (TAF) program. Each year GMF invites a small number of senior policy-practitioners, journalists, businesspeople, and academics to develop a range of programs and initiatives and build important networks of policymakers and analysts in the Euroatlantic community.
Research topics: Questions of foreign policy, international security, trade and economic development, immigration, and other topics important to transatlantic cooperation.

Economics Grantmaking

Description: GMF’s Economic Policy Program awards most of its grants on an invitation basis but considers and occasionally funds unsolicited proposals.
Research topics: Proposals have to relate to the programmatic focus of the program in order to be considered.

Immigration & Integration Grantmaking

Type of project: Study team
Description: The GMF Immigration and Integration Program launched an annual, large-scale grantmaking initiative, the Transatlantic Study Teams. Its objective is to link the transatlantic debate on international migration flows with its consequences for sending and receiving regions. Through compiling existing data, policy analysis, and dialogue with policymakers, selected study teams gather facts, convene leading opinion leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, promote open dialogue, and help to advance the policy debate. Study teams are chosen by a competitive selection process, based on the overall quality of their proposal, its policy relevance, institutional strength, sustainability, and potential for synergies.
Research topics: 2009-2010: impact of climate change on migration patterns

Strategic Grantmaking Program

Type of project: Research
Description: The Strategic Grantmaking Program fosters policy research across the range of transatlantic issues. GMF will focus on specific issue areas each year and invite individual proposals to be submitted.
Research topics: Past topics: Italian Institute for International Affairs Strategic Partnership, Bruegel Strategic Partnership
IBM Center for the Business of Government

The IBM Center for The Business of Government connects public management research with practice. Since 1998, we have helped public sector executives improve the effectiveness of government with practical ideas and original thinking. We sponsor independent research by top minds in academe and the non-profit sector, and we create opportunities for dialogue on a broad range of public management topics

Business of Government, Innovation, and Global Issues: Research Stipends

Type of project: Research
Description: The aim of the IBM Center is to tap into the best minds in academe and the nonprofit sector who can use rigorous public management research and analysis to produce reports with practical advice and insight for public sector executives and managers to improve the effectiveness of government. We are looking for very practical findings and recommendations – not just theory or concepts – in order to assist executives and managers to more effectively respond to mission and management challenges.
Research topics: Performance improvement and analysis, implementation of the Recovery Act, workforce transformation, collaboration and management across boundaries, contracting and acquisition, and transparency and participatory democracy, using -Web 2.0 technology.
International Federation of University Women

Mission: promote lifelong education for women and girls; promote international cooperation, friendship, peace and respect for human rights for all; advocate for the advancement of the status of women and girls; and encourage and enable women and girls to apply their knowledge and skills in leadership and decision-making in all forms of public and private life.

The International Federation of University Women offers a limited number of international fellowships and grants to women graduates for postgraduate research, study and training.

IFUW

Many of IFUW’s national affiliates offer fellowships, grants, scholarships and stipends to women and girls for primary and secondary education, undergraduate studies and postgraduate research, study and training. The American Association Education Foundation alone distributes more than two million dollars per year. Many of these awards are restricted to residents of a particular country. Members who are interested should contact our national affiliate in their respective country to ask about funding available for residents.

British Federation Crosby Hall Fellowship

Type of project: Research
Research topics: Students in any branch of learning may apply. However, selection based on some criteria such as: extent to which the specialized knowledge and skills to be acquired will benefit women and girls and originality and feasibility of proposed plan of research, study or training. Fellowships are intended to enhance the original research on which a postgraduate applicant is already engaged. Fellowships are for projects requiring eight to twelve months’ work in a country other than that in which the applicant was educated or habitually resides.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: IFUW international fellowships and grants are open only to women graduates who are members of the International Federation. To be eligible for a fellowship, applicants must have completed the first year of a doctoral degree. Fellowships are offered for the second and subsequent years of a doctoral programme and for post-doctoral studies.

CFUW/A. Vibert Douglas International Fellowship

Type of project: Research
Research topics: same as Crosby Hall Fellowship
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Same as Crosby Hall Fellowship

Ida Smedley MacLean International Fellowship

Type of project: Research
Research topics: same as Crosby Hall Fellowship
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Same as Crosby Hall Fellowship

NZFGW Daphne Purves International Grants

Type of project: Research
Research topics: Students in any branch of learning may apply. However, selection based on some criteria such as: extent to which the specialized knowledge and skills to be acquired will benefit women and girls and originality and feasibility of proposed plan of research, study or training. Grants are awarded for specialized training, independent research, or to assist in the completion of a postgraduate degree. Proposals will require at least two months’ work in a country other than that in which the applicant was educated or habitually resides.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Same as Crosby Hall Fellowship

Winifred Cullis Grants

Type of project: Research
Research topics: Same as NZFGW
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Same as Crosby Hall Fellowship. Grants are offered for any postgraduate programme.

Dorothy Leet Grants

Type of project: Research
Research topics: same as NZFGW
Specific eligibility requirements: Reserved for women graduates from countries with a comparatively low per capita income and for those who either wish to work as experts in these countries or whose research is of value to such countries. Grants are offered for any postgraduate programme.

National Affiliates

Association française des Femmes Diplômées des Universités

Type of project: Research
Description: Can be used of post-doctorate work. Preference given to overseas research.
Research topics: Interested in projects in disciplines with few women such as science (information technologies, math, physics) and economies (finance, political science…)
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: The candidate can be a French student studying overseas or an international student studying in France. She must be associated with FIFDU of her country of origin and be under the age of 40.

Japanese Association of University Women

Type of project: Research
Description: For independent research or advanced study on the post-graduate level in Japan.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Open to citizens of a country other than Japan with an academic degree equivalent to a bachelor’s degree, undertaking research or study in Japan for not less than three months between September 15, 2010 and March 31, 2011. Applicants must have a plan of study or research which will advance the applicant’s professional competence and which must be carried out in Japan. The applicant must be accepted by a Japanese institution at which she propses to undertake study/research.

Indian Federation of University Women’s Associations: Amy Rustomjee International Scholarship

Type of project: Research
Description: Scholarship for advanced research
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Open to women with post-graduate degrees and proof of ability to carry out research in Bombay, India. Recipient is provided free accommodation and partially free board in the Women Graduates Union’s hostel for working women. In addition a small cash stipend is provided. The award does not cover travel or any other incidental expenses.

Indian Federation of University Women’s Associations: Sarojini Naidu Memorial Scholarship

Type of project: Research
Description: Scholarship for post-graduate study or research, designed to promote the exchange of scholars between India and other countries, to foster better international understanding, and to promote studies on Indian culture and other areas
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Open to women who are first class graduates of recognized universities and who qualify for study or research work at the post-graduate level in Delhi, India, in the humanities or social sciences with special reference to India.

Norwegian Federation of University Women: Ellen Gleditsch Fellowship

Type of project: Research
Description: Fellowship supporting independent research or advanced studies by women at the post-graduate/doctoral level.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: The fellowship is tenable at any Norwegian or other approved research institution in Norway. If the fellowship is awarded to a Norwegian, it may be tenable at a university or approved institution abroad. The competition is open to women who hold an academic degree equivalent to a Master's. A working knowledge of English is required. Preference will be given to applicants who are already in a research situation. When applicants are of equal ability, preference will be given to members of a national federation or association affiliated to IFUW.

South African Association of Women Graduates

Type of project: Research
Description: To enable a non-South African post-graduate woman student to undertake research in South Africa.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Open only to non-South African woman graduates; research must be undertaken in South Africa, not necessarily at a South African university; travel expenses not included.

2010 Faculty for the Future Fellowships

Type of project: Research
Description: The long-term goal of the Faculty for the Future program is to generate conditions that result in more women pursuing scientific disciplines. Grant recipients are therefore selected as much for their leadership capabilities as for their scientific talents, and they are expected to return to their home countries to continue their academic careers and inspire other young women.
Research topics: One award was given to someone completing a PhD in Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Women from developing and emerging economies to pursue advanced PHD or postdoctoral study in the physical sciences, engineering and related disciplines at top universities in their disciplines abroad.

Fellowship for Women Scholar-Practitioners

Type of project: Research
Description: The goal of the program is twofold: to advance the scholarly careers of women social scientists from the developing world, and to support research that identifies causes of gender inequity in the developing world and that proposes practical solutions for promoting women’s economic and social empowerment.
Research topics: Work addresses women’s economic and social empowerment in the candidate’s nation. Projects that identify causes of and/or solutions to gender inequity in the developing world, and thus contribute to women’s social and economic empowerment, will be favored. Sample topics include education and socialization of girls; globalization and the economic status of women; policies and practices toward family, reproduction, and women’s health; impacts of international and civil conflict on women; women’s roles in resolving such conflicts or sustaining civil society; media representations of women and the formation of ideologies of gender; the practice and process of gender-based development; and women in science and technology. SAR will select fellows on the strength of their clearly stated intention to serve their communities and countries of origin.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Applicants may not be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and must be a national of a developing country that is currently eligible to borrow from the World Bank.
International Research & Exchanges Board

IREX is an international nonprofit organization providing leadership and innovative programs to improve the quality of education, strengthen independent media, and foster pluralistic civil society development.

Individual Advanced Research Opportunities Program (IARO)

Type of project: Research
Description: Provides students, scholars and professionals with support to perform policy relevant field research, in the countries of Eastern Europe and Eurasia
Research topics: Topics vital to both the academic and policy-making communities

Policy-Connect Collaborative Research Grants

Type of project: Research
Description: The Policy-Connect Program provides fellowships to US scholars and professionals for overseas research on contemporary political, economic, historical, or cultural developments relevant to US foreign policy.
Research topics: Lesser-studied regions such as the Balkans, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, where issues central to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States must be studied.

Short-Term Travel Grants Program

Type of project: Field research
Description: The Short-Term Travel Grants Program (STG) is a flexible fellowship offering support to postdoctoral scholars and professionals to conduct research in Eastern Europe and Eurasia on issues relevant to the U.S. Government. Because STG supports research for a maximum of eight weeks, fellows have the ability to conduct shorter research trips without significantly affecting their teaching and work schedules.
Research topics: Eligible countries of research: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…” With an annual budget of about $6.9 billion (FY 2010), we are the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America’s colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.

Decision, Risk, and Management Sciences (DRMS)

Type of project: Disciplinary and interdisciplinary research and workshops
Description: The Decision, Risk and Management Sciences program supports scientific research directed at increasing the understanding and effectiveness of decision making by individuals, groups, organizations, and society. The program also supports small grants that are time-critical and small grants that are high-risk and of a potentially transformative nature. Funded research must be grounded in theory and generalizable.
Research topics: Areas of study: judgment and decision making; decision analysis and decision aids; risk analysis, perception, and communication; societal and public policy decision making; management science and organizational design.
Submission Process: Full proposals can be submitted through: FastLane, Grants.gov, RAPID, EAGER. Refer to end of section for more information.

Economics

Type of project: Individual or multi-investigator research projects, conferences, workshops, symposia, experimental research, data collection and dissemination, computer equipment and other instrumentation, and research experience for undergraduates
Description: The Economics program supports research designed to improve the understanding of the processes and institutions of the U.S. economy and of the world system of which it is a part. The program also funds conferences and interdisciplinary research that strengthens links among economics and the other social and behavioral sciences as well as mathematics and statistics.
Research topics: It supports research in almost every area of economics, including econometrics, economic history, environmental economics, finance, industrial organization, international economics, labor economics, macroeconomics, mathematical economics, and public finance. The program places a high priority on interdisciplinary research.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: The program places a high priority on broadening participation and encourages proposals from junior faculty, women, other underrepresented minorities, Research Undergraduate Institutions, and EPSCoR states.
Submission Process: Full proposals can be submitted through: FastLane, Grants.gov. Refer to end of section for more information.

Environment, Society, and the Economy

Type of project: Research
Description: The Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) and the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) seek to encourage productive interdisciplinary collaborations between the geosciences and the social, behavioral, and economic sciences by augmenting funding for interdisciplinary research related to Environment, Society, and the Economy within existing NSF programs.
Research topics: Interdisciplinary research teams must include researchers from both the geosciences and the social, behavioral, and economic sciences who are collaborating in ways that advance theoretical understandings and/or methods in both the GEO and SBE communities. While projects must involve researchers in the geosciences and social and behavioral sciences, they may also include researchers from other disciplines and be jointly reviewed by programs in other directorates.

Innovation and Organizational Sciences

Type of project: Research methods may span a broad variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, including (but not limited to) archival analyses, surveys, simulation studies, experiments, comparative case studies, and network analyses.
Description: The Innovation and Organizational Sciences (IOS) program supports scientific research directed at advancing understanding of innovation and organizational phenomena. Levels of analysis may include (but are not limited to) individuals, groups and/or institutional arrangements. Research may involve industrial, educational, service, government, not-for-profits, voluntary organizations or interorganizational arrangements. IOS-funded research must be grounded in theory and generalizable. It must advance our scientific understanding of innovation and organizations. Scientific inquiries that are relevant to real problems and organizations in generalizable ways are encouraged. Proposals that aim to implement or evaluate innovations or particular organizational changes rather than to advance fundamental, generalizable knowledge about innovation and organizations are not appropriate for IOS.
Research topics: Disciplinary perspectives may include (but are not limited to) organization theory, organizational behavior, organizational sociology, social and industrial psychology, public administration, computer and information sciences, complexity sciences, decision and management sciences.
Submission Process: Full proposals can be submitted through: FastLane, Grants.gov. Refer to end of section for more information.

Interface between Computer Science and Economics & Social Science

Type of project: Research
Description: This program seeks innovative research at this interdisciplinary boundary, including both projects that use computational thinking for economic and social decision problems and/or ideas from economics and other social sciences for computing and communication systems and multi-agents systems. Computational economics research involving simulation and modeling of economic systems is not appropriate for this program.

Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics

Type of project: Research
Description: MMS seeks proposals that are methodologically innovative, grounded in theory, and have potential utility for multiple fields within the social and behavioral sciences. As part of its larger portfolio, the MMS Program partners with a consortium of federal statistical agencies to support research proposals that further the development of new and innovative approaches to surveys and to the analysis of survey data.
Description: The Methodology, Measurement, and Statistics (MMS) Program is an interdisciplinary program in the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences that supports the development of innovative analytical and statistical methods and models for those sciences.
Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation envisions a world with Smart Globalization – a world in which globalization’s benefits are more widely shared and social, economic, health, and environmental challenges are more easily weathered. We support work that enables individuals, communities, and institutions to access new tools, practices, resources, services, and products. And we support work that enhances their resilience in the face of acute crises and chronic stresses, whether manmade, ecological, or both. This is our 21st century interpretation of the Foundation’s pioneering – and enduring – philanthropic mission to “promote the well-being” of humanity

Social & Economic Security Initiative

Description: We promote plans and policies to reinforce social safety nets, reinvigorate citizenship and reimagine regulatory, legal and policy frameworks. In the last few years, people around the globe have experienced greater economic insecurity than many of us have seen since the Great Depression. Large and small employers alike are cutting back on jobs and benefits, government does not guarantee a safety net for all, and a growing number of workers at all levels are unable to pay for their homes, adequate food, or healthcare costs, not to mention being able to save for retirement and old age. Inequality is widening.
Research topics: 1. Protecting American Workers’ Economic Security: Campaign for American Workers, 2. Advancing Innovation Processes to Solve Social Problems, 3. Harnessing the Power of Impact Investing

Basic Survival Safeguards

Description: We increase food security, effective water and soil protection practices, affordable, sustainable housing, and access to modern infrastructure.
Research topics: 1. Strengthening Food Security: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

Global Health

Description: We benefit people in developing countries by creating affordable, equitable high-quality health systems.
Research topics: 1. Linking Global Disease Surveillance Networks, 2. Transforming Health Systems

Climate & Environment

Description: We develop services and strategies to protect those with the least means from an imperiled environment and changing global climate.
Research topics: 1. Developing Climate Change Resilience, 2. Harnessing the Power of Impact Investing

Urbanization

Description: We shape innovations in planning, finance, governance, and infrastructure to manage a rapidly urbanizing world.
Research topics: 1. Promoting Equitable, Sustainable Transportation
Santa Fe Institute

The Santa Fe Institute is a private, not-for-profit, independent research and education center founded in 1984, for multidisciplinary collaborations in the physical, biological, computational, and social sciences. Understanding of complex adaptive systems is critical to addressing key environmental, technological, biological, economic, and political challenges.

Omidyar Postdoctoral Fellow Opportunities

Type of project: Research
Description: Fellows are appointed for up to three years during which they pursue research questions of their own design and are encouraged to transcend disciplinary lines. SFI’s unique structure and resources enable Fellows to collaborate with members of the SFI faculty, other Fellows, and researchers from around the world
Research topics: As the leader in multidisciplinary research, SFI has no formal programs or departments and we accept applications from any field. Research topics span the full range of natural and social sciences and often make connections with the humanities.
Specific eligibility requirements / preferences: Candidates must have recently received a Ph.D. (or expect to receive one by September 2010), an exemplary academic record, and a proven ability to work independently. We expect a demonstrated interest in multidisciplinary research and evidence of the ability to think outside traditional paradigms. Applications are welcome from candidates in any country. Successful foreign applicants must acquire an acceptable visa (usually a J-1) as a condition of employment. Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply.
Sloan Industry Studies

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation believes that a theory-based, empirically-tested understanding of the U.S. economy is essential to improving the American quality of life. The Foundation funds grants for high-quality original research that promise to broaden that understanding or use it to improve American institutions. Grants in the Economic Performance and Quality of Life program have expanded our knowledge of how particular industries function, encouraged better communication and cooperation between citizens and their local governments, and focused scholarly and public attention on the issues and challenges faced by contemporary working families.

Economic Institutions and Quality of Life

Type of project: Research
Description: Grants in the Economic Institutions, Behavior and Performance program primarily support basic empirical and policy-relevant research in economics, management, regulation, law, and political economy related to the structure, behavior and performance of the U.S. economy and its place in the global economy. Grants are also made to convey the results of this research to policymakers in ways that are useful to them.
Research topics: Current areas of focus: financial market performance and regulation, regulatory mechanisms to improve consumer decision-making, corporate governance, globalization and the U.S. economy, energy markets and regulation, health care financing and management, and the effects of government policy on innovation and productivity growth

Federal Statistics

Type of project: Could involve research
Description: The Federal Statistics program makes grants to improve the conceptual underpinnings of federal statistics, especially economic statistics. Grants in this program promote sustainable mechanisms by which expertise might be applied to improve the validity of federal statistical measures, in view of rapid changes in the U.S. economy and society that have brought existing measurement approaches into doubt

Science and Engineering Work Force

Type of project: Research
Description: The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s program on the Science and Engineering Work Force supports the development and assembly of objective data and basic facts about the U.S. labor market in science and engineering. Leading researchers are developing information and analyses on temporary workers, graduate students, postdoctoral students, and part-time or adjunct faculty.
Research topics: Ideas of proposals: improve development and assembly of objective data and basic facts, assess the potential of Web-based survey technologies to enhance knowledge, and approach, in a thoughtful manner, new ways to understand and study the structure and function of the science and engineering work force.

Workplace, Work Force, and Working Families

Type of project: Includes research
Description: In this program, the Foundation makes grants that seek to enhance scholarly, business, and public understanding of the challenges facing today’s working families and to identify how the workplace can be restructured to meet employees’ work-family needs, as well as employers’ performance needs.
Research topics: Research on the challenges facing today’s working families, as well as the efficacy of business and policy responses to these challenges.
Strategy Research Foundation

The Strategy Research Foundation (SRF), an independent, nonprofit corporation and public charity initiated by the Strategic Management Society, exists to support the generation, retention, and dissemination of new knowledge in the field of strategic management. Support, primarily in the form of research grants, will be provided to academic researchers in order to leverage their research or attract them to problems and issues defined by the SRF. The research supported will be by those individuals or groups who respond to requests for proposals generated by the SRF and who succeed in a competitive application process.

Type of projects: Research that is one of the following: qualitative, quantitative, conceptual, empirical, literature reviews, etc.
Description: The SRF funds new strategic management research related to the start-up, growth, and survival of organizations.
Research topics: Two broad classes of research activity are supported. The first class is topic oriented, with topic selection governed by the needs of the field as seen by competent and experienced experts. These topic-oriented requests for proposals will be confined in scope and immediate in need. The other class is broader in scope and lengthier in time. This research is more of a ‘program’ composed of several coordinated, invited research projects intended to significantly practice, teaching, and/or research in strategy