RFPs

A request for proposals (RFP) is a funder’s written announcement inviting proposals, usually for a specific grant program.

Our office serves as a clearinghouse for many RFPs. Current opportunities can be found below.
We disseminate select RFPs via email directly to faculty and administrators in relevant schools and centers.
If an RFP is a limited funding opportunity, for which a limited number of applicants per institution may apply, it is generally announced by the Stanford Research Development Office and an internal selection committee decides on the final candidate(s). UCFR manages a small number of limited RFPs, as indicated below.
Additional RFP resources are listed on the Funding Search Tools page.

Funding Opportunities & Resources

September Deadlines:

Ploughshares

Grant Program

Ploughshares supports organizations and individuals working to reduce nuclear threats. In line with Ploughshares’ organizational strategy of field building, our grantmaking is organized in the following four portfolios:

· Core Support - Sustaining the field. This portfolio funds critical organizations working daily to prevent nuclear war and reduce a variety of nuclear threats. Funding is flexible so grantees can adapt to an unpredictable world.

· Expanding Capacity - Building the field. This portfolio funds efforts to expand the nuclear threat reduction field and position it for success. Grants will grow key skill sets, diversify field perspectives, encourage collaboration, and broaden the constituency for nuclear issues. 

· Urgent Challenges - Applying the field. This portfolio advances discrete near-term policy goals. It supplements the work funded under Core Support and allows for timely response to pressing developments.

· Bold Experiments - Renewing the field. This portfolio invests in exciting projects with the potential to revitalize the nuclear threat reduction field. Examples include start-up and proof-of-concept funding for novel ideas and activities. 

Ploughshares does not cover overhead costs at academic institutions.

Funding amount: Varies

Deadline: September 1, 2026

See the guidelines for more details.

Arnold Ventures (AV)

Evidence & Evaluation Request for Proposals

The Evidence & Evaluation team leads AV’s efforts to strengthen causal evidence in social policy. We believe that understanding which programs and policies work — and which do not — enables policymakers to direct limited resources toward the most effective strategies that improve outcomes at scale. The team is currently accepting applications across multiple policy areas through the Strengthening Evidence and Building Evidence RFPs.

The Strengthening Evidence RFP aims to strengthen the body of proven, effective policies, programs, and interventions by funding researchers to conduct rigorous RCTs across the spectrum of social policy. Specifically, we ask that applicants address the following criteria in their proposals, which serve as the basis for our funding decisions: (1) policy relevance, (2) study design, and (3) implementation feasibility.

The Building Evidence RFP seeks to advance the knowledge base about potentially effective policies, programs, and interventions by funding rigorous, causal research using quasi-experimental methods in the following AV policy areas: Higher Education, Career Pathways, Health Care, Medicaid, Online Gambling, Infrastructure, and Public Finance.

Funding amount: Varies

Deadline: September 11, 2026 (Letters of Interest)

See the guidelines for more details.

Guggenheim Foundation

Guggenheim Fellowship

The Guggenheim Fellowship is a mid-career award supporting the work of individuals who have made notable contributions to more than fifty fields across the arts, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and interdisciplinary areas.

Applicants must:

· Be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada

· Be mid-career professionals who have made notable contributions to their field

· Propose a significant project and demonstrate that they are prepared to complete it at the highest level of excellence

· Apply as individuals or in pairs (i.e., two individuals working on the same project)

‘Mid-career’ is defined by your professional output, not by age or institutional affiliation. You must have made significant, recognized contributions to your field and show clear promise to continue to do so.

Funding amount: Varies

Deadline: September 15, 2026

See the guidelines for more details.

American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)

ACLS Fellowships

ACLS invites research proposals from scholars in all disciplines of the humanities and interpretive social sciences. We solicit applications from scholars pursuing research on topics grounded in any time period, world region, or humanistic methodology. The ultimate goal of the project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant, which can take the form of a monograph, one or more articles, a publicly engaged humanities project, a digital research project, a critical edition, or other scholarly resources. ACLS Fellowships support projects at any stage of development—early, middle, or late.

Applicants must have a PhD in the humanities or social sciences. We welcome and encourage applications from all eligible scholars, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, age, or any aspect of identity. The fellowship term must begin no earlier than July 1, 2027, and no later than July 1, 2028. It must conclude no later than December 31, 2028.

Funding amount: Up to $60K stipend

Deadline: September 17, 2026

See the guidelines for more details.

Pershing Square Foundation

2027 MIND (Maximizing Innovation in Neuroscience Discovery) Prize

The Pershing Square Foundation’s (PSF) brain initiative funds cutting-edge research that revolutionizes our ability to predict, prevent, and treat neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). The MIND (Maximizing Innovation in Neuroscience Discovery) Prize supports and empowers early-to-mid-career investigators to rethink conventional paradigms around NDDs. Modeled after the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize, the MIND Prize catalyzes interdisciplinary approaches and facilitates collaborations across academic departments and institutions. It fuels the groundbreaking research that will accelerate our understanding of NDDs at every level.

Projects may range from the invention of novel tools, techniques, and technologies for mapping and analyzing the brain to bold approaches that demonstrate extraordinary therapeutic potential. Research domains may include—but are not limited to—neurobiology, brain imaging and mapping, machine learning, drug delivery, and synthetic biology. Applicants are encouraged to propose bold, hypothesis-driven, high-risk, high-reward research with the potential for transformative impact. Tool and technology development are permitted when they support the testing of a clearly defined biological hypothesis. Screening may be part of the proposed work, but should not be the sole focus. Clinical components are permitted, but proposals should not center on clinical trials or medical device testing in humans.

An MD, PhD, or MD-PhD degree (or equivalent) is required. Applicants must have completed at least one (1) but no more than eight (8) years of independent research experience as a tenure-track faculty member (or equivalent) by the start date of the Prize (May 2027).

Funding amount: $250K/yr for 3 yrs

Deadline: September 21, 2026 (Letter of Intent)

See the guidelines for more details.

October Deadlines:

Schmidt Sciences

Decarbonization Modeling of Urban Mobility and the Built Environment

The Decarbonization and Energy Virtual Institute (DEVI) is an initiative of Schmidt Sciences’ Climate Center to advance the methodological frontier of decarbonization modeling by addressing key knowledge gaps in complex interdependencies of decarbonization pathways, with an emphasis on yielding actionable insights for policy and technology deployment strategies.

This sector-focused call solicits Expressions of Intent (EOIs) for modeling the decarbonization of urban mobility and the built environment, including relevant interdependencies such as land use, end-use electrification, and shared infrastructure, among others. Modeling efforts are expected to be anchored in multiple and diverse city contexts, particularly urban areas that will drive emissions in the near-to-mid term, but methods and insights must generalize beyond selected cities. Projects are expected to be adaptable to integration with economy-wide models, particularly those within current DEVI projects. We are seeking to fund one multi-institutional collaboration targeting coupled representation of mobility and buildings sectors, particularly in urban systems, and addressing four focus areas: a) advances in the understanding of interdependencies in decarbonization pathways; b) methodological advances that improve model representation of said interdependencies; c) rigorous uncertainty analyses and model validation; and d) generating context-specific insights highlighting the needs, constraints and impacts of decarbonization pathways.

Funding amount: Up to $4M over 5 yrs

Deadline: October 2, 2026 (Expressions of Intent)

See the guidelines for more details.

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Experimental Physics Investigators

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is accepting applications for Experimental Physics Investigators. The foundation will support approximately 20 creative mid-career individuals and their research teams to advance our understanding of physical phenomena and enable researchers to pursue new directions that could transform the field and their careers.

This program is specifically designed to support individual experimental physics researchers and their teams. The experimental fields being considered include atomic/molecular/optical physics, biophysics, chemical physics, condensed matter, fluid dynamics, geophysics, laser physics, materials, polymer physics, plasma physics, precision measurements, quantum information, and soft matter physics.

Researchers at academic institutions need not be in physics departments to be eligible. The essential requirement is that the proposed research is experimental physics. Researchers at national laboratories may be eligible. Applicants must have received tenure or the equivalent in the last five years.

Funding amount: $1.4M over 5 yrs

Deadline: October 8, 2026 (Pre-application)

See the guidelines for more details.

Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance

2027 Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize

The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance is dedicated to accelerating cures for cancer by advancing the pursuit of innovative cancer research and by facilitating collaborations between the science and business communities. Its Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize provides early-career scientists the freedom to take risks and pursue their boldest research at a stage when traditional funding is lacking. An MD, PhD, or MD-PhD degree (or equivalent) is required. Applicants must have at least two years of experience running their own laboratories but no more than six years of experience by the start date of the prize (July 2027). Principal Investigators (PIs) must hold faculty appointments at academic research institutions (or equivalent) in the United States at the level of Assistant or Associate Professor (or equivalent). Multiple applicants from the same institution may apply as long as eligibility criteria are met.

Funding amount: $750K

Deadline: October 26, 2026 (Letter of Intent)

See the guidelines for more details.

Russell Sage Foundation

Core Programs and Special Initiatives

RSF will only accept letters of inquiry (LOIs) under its core programs for Social, Political and Economic Inequality (SPEI) and the Future of Work (FOW) and its special initiative on the Implications of the 2023 Supreme Court Decision to Ban Race-Conscious Admissions at Colleges and Universities for Educational Attainment and Economic Mobility (SCD23).

We are particularly interested in analyses that make use of newly available data or demonstrate novel uses of existing data, to answer emerging or long-standing questions of interest in the foundation’s program areas and special initiatives. We also support original data collection, including field and survey experiments, in-depth qualitative interviews, and ethnographies. All applicants for core research grants (both PIs and Co-PIs) must have a doctorate.

Funding amount: Up to $200K

Deadline: October 28, 2026 (Letters of Inquiry)

See the guidelines for more details.

Simons Foundation

Simons Collaborations in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences (MPS)

A Simons Collaboration in MPS should address a mathematical or theoretical topic of fundamental scientific importance, where a significant, new development creates a novel area for exploration or provides a new direction for progress in an established field. The questions addressed by the collaboration may be concrete or conceptual, but there should be little doubt that answering them would constitute a major scientific milestone. The project should involve outstanding researchers in a range of career stages.

The collaboration director must hold a tenured faculty, or equivalent, position at an educational institution with a Ph.D. program in the director’s department at the time of application and for the duration of the award. PIs and co-Investigators (co-Is) must hold a tenured or tenure-track faculty, or equivalent, position at an educational institution at the time of application and for the duration of the award. There are no restrictions on the department and/or discipline of the director or PIs/co-Is. There is no LOI limit per institution.

Funding amount: Up to $8M over 4 yrs

Deadline: October 29, 2026 (Letter of Intent)

See the guidelines for more details.

November Deadlines:

American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)

ACLS Digital Justice Seed Grants

The American Council of Learned Societies is pleased to invite applications for Digital Justice Seed Grants, which are made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Through both their content and methods, projects funded by ACLS Digital Justice Seed Grants pursue the following activities:

Critically engage with the interests and histories of people of color and other historically marginalized communities, including (but not limited to) Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities; people with disabilities; and queer, trans, and gender nonconforming people through the ethical use of digital tools and methods.
Explore or experiment with new materials, methodologies, and research agendas by way of planning workshops, prototyping, and/or testing products.
Cultivate greater openness to new sources of knowledge and strategic approaches to content building and knowledge dissemination.
Engage in capacity building efforts, including but not limited to: pedagogical projects that train students in digital humanities methods as a key feature of the project’s content building practice; publicly engaged projects that develop new technological infrastructure with community partners; trans-institutional projects that connect scholars across academic and cultural heritage institutions.

This program addresses inequities in access to tools and support for digital work among scholars across various fields, those working with under-utilized or understudied source materials, and those in institutions with less support for digital projects. It promotes inclusion and sustainability by extending the opportunity to participate in the digital transformation of humanistic inquiry to a greater number of humanities scholars and projects at the beginning stages of development. At least one of the project’s principal investigators must be a scholar in the humanities and/or the interpretative social sciences.

Funding amount: $10K-$25K

Deadline: November 3, 2026

See the guidelines for more details.

American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)

ACLS Digital Justice Development Grants

The American Council of Learned Societies is pleased to invite applications for Digital Justice Development Grants, which are made possible by the Mellon Foundation. Through both their content and methods, projects funded by ACLS Digital Justice Development Grants pursue the following activities:

· Critically engage with the interests and histories of people of color and other historically marginalized communities, including (but not limited to) Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities; people with disabilities; and queer, trans, and gender nonconforming people through the ethical use of digital tools and methods.

· Advance beyond the prototyping or proof-of-concept phase and articulate the next financial, technological, and intellectual phases of project development.

· Cultivate greater openness to new sources of knowledge and strategic approaches to content building and knowledge dissemination.

· Engage in capacity building efforts, including but not limited to: pedagogical projects that train students in digital humanities methods as a key feature of the project’s content building practice; publicly engaged projects that develop new technological infrastructure with community partners; trans-institutional projects that connect scholars across academic and cultural heritage institutions.

Funding amount: $50K-$100K

Deadline: November 3, 2026

See the guidelines for more details.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)

RWJF Health Policy Fellows

The RWJF Health Policy Fellows program provides the nation’s most comprehensive midcareer learning experience at the intersection of health, science, and policy in Washington, D.C. Fellows participate in the policy process at the federal level and leverage that leadership experience to promote policies, practices, and systems changes that advance the health of the nation. The fellowship requires a full-time commitment with a minimum 12-month residence in Washington, D.C., which prepares individuals to influence the future of health and its drivers in the nation.

Applicants must have earned an advanced degree (master’s or doctoral degree). In addition, applicants must have developed deep subject matter experience in a health- related discipline and have at least 10 years of full-time work experience. Examples include but are not limited to medicine; nursing; public health; law; dentistry; economics and other social sciences (especially disciplines related to factors that influence population health, such as housing, transportation, nutrition, employment, education, and environmental and community conditions); health services and social work/behavioral health; and other health professions;

Funding amount: $175K stipend

Deadline: November 3, 2026 (Preliminary applications)

See the guidelines for more details.

December Deadlines:

Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation

2027 Dreyfus Prize

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has selected Chemical Probes of Biological Systems as the topic of the 2027 Dreyfus Prize.

The Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences is awarded to an individual in a selected area of chemistry to recognize exceptional and original research that has advanced the field in a major way. The prize is awarded biennially and consists of a monetary award of $250,000, a medal, and a certificate.

The development of probes to understand biological function, particularly in the context of cells or organisms, is an important discipline in the chemical sciences. Advances in this area of chemical biology, which are distinct from the development of imaging technologies, have revealed the functions of biological molecules such as proteins, glycans, and nucleic acids; the regulation of pathways; and an understanding of disease mechanisms.

The Prize is awarded to an individual. There is no restriction on the number of nominees from a given institution, nor is institutional approval required. Any person may nominate a candidate for the Dreyfus Prize. Self-nominations are not accepted.

Funding amount: $250K prize

Deadline: December 3, 2026

See the guidelines for more details.

Ongoing Deadlines

Arnold Ventures

Causal Research on Community Safety and the Criminal Justice System

Arnold Ventures (AV) is a nonpartisan philanthropy whose core mission is to invest in evidence-based solutions that maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. AV focuses on correcting system failures in the United States through evidence-based solutions. AVs’ Criminal Justice Initiative seeks to generate new evidence to inform policies that will make communities safer and make the criminal justice system more fair and effective. This Request for Proposals (RFP) from the Criminal Justice Initiative (CJI) seeks letters of interest to conduct causal research projects of policies, practices, and interventions related to community safety and the criminal justice system.

To be eligible to submit through this funding opportunity, research projects must adhere to the following criteria:

Propose a strong causal research design, which can reliably and validly isolate the treatment effect of a policy, practice, or intervention. Examples of such research designs include difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, instrumental variable, and randomization.
The policy, practice, or intervention being tested is in the United States.
Outcomes include measures of real-world behaviors (such as crime rates or criminal justice involvement), as opposed to measures collected in a controlled lab setting or measures of perceptions. Submissions are welcome across all issues of crime and criminal justice that meet the above criteria. The ultimate goal of this RFP is to build credible evidence on policies, practices, and interventions that can improve crime and justice system outcomes and grow the number of policies and practices rigorously shown to produce improvements in community safety and to make the justice system fairer and more effective.

Arnold Ventures anticipates that project budgets will depend on a variety of factors, including the complexity of the data acquisition and analysis plans, the number of study sites, and the study timeline. While there is no budget ceiling or fixed period of performance for applications received under this RFP, we expect to support projects that align with a typical CJI research project that has a 3-4 year period of performance and a median budget of $500,000.

We will prioritize studies that:

Focus on interventions where there is a clear path to federal and/or state policy adoption or implementation. Is there a state or federal policy lever available to scale this intervention?
Outcomes are measured using administrative data, where they exist.
Align with the CJI’s priority research areas: reducing violent crime; reducing unnecessary use of force or arrests by police; facilitating police investigations and increasing clearance rates; effects of alternative models of police/crisis response; reducing intimate partner violence; prosecutor-initiated resentencing; improving pretrial outcomes; strategies to improve the quality of public defense; improving community supervision outcomes; effects of prison oversight; effects of policy changes related to fines and fees or the payment of court debt; effects of record clearance/expungement policies; effects of sentencing reforms; projects using Criminal Justice Administrative Records (CJARS) data to measure effects of interventions on people with criminal records.
Are led by researchers who have not previously received funding from Arnold Ventures as the primary or principal investigator, or are early-career/junior researchers (those who received their PhD in the past 6 years). We recognize the need to expand and diversify the pool of researchers doing causal research in the criminal justice space. Thus we strongly encourage researchers who are new to causal research, including those from groups historically underrepresented in the research community – such as researchers of color, women, and justice[1]impacted individuals – to participate in this funding opportunity.

Funding Amount: Varies (anticipated median budget of $500K)

Deadlines: Rolling

See the guidelines for more details.

Brady Education Foundation

Research Projects and Existing Program Evaluations

The Brady Education Foundation seeks to improve educational outcomes for children, including those living in low-income communities. The Foundation pursues its mission by promoting collaboration among researchers, educators, and other stakeholders via the funding of Research Projects and Program Evaluations.

Research Projects: The Foundation supports research projects that have the potential to inform how to improve educational outcomes for children from birth through age 18. The Foundation is particularly focused on supporting research that is consistent with a strength-based perspective and has the potential to inform future educational research, practice, major philanthropic giving, and/or public policy.

Existing Program Evaluations: The Foundation supports the evaluation of programs that are feasible and sustainable (i.e., can work and be maintained in the real world of educational settings and systems), accessible (i.e., are available to and attainable by the families that need them), and strength-based (i.e., recognize the strengths that children and families bring to the learning environment that can be capitalized upon to promote strong academic outcomes). The Foundation also supports cost-benefit analyses of existing programs whose goals are to promote improved educational outcomes.

Funding amount: $20K-$375K

Deadline: Rolling

See the guidelines for more details.

Charles Koch Foundation

General Grant Proposals

The Charles Koch Foundation supports research that spurs social progress, contributing to a society of mutual benefit. Although we invite proposals for a select number of issues, we encourage proposals for any research that shares the goals and vision of the Foundation.

Our support focuses on identifying, exploring, and removing the barriers that keep individuals from realizing their unique potential.

· Future of Work: Empowering people to engage in work that leads to lives of meaning and contribution.

· Liberalism: Every society has rules, norms, and traditions that form its foundation. These define the institutions that shape our daily lives.

Funding amount: Varies

Deadline: Rolling

See the guidelines for more details.

Grodman Family Foundation

Interventions that address the challenge of caring for children in distress

The Grodman Family Foundation will fund innovative programs of research, education, clinical care, and program operations that provide solutions to the immense challenge of caring for children in distress.

Two considerations guide our mission. First, why focus on children? Children have the same moral standing as adults. They have the right to well-being and access to the resources necessary to pursue a fulfilling life but, as minors, children lack the legal agency to act in their own self-interest.

Second, why distress? An effective response to children in distress often requires acute intervention as well as broad interdisciplinary involvement - from clinical, public health, economic, and operational efforts to legislative and diplomatic actions to identify underlying individual and population-based causes and find appropriate remedies. This is most dramatically illustrated when we consider the impact disasters have on children.

The foundation will support integrated multidisciplinary interventions that respond to, mitigate, and prevent distress among those least able to care for themselves. Eligible applicants must be a United States 501c3 organization although projects may be global in scope. Preference will be given to academic or research-based entities.

Funding amount: $50K-$200K

Deadline: Rolling

See the guidelines for more details.

Smith Richardson Foundation

Domestic Public Policy Program

The mission of the Smith Richardson Foundation is to contribute to important public debates and to address serious public policy challenges facing the United States. The foundation seeks to help ensure the vitality of our social, economic, and governmental institutions. It also seeks to assist with the development of effective policies to compete internationally and to advance U.S. interests and values abroad. The Domestic Public Policy Program supports projects that will help the public and policy makers understand and address critical challenges facing the United States. To that end, the foundation supports research on and the evaluation of existing public policies and programs, as well as projects that inject new ideas into public debates.

Funding Amount: Varies

Deadline: Concept papers accepted anytime

See the guidelines for more details.

Simons Foundation

Targeted Grants in Mathematics and Physical Sciences

The Simons Foundation’s Mathematics & Physical Sciences (MPS) division invites applications for its Targeted Grants in MPS program. The program is intended to support high-risk theoretical mathematics, physics and computer science projects of exceptional promise and scientific importance on a case-by-case basis. The Targeted Grant in MPS program provides funding for up to five years. The funding level and duration is flexible and should be appropriate based on the type of support requested in the proposal. There is no recommended or assumed funding level for this program. Applications may be submitted by established U.S. and foreign public and private educational institutions and stand-alone research centers. PIs and co-Investigators (co-Is) must hold a tenured or tenure-track faculty, or equivalent, position at said institutions or centers at the time of application and for the duration of the award.

Funding Amount: Varies

Deadline: Letters of Intent accepted anytime

See the guidelines for more details.

Limited Programs:

2027 Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program Competition

Limited submission program for sabbatical-eligible faculty (see eligibility) - a university-wide internal nomination process is required. The fellowships of $200,000 each enable recipients to take sabbaticals of one or two years from their institution to focus on research and writing.

Award Purpose

The fellows program was established in 2015 to provide philanthropic support to extraordinary scholars and writers for high-caliber research in the humanities and social sciences.

Topic

The foundation anticipates that the work of the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program will explore the many ways political polarization in the United States and abroad manifests itself in society and suggest ways that it may be mitigated. Studies of polarization in other countries should offer lessons that can be applied to the United States, such as those listed below. Projects based in disciplines across the humanities and social sciences are welcomed.

What has been the relationship between populism and polarization in other countries?
How have some countries managed to avoid polarization?
What can we learn from countries that have undergone periods of polarization, such as South Africa, Colombia, and Northern Ireland?
Under what conditions has polarization escalated into political violence?
Under what conditions has polarization taken root/accelerated/declined in other countries?

# of nominations:

Two nominations are permitted from each university: one junior scholar and one senior scholar. (See eligibility below)

Timeline:

Internal university deadline: Mon., Sept. 21, 2026, 5:00 pm (see the internal nomination process below)

The nominee(s) selected to represent Stanford will be notified: Wed., Oct. 7, 2026

Sponsor’s deadline: Nov. 13, 2026

Fellows announced: Apr. 2027

Start of the fellowship: by Sept. 1, 2027

Guidelines:

https://carnegie.onlineapplicationportal.com/programinformation/

Eligibility:

Senior, junior, and emerging scholars; journalists; and public intellectuals
University presidents may nominate one junior scholar (sabbatical-eligible faculty) and one senior scholar (any holder of a tenured post)
Nominees must have a Ph.D. or other terminal degree
U.S. citizenship or permanent U.S. residency status
Candidates who were nominated for the Fellows Program in any cycle up to and including 2026 are allowed to apply again one time during this next three-year cycle (through 2029). Candidates for 2027 will not be eligible to be nominated again (regardless of who nominates them) in 2028 or 2029.
See the award terms below

Award terms

Fellowships of $200,000 each, enabling recipients to take sabbaticals of one or two years from their institution to focus on research and writing. Fellowships may be used for such expenses as salary, fringe benefits, project-related travel, research assistants, data collection, and surveys. No indirects are provided to the university.
While the fellowship can be paid directly to the individual or through the home institution, Stanford highly recommends that it be paid to the individual. (Please consult your financial advisor and department manager on tax implications, benefits, contributions, etc.)
Carnegie does not fund dissertations, debt repayments, lobbying efforts, the purchase of equipment, or rent.
In accepting the nomination, candidates are affirming that, if chosen for the fellowship, s/he will accept the fellowship.
Recipients may not accept other fellowships of equal caliber or at a comparable level of funding that overlap the same timeline as the Carnegie fellowship, especially awards that have specific time requirements. However, smaller grants and project support are acceptable on a case-by-case basis.

Carnegie’s Selection Criteria and Process:

Originality and promise of the idea
Quality of the proposal
Record of the nominee
Plans to communicate findings to a broad audience beyond the scholar’s academic discipline
Promise to offer lessons for the US in addressing harmful polarization or enhancing social cohesion
Carnegie’s selection process consists of two stages. First, anonymous evaluators — nationally prominent experts in relevant fields — will review all proposals. Next, the top-ranked proposals will be forwarded to the members of the jury for their scrutiny and ultimate decision.

STANFORD NOMINATION SELECTION PROCESS:

By Mon., Sept. 21, 2026 5:00pm please send one PDF file containing the following in the order listed below via email attachment to:

Amanda Reilly

Associate Director

University Corporate and Foundation Relations

650-498-7726

amanda.reilly@stanford.edu

File name: Last Name_Carnegie.pdf

1) Title page

2027 Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program

Name of nominee

Nominee Scholar Category: junior or senior

Title

Department

Email address, phone number

2) Nomination letter from your Department Chair or Dean printed on department letterhead and addressed to the Carnegie Fellows Program Review committee, which provides a brief description of the candidate’s qualifications and potential, and how his or her contributions will address political polarization in the United States. (This letter is for internal review only.)

3) Internal Application materials

3-5 page prospectus describing the project, including a projected work plan and approximate time frame. The prospectus should be double-spaced and set at a minimum 12-point font. Note: jurors will not read any prospectus beyond the five-page limit (footnotes and bibliography excepted). Bibliography and footnotes do not count toward the page limit.
CV
Budget in Carnegie’s format: Carnegie’s budget template and instructions are located here. (Please download the template before inputting your budget information, as all Stanford applicants will be using this budget template link.)

Selection Process

A committee appointed by the Provost will review applications and select up to two nominees. Applicants will be notified by Oct. 7, 2026. The selected nominee(s) will then be asked to provide additional materials (1-page summary of the prospectus, a description of the project in 75 words or fewer, 1-page summary of the CV [bulleted form], and a short narrative biography (250-400 words). The University Corporate and Foundation Relations office will help assemble and submit the application by November 13, including the necessary institutional letter of nomination.

Deadline passed - for reference only

Fall 2025 New Directions Fellowship Competition

Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowships

Previous New Directions Fellows

Purpose:

Assist faculty members in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who seek to acquire systematic training outside their own areas of formal expertise.
Contribute to humanities at large by encouraging the highest standards in cross-disciplinary research.

Eligibility:

Received Ph.D. between 2013 and 2019 in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.
Have cross-disciplinary research interests that require formal substantive and methodological training beyond their disciplinary expertise.

Terms:

The fellowship aims at longer-term investments in scholars’ intellectual range and productivity. It does not facilitate short-term outcomes, such as completion of a book or staging conferences, seminars, or events.
Recipient receives (a) the equivalent of one academic year’s salary; (b) two summers of additional support (each at the equivalent two-ninths of the previous academic year salary); and (c) tuition/course fees or equivalent direct costs associated with the fellow’s training programs.
Training may consist of coursework or other programs of organized study. It may take place either at Stanford, or elsewhere as appropriate.
The project should cover a minimum of 2 years. Funds may be used over a maximum of 3 full academic years following the award date.
The budget cannot exceed $300K. Grant amount cannot be adjusted after the grant is awarded. Previous fellows’ budgets have ranged from $175K to $250K.
The first budget period of the project must begin on May 1, 2026.

Mellon Selection Criteria:

Overall significance of the research.
Importance of extra-disciplinary training for furthering the research.
Candidate’s ability to derive satisfactory results from the proposed training program.
A well-developed plan for acquiring the necessary training within a reasonable period of time.
The second field of study must be a foray into a new area of intellectual inquiry/subject and not just an enhancement of skills to go further in the primary field. Language study, technical training, or skills acquisition such as GIS mapping do not, by themselves, constitute a new direction.

Internal Nomination Process:

Submit your application to Amanda Reilly (Associate Director, University Corporate and Foundation Relations) at amanda.reilly@stanford.edu by November 3.
Selected nominee will be notified by November 18 and will be provided detailed instructions to prepare their final proposal to be submitted to Mellon Foundation by December 11.

Preliminary Applications for November 3 should consist of:

A project summary of no more than 200 words (max. of 1,300 characters with spaces).
CV (max. 5 pages), clearly listing Ph.D. award date.
A letter of recommendation from a senior colleague (e.g., department chair) addressing your preparation for the proposed project and how the “new direction” will enhance your research and teaching efforts. Additional letter from a colleague in the new field is strongly encouraged.
A note to Stanford’s selection committee specifying whether you have consulted your department chair about any anticipated absence from campus or buy-out time.
No budget is required at this time.

Further Inquiries:

Contact Amanda Reilly, Associate Director of University Corporate and Foundation Relations, by email at amanda.reilly@stanford.edu.

Deadline passed - for reference only

Sawyer Seminars 2024

Purpose

The program was established in 1994 to provide support for comparative research on historical and contemporary topics of major scholarly significance.
October 2024 marks the program’s 30th year. To observe this milestone, at a time when universities and humanities study are facing a myriad of unprecedented challenges, the foundation is reorienting the 2024 competition and beyond from the study of comparative cultures to the study of major social and political challenges that directly impact the structures,policies, and practices of the American university.
Mellon seeks to fund humanities-grounded seminars wherein multidisciplinary teams of faculty and other academic leaders collaboratively address timely issues affecting their campuses.
Mellon invites proposals that meaningfully engage faculty, other academic leaders, and visitors from a variety of fields in the study of academic freedom and democracy in the American university.
Mellon seeks to support seminars that demonstrate through humanistic methods the ways in which a higher education system featuring a multiplicity of perspectives, thoughts, and voices is essential to a functional democracy.

Terms

Maximum grant for each seminar is $300,000.
Each seminar normally meets for one year (though some have continued for longer periods).
To allow for planning, seminars need not be scheduled for the coming academic year.
The seminar should be led or co-led by humanities faculty; however, the proposed seminar should be a collaborative effort involving participation by scholars and administrators from across disciplines and units, with varying perspectives on the problem being addressed.
The foundation encourages applicants to invite participants from nearby institutions, such as community colleges, liberal arts colleges, museums, research institutes, and local organizations to achieve interdisciplinary and community-engaged collaboration.
Grant recipients would be expected to highlight and disseminate findings across campus units using a medium that best fits their campus context, such as a white paper or town hall.
As Mellon reviews proposals, preference will be given to those that seek to:
- Bridge the gap between the socially equitable world envisioned in much humanities scholarship and the policies and practices characterizing today’s universities
- Empower humanists to be active participants in the strategic conversations and planning that many universities are engaged in or preparing to undertake
- Imagine new and revised university structures that would enhance the growth of the humanities and promote the realization of more just futures
Funds may support: one postdoc; up to two dissertation research fellows (in the form of graduate tuition or supplemental funding). Please note: hiring of postdocs or awarding dissertation research fellowships is not a requirement this year.
Funds may also support: travel and living expenses for short stays by visiting scholars; costs associated with coordinating seminars, including meals, honoraria, consulting fees, and stipends.
Unlike in previous years, there are no required expenditures.
Funds may not be used to cover released time for regular faculty participants, rentals of university space, or indirect costs.
Annual reports on the progress of the seminar are required for the term of the grant.

Mellon Selection Criteria and Process

Invitations have historically been limited to a rotating subset of a larger invitation list. This year, all institutions on that larger list will be invited to apply. Up to 20 finalists will be selected and recommended to the Mellon Trustees for funding.
Mellon is fundamentally interested in the themes of social and racial justice.
Competitive proposals will demonstrate the ways in which the humanities might reform or reimagine existing institutional structures and campus cultures. They might promise to amplify the work of a pre-existing institutional committee or envision a new committee or seminar-style initiative, with academic freedom and democracy in the American university as the central subject of inquiry.
Applications will be evaluated on a) the centrality of humanities leadership to the proposed project; b) evidence of concrete buy-in and support for the proposed structure from university administration; and c) the strength of the plan for disseminating the project’s findings across campus units to catalyze institutional transformation.

Timeline

Sept 25: Deadline to submit application to Amanda Reilly, University Corporate and Foundation Relations.
Senior faculty members will review applications and choose Stanford’s nomination.
Selected seminar will be notified in early October and involved faculty will need to prepare the final proposal by early November (detailed instructions available to nominee).
Mellon Foundation Trustees confirm selection and funding in June 2025; following approval by the Foundation’s Trustees, funds will be disbursed to the host institution. Past experience suggests that it can take a year or more to organize the seminars.

Preliminary Applications for Sept 25 should consist of:

Proposal should include the following. The text covering the first three questions typically ranges from 3,000 to 6,000 words and must not exceed 8,000 words:

Executive Summary - Description of proposed work.
Rationale - The rationale for raising the indicated problem/topic, the central questions to be addressed, and the potential significance of the inquiry to be pursued, including its impact on the institution.
Project Description and Significance - A description of the cases to be studied and the humanities methodologies to be brought to bear on them; the thematic “threads” that will run through the seminar; and evidence of concrete buy-in and support from university administration.
Selection Criteria - If support for a postdoctoral fellow and/or dissertation research fellow(s) is envisioned, the procedures to be used in recruiting for these positions. (As noted in the terms above, hiring of postdocs or awarding dissertation research fellowships is not a requirement this year.)
Preliminary Seminar Plan - A well-developed preliminary plan for the seminar that outlines the specific topics to be addressed in each session, provides the names and qualifications of the scholars and community partners who would ideally participate, and offers direction for developing a resource that summarizes and aims to institute the seminar’s findings.
Budget and Budget Description in Mellon format - See Mellon’s budget template and budget description template. Budget periods should align with reporting dates that work for the institution, but the first budget period must begin with July 1, 2025. For this reason, the first period may be longer or shorter, than 12 months. (Please download the templates before inputting your budget information as all Stanford applicants will be using these template links.)
Short CVs (1-2 pages) for the principal seminar organizers. Information about other core participants should be limited to a few lines of text included as an appendix.

Please click here for the limited submissions opportunities portal (VPDoR/RMG)

Please click here for a list of recurring limited submission programs (DoResearch)