BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards*
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: not required for grants awarded directly to individuals
Sponsor Nomination Deadline: June 30, 2021
Award Amount: 400,000 euros, a diploma, and a commemorative artwork

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards recognize fundamental contributions in a broad array of areas of scientific knowledge, technology, humanities, and artistic creation. The disciplines and domains of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards are:

• Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics)
• Biology and Biomedicine
• Information and Communication Technologies
• Ecology and Conservation Biology
• Climate Change
• Economics, Finance and Management
• Humanities
• Music and Opera

Any scientific or cultural organization or institution may nominate more than one candidate, but no candidate may be nominated in more than one award category. The awards are also open to scientific or cultural organizations that can be collectively credited with exceptional contributions. Candidates may be of any nationality. Self-nomination is not permitted.

Brain Research Foundation: Scientific Innovations Award*
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: May 3, 2021
Sponsor LOI Deadline (if nominated): June 24, 2021
Award Amount: Up to $150,000 in total direct costs for a two year grant period. Please note that this sponsor does not allow proposers to budget for indirect costs, which falls short of the 15% overhead required by FAS/SEAS policy. Please discuss options to recover the shortfall with your grants administrator before preparing an application.

Target Applicants: Applicant must be an Associate Professor or Full Professor working in the area of brain function in health and disease; have major NIH or other peer-reviewed funding in the past three years, though current support is preferred; and propose a new research project that is not funded by other sources.

The Brain Research Foundation’s Scientific Innovations Award Program provides funding for innovative science in both basic and clinical neuroscience. This funding mechanism supports creative, exploratory, cutting edge research in well-established research laboratories under the direction of established investigators. Studies should be related to either normal human brain development or specifically identified disease states. This includes molecular and clinical neuroscience as well as studies of neural, sensory, motor, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning in health and disease. It is expected that investigations supported by these grants will yield high impact findings and result in major grant applications and significant publications in high impact journals. Complete guidelines for the 2022 award cycle are available on the Brain Research Foundation website.

Please Note: This is a limited submission opportunity and Harvard may put forward only one nominee to submit a LOI to the sponsor. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research will conduct the internal competition to select the Harvard nominee. To be considered for the Harvard nomination, potential applicants must submit an internal pre-proposal via the link above.

The Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood is an incubator of promising research and development projects that appear likely to improve the welfare of young children, from infancy through 7 years, in the United States. Welfare is broadly defined to include physical and mental health, safety, nutrition, education, play, familial support, acculturation, societal integration and childcare. 

Grants are only made if a successful project outcome will likely be of significant interest to other professionals, within the grantee’s field of endeavor, and would have a direct benefit and potential national application. The Foundation’s goal is to provide seed money to implement those imaginative proposals that exhibit the greatest chance of improving the lives of young children, on a national scale. Because of the Foundation’s limited funding capability, it seeks to maximize a grant's potential impact. The Foundation provides funding in the following areas:

• Early Childhood Welfare
• Early Childhood Education and Play
• Parenting Education

Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices is a national grant competition administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) for digitizing rare and unique content stewarded by collecting organizations in the US and Canada. In 2021, the call for applications will focus on projects that propose to digitize materials that deepen public understanding of the histories of people of color and other communities and populations whose work, experiences, and perspectives have been insufficiently recognized or unattended. The program coheres around five core values:

• Public Knowledge: The program fuels the creation and dissemination of digitized special collections and archives as a public good. 
• Broad Representation: The program supports digitization projects that will thoughtfully capture and share the untapped stories of people, communities, and populations who are underrepresented in digital collections in ways that contribute to a more complete understanding of human history.
• Authentic Partnerships: The program prioritizes projects that foreground meaningful engagement with the underserved communities whose stories the source materials tell, and that build inclusive teams across institutional and geographic boundaries.
• Sustainable Infrastructures: The program promotes forward-thinking strategies ensuring the long-term availability, discoverability, and interconnectedness of digitized content.
• Community-Centered Access: The program advocates for approaches to access, description, and outreach that make digitized content as widely available and useful as possible within legal and ethical constraints, centering digital inclusion and respect for materials’ local contexts.

The Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah offers doctoral, post-doctoral and research travel grants. The Foundation funds research on Holocaust-related topics, including its roots and its consequences to the present day, and the study of contemporary anti-Semitism. It also backs research on other 20^th-century genocides. The Foundation gives precedence to projects that open up new fields of knowledge and take an original approach, especially if it draws upon comparative history. It also attaches importance to European, international and interdisciplinary perspectives that combine historical, anthropological, sociological, legal, philosophical, psychological or literary analyses. Projects involving the French aspects of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust and/or young researchers will receive particular attention.

The funding program is designed to be interdisciplinary and to facilitate projects in which there are varied dimensions to the examination of abandoned cities. At the same time, there should be a focus on causal correlations, both with regard to specific individual cultures and spanning all cultures, and on specifics of place and time. Thus far, such places have emerged for very different reasons, including military destruction, natural disasters, epidemics, environmental pollution, economic collapse, financial speculation, mobility, migration, centralization, deindustrialization, or post-colonial change, to name but a few.

The aim of the program is to describe the tangible cultures of interpretation, knowledge and perception within these different contexts. Lost Cities are part of a distinct culture of memory, for example, which serves for the negotiation of identities, the preservation of knowledge cultures, the formulation of criticism of progress, or the construction of mythical or sacral topographies as part of a veritable “ruin cult.” On this basis, the focus here should not be on the question of which factors led to the city’s abandonment. Rather, it is the abandoned cities themselves that are of particular interest, as well as the different forms of their interpretation, instrumentalization, and coding in various cultures and time frames.

• Grants for Libraries: Grant proposals will be considered generally for resource Endowments (for example, print, film, electronic database, speakers/workshops), capital construction and capital equipment. Projects fostering broader public access to global information sources utilizing collaborative efforts, pioneering technologies and equipment are encouraged.
• Grants for Educational Institutions: Grant proposals from universities, colleges and secondary schools will be considered generally for: educational endowments to fund scholarships based solely on educational achievements, leadership and academic ability of the student (note: need-based scholarships are not within the Foundation's mission); endowments to support fellowships and teaching chairs for educators who confine their activities primarily to classroom instruction in the liberal arts, mathematics and the sciences during the academic year; erection or endowment of buildings, wings of or additions to buildings; equipment for educational purposes; and capital equipment for educational purposes.  

Much of the current understanding of behavior is derived from experimental laboratory work that makes substantive conceptual and methodological assumptions during task selection and data acquisition. Cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience experiments are typically pursued in artificial environments with subjects drawn from narrowly defined populations performing tasks assumed to be valid proxies for real cognition and behavior. As a result, these experiments may not reflect the naturally occurring, free-flowing behaviors humans engage in their everyday lives. It is reasonable to ask how much has been missed or ignored because researchers’ experimental designs are based on pre-selected and specific aspects of cognition and behavior deemed to be of interest prior to the study. What more might be learned by challenging preconceived notions and common assumptions about cognition and behavior by advancing new theories and by using methods where it is possible to observe what behavior looks like in every day, real-world, dynamic contexts? With the Opportunity Awards, the James S. McDonnell Foundation is seeking to fund projects leading to new conceptual and empirical studies of cognition and behavior that:

• recognize the dynamic nature of cognition and behavior,
• are situated in real world contexts,
• cross levels of analysis,
• unite traditionally separate domains of inquiry (e.g. vision and speech),
• embrace complexity, and
• consider how behavior is influenced by interactions among individuals.

JSMF is encouraging researchers to pursue important questions using conceptual and methodological approaches that takes seriously the trajectories, biological and experiential, contributing to the ongoing development of cognition and behavior occurring across the lifespan. Individual projects need not cover the full human life span but the reasons for focusing on specific age ranges for study should be fully articulated. Research plans that only propose to document task performance of subjects at different ages (e.g., comparing 15-year-old subjects to 60-year-old subjects) are not responsive to the call for proposals.

• Interventional trials; translational studies; and health services and policy research
• Projects that build on the investigator’s past studies
• Proposals that include robust dissemination plans, if appropriate, to assure that findings reach audiences positioned to act on them

The Russell Sage Foundation will accept letters of inquiry (LOIs) under these core programs and special initiatives: Behavioral Economics; Decision Making & Human Behavior in Context; Future of Work; and Social, Political and Economic Inequality. In addition, RSF will also accept LOIs relevant to any of its core programs that address at least one of the following issues:

1. Research on the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting recession in the U.S.: Specifically, research that assesses the social, political, economic, and psychological causes and consequences of the pandemic, especially its effects on marginalized individuals and groups and on trust in government and other institutions. RSF's priorities do not include analyses of health outcomes or health behaviors. RSF seldom supports studies focused on outcomes such as educational processes or curricular issues, but does prioritize analyses of inequities in educational attainment or student performance. 
2. Research focused on systemic racial inequality and/or the recent mass protests in the U.S.: Specifically, research that investigates the prevalence of racial disparities in policing and criminal justice and their social, political, economic, and psychological causes and consequences; the effects of the current social protest movement and mass mobilization against systemic discrimination; the nature of public attitudes and public policies regarding policing, criminal justice, and social welfare; and the effects of those attitudes in the current political environment. 

LOIs must include specific information about the proposed data and research design. If you are unsure about the foundation's expectations, we strongly recommend that you review the grant writing guidelines on our website and also view an instructional webinar. Successful proposals from this round can have a start date on or after December 1, 2021.

• Tax and budget policy
• Cost-benefit analysis of regulatory practices and proposals
• The workings of the legal system
• Environmental policy
• Social welfare reform
• K-12 and higher education policy

• AHA Fellowship in Aerospace History
• AHA Fellowship in the History of Space Technology
• HSS Fellowship in Aerospace History

Proposals for the Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship should be far enough into development or execution to present specific, compelling evidence that they will successfully engage the intended public. Strong proposals will show evidence of both the overall strategy and the practical plan to implement the proposed project. Relationships with key collaborators should already be deeply developed, and, in some cases, the nominee and collaborators may have tested the idea in a pilot, or the project itself may already be underway. Nominees may propose to direct funds however will best meet the needs of the project. Funding may not be used to cover indirect costs of administering the program. The Foundation anticipates awarding up to seven Fellowships in this cycle.

The Public Engagement Seed Grant supports projects at a somewhat early stage of development, before the nominee has been able to establish a specific track record of success for the proposed public-facing work. It is not, however, designed for projects starting entirely from scratch: nominees should have fleshed out a compelling vision, including a clear sense of whose collaboration will be required and the ultimate scope and outcomes. They should also have articulated specific short-term next steps required to advance the project and understand the resources required to complete them. The Foundation anticipates that a recipient might use the grant, for example, to test the project on a smaller scale or to engage deeply in planning with collaborators or the intended public. The Foundation anticipates awarding up to 10 Seed Grants in this cycle.

• Research Grants on Reducing Inequality - The Foundation seeks studies to build, test, and increase understanding of responses to inequality in youth outcomes.
• Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence - The Foundation seeks studies about how to improve the use of research evidence in ways that benefit youth.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission seeks proposals to publish documentary editions of historical records. The NHPRC especially welcomes projects that focus on broad historical movements in U.S. history, such as law (including the social and cultural history of the law), politics, social reform, business, military, the arts, and other aspects of the national experience, including any aspect of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American history.  Projects may also center on the papers of major figures from American history.

The Commission is especially interested in projects to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The NHPRC encourages applications that use collections to examine the ideals behind the founding of the United States and the continual interpretation and debate over those ideals over the past 250 years. The NHPRC welcomes projects that engage the public, expand civic education, and promote understanding of the nation’s history, democracy, and culture from the founding era to the present day.

National Science Foundation: Dear Colleague Letter: Interdisciplinary Frontiers of Understanding the Brain

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: N/A
Sponsor Deadline for Requests for Information: March 31, 2021
Award Amount: N/A

Exciting new opportunities at the interface of neuroscience and other science and engineering disciplines, catalyzed by transformative new discoveries and technologies, are poised to reshape brain research and its applications. Advances at these interdisciplinary frontiers depend on dialogue across many areas of scholarship, including behavioral, biological, cognitive, computing, educational, engineering, mathematical, and physical sciences research, as well as fields and subfields that have not traditionally been linked to neuroscience. The National Science Foundation seeks community input that illuminates these interdisciplinary opportunities, from theory to applications, and points to how they might best be realized. Specific questions are outlined in the Dear Colleague letter linked above. To respond to this RFI, please use the official submission form available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LQBPS6S.

The goal of Future Manufacturing is to support fundamental research and education of a future workforce to overcome scientific, technological, educational, economic, and social barriers in order to enable new manufacturing capabilities that do not exist today. Future Manufacturing will require major advances in technologies and algorithms for the synthesis and production of new materials, chemicals, devices, components, and systems of assured quality with high yield at reasonable cost. It will require new advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, new cyber infrastructure, new approaches for mathematical and computational modeling, new dynamics and control methodologies, new ways to integrate systems biology, synthetic biology and bioprocessing, and new ways to influence the economy, workforce, human behavior, and society.

Future Manufacturing requires creative convergence approaches in science, technology and innovation, empirical validation, and education and workforce development to address pressing challenges for manufacturing. At the same time, Future Manufacturing can leverage highly integrated physical, digital, and social frameworks that underpin society to enable manufacturing that addresses urgent social challenges such as global health disparities, economic and social divides, infrastructure deficits of marginalized populations and communities, and environmental sustainability. Cross-disciplinary partnerships among scientists, engineers, social and behavioral economists, and experts in arts and humanities may be required to provide solutions that are equitable and inclusive.

National Science Foundation: Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier: Core Research (FW-HTF)

FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: March 16, 2021
Sponsor Deadline: March 23, 2021
Award Amount: up to $150,000 over up to 1 year (Planning Grants); $750,000 to $2,500,000 over up to 4 years (Research Grants); $1,500,000 and $5,000,000 over up to 5 years

The overarching vision of this program is to support multi-disciplinary research to sustain economic competitiveness, to promote worker well-being, lifelong and pervasive learning, and quality of life, and to illuminate the emerging social and economic context and drivers of innovations that are shaping the future of jobs and work. For the purposes of this solicitation, work is defined as mental or physical activity to achieve tangible benefit such as income, profit, or community welfare. A proposal for a research grant in this program must focus on advancing fundamental understanding of future work and work outcomes for workers and society.

The specific objectives of the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program are to (1) facilitate multi-disciplinary or convergent research that employs the joint perspectives, methods, and knowledge of behavioral science, computer science, design, economics, engineering, learning sciences, research on adult learning and workforce training, and the social sciences; (2) support deeper understanding of the societal infrastructure that accompanies and leads to new work technologies and new approaches to work and jobs, and that prepares people for the future world of work; (3) encourage the development of a research community dedicated to designing intelligent technologies and work organization and modes inspired by their positive impact on individual workers, the work at hand, the way people learn and adapt to technological change, creative and inclusive workplaces (including remote locations, homes, classrooms, or virtual spaces), and benefits for social, economic, educational, and environmental systems at different scales; (4) promote deeper basic understanding of the interdependent human-technology partnership to advance societal needs by advancing design of intelligent work technologies that operate in harmony with human workers, including consideration of how adults learn the new skills needed to interact with these technologies in the workplace, and by enabling broad and diverse workforce participation, including improving accessibility for those challenged by physical or cognitive impairment; and (5) understand, anticipate, and explore ways of mitigating potential risks including inequity arising from future work at the human-technology frontier.

Proposals to this program should describe multi-disciplinary or convergent research that addresses technological, human, and societal dimensions of future work. Technological innovations should be integrated with advances in behavioral science, computer science, economic science, engineering, learning sciences, research on adult learning and workforce training, and the social sciences. Proposals that address the impact of large-scale disruptions such as the Covid-19 pandemic on the future of jobs and work are also of interest.