External Funding Opportunities & GrantForward
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Current NSF Opportunities:
Grant Submission Due: August 27, 2025 (last Wednesday in August, annually)
The ETSE competition focuses on (1) institutional transformation projects that support HSIs in their effort to achieve equity in STEM education, and (2) the infrastructure—the HSI-Net network of resource hubs—which supports the overall program goals. Institutions are encouraged to consider how their HSI designation, and their organizational mission align to better support STEM success of all students. The ETSE competition welcomes proposals that look to implement and evaluate promising practices and/or conduct research related to broadening participation or improving recruitment, retention, graduation, and other successful outcomes in STEM undergraduate education. IUSE: HSI program provides multiple opportunities to support an institution’s goal to become more student centered, including the Equitable Transformation in STEM Education (ETSE) competition. This competition includes the following tracks: Departmental/Division Transformation Track (DDTT) - New, Institutional Transformation Track (ITT), Emerging Faculty Research Track (EFRT) - New, HSI Program Resource Hubs (Hubs). This solicitation will also accept conference proposals and planning proposals, as defined by the PAPPG.
Grant Submission Due: November 14, 2025 (Track 2)
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the Geosciences Open Science Ecosystem (GEO OSE) Program with a deadline of November 14, 2025 (Track 2) (link). The Geosciences Open Science Ecosystem (GEO OSE) program seeks to realize the benefits of open science practices toward advancing research and education in the geosciences. To achieve this vision, the GEO OSE program encourages efforts to foster adoption of open, inclusive, and equitable scientific practices across geoscience domains. The program supports development of innovative open science approaches that advance geosciences research and education through leveraging expanding information resources and computing capabilities. The program also supports initiatives to strengthen the capacity of current and future geoscientists to access, utilize, and collaborate within the growing ecosystem of open science resources.
Program Tracks
Track 1: These awards support smaller-scale activities seeking to organize geoscience research communities toward adoption of open science practices that accelerate scientific discovery in the geosciences. Awards may include open science planning activities for geoscience domains (e.g., development of community roadmaps), education/training initiatives that enable adoption of technologies that support open science practices, and/or mobilization campaigns to improve the openness of existing geoscience research programs. It is expected that supported projects will facilitate broad stakeholder involvement and address community-driven open science needs in the geosciences.
Track 2: These awards target larger-scale activities aimed at fostering transformation of geoscience research communities toward open science practices. Projects should be designed to grow user/developer communities within the existing ecosystem of capabilities (e.g., data repositories, software packages, computational resources) toward broad and sustained efforts to embed open science practices in the day-to-day research/education workflows of geoscientists.
Anticipated Award Amount
Track 1: Up to $500K over 2 years
Track 2: Up to $1M over 3 years
Grant Submission Due: January 15, 2026
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the Build and Broaden: Enhancing Social, Behavioral and Economic Science Research and Capacity at Minority-Serving Institutions (B2) program with a target date of January 15, 2026 (link). The goal of the SBE B2 funding opportunity is to encourage submission of proposals from MSIs, and partnerships with and among MSIs, in order to advance fundamental research and build capacity in the SBE sciences. NSF’s SBE directorate welcomes submission of proposals from MSIs, and from partnerships that include MSIs, that address any of the research areas supported by the directorate.
B2 is designed to support research projects that:
- Contribute to stronger, more innovative science by diversifying research and widening the STEM pipeline.
- Furthers intellectual innovation in the social and behavioral sciences.
- Provide researchers with new ways to diversify and sustain collaborations.
- Build capacity and enhance research productivity in the SBE sciences at MSIs.
- Foster partnerships that strengthen career and research trajectories for faculty at MSIs.
Anticipated Award Amount: Awards averaged approximately $300K over up to 3 years in 2024.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Current NIH Opportunities:
Grant Submission Due: June 16, 2025 or October 16, 2025
This Trailblazer Award is an opportunity for NIH-defined New and Early Stage Investigators (https://grants.nih.gov/policy/early-investigators/index.htm) to pursue research programs that integrate engineering and the physical sciences with the life and/or biomedical sciences. A Trailblazer project may be exploratory, developmental, proof of concept, or high risk-high impact, and may be technology design-directed, discovery-driven, or hypothesis-driven. Importantly, applicants must propose research approaches for which there are minimal or no preliminary data. A distinct feature is that no preliminary data are required, expected, or encouraged. However, if available, minimal preliminary data are allowed.
Grant Submission Due: June 16, 2025 or October 16, 2025
The purpose of this grant is to provide support for new investigators from diverse backgrounds, including from groups nationally underrepresented in biomedical, clinical, behavioral and social sciences research, to conduct small research projects within the scientific mission areas of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), or the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), or the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). This funding opportunity will support small research projects that can be carried out in a short period of time with limited resources and seeks to facilitate the transition of new and early stage investigators to research independence. In addition, this funding opportunity supports different types of projects including pilot and feasibility studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; and development of new research technology. New investigators at the time of award under this NOFO will have had less than $125,000 direct costs of combined, active research funding (excluding NIH SuRE-First awards and training and career awards).
Grant Submission Due: June 25, 2025, or October 25, 2025
The purpose of this Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions is to support small scale research grants at institutions that do not receive substantial funding from the NIH, with an emphasis on providing biomedical research experiences primarily for undergraduate students, and enhancing the research environment at applicant institutions.
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Current NEH Opportunities:
Grant Submission Due: May 22, 2025
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has released the Digital Humanities Advancement Grants program. The program supports work that is innovative, experimental, and contributes to the critical infrastructure that underpins scholarly research, teaching, and public programming in the humanities.
Program Tracks
Level I: Supports smaller-scale projects or experimental or exploratory stages of larger projects.
Level II: For projects that can demonstrate completion of an initial planning phase but are not yet ready for Level III funding; should include plans for extending work beyond the applicant institution.
Level III: For scaling up and expanding mature projects.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply, your organization must be established in the United States or its jurisdictions as one of the following: a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; an accredited institution of higher education (public or nonprofit); a state or local government or one of their agencies; a federally recognized Native American Tribal government.
Estimated Total Program Funding $2.2M
Estimated Number of Awards 10-15 per deadline
Anticipated Award Amount
Level I: Up to $75K over 2 years
Level II: Up to $150K over up to 2 years
Level III: Up to $350K over up to 3 years (plus up to $100K in federal matching funds)
Foundation Grant Opportunities:
Current Foundation Opportunities:
- William T. Grant Major Research Grants and Officer's Research Grants
The William T. Grant Major Research Grants and Officers' Research Grants fund research studies that aim to build, test, or increase understanding of programs, policies, or practices to reduce inequality in the academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes of young people ages 5-25 in the United States. We prioritize studies that aim to reduce inequalities that exist along dimensions of race, ethnicity, economic standing, sexual or gender minority status, language minority status, or immigrant origins.
Major Research Grant: Deadlines - due May 7 or August 6, 2025. Projects involving secondary data analysis are typically at the lower end of the budget range, whereas projects involving new data collection and sample recruitment can be at the higher end. Proposals to launch experiments in which settings (e.g., classrooms, schools, youth programs) are randomly assigned to conditions sometimes have higher awards. $100,000 to $600,000 over 2-3 years, including up to 15% indirect costs.
Officers' Research Grant: Deadlines - due August 6, 2025. Studies may be stand-alone projects or may build off larger projects. The budget should be appropriate for the activities proposed.$25,000 to $50,000 over 1-2 years, including up to 15% indirect costs.
Grant Deadline Date: May 7, 2025
Research grants on improving the use of research evidence fund research studies on strategies focused on improving the use of research evidence in ways that benefit young people ages 5-25 in the United States. We want to know what it takes to get research used by decision-makers and what happens when research is used. We welcome letters of inquiry for studies that pursue one of these broad aims.
Major Research Grant: Deadlines - due May 7 or August 6, 2025; $100,000 to $1,000,000 over 2-4 years, including up to 15% indirect costs. Studies involving secondary data analysis are at the lower end of the range (about $100,000-$300,000), whereas studies that involve new data collection can have larger budgets (typically $300,000-$600,000). Generally, only proposals to launch experiments in which settings (e.g., schools, child welfare agencies, justice settings) are randomly assigned to conditions are eligible for funding above $600,000.
Officers' Research Grant: Deadlines - due August 6, 2025. Studies may be stand-alone projects or may build off larger projects. The budget should be appropriate for the activities proposed. $25,000 to $50,000 over 1-2 years, including up to 15% indirect costs.
Grant Deadline Date: July 1, 2025
The William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas. Award recipients are designated as William T. Grant Scholars. Each year, four to six Scholars are selected. Each Scholar receives exactly $425,000 over five years, including up to 7.5% indirect costs.
Applicants should have a track record of conducting high-quality research and an interest in pursuing a significant shift in their trajectories as researchers. This award includes a mentoring component, as well as a supportive academic community. Awards are based on applicants’ potential to become influential researchers, as well as their plans to expand their expertise in new and significant ways. The application should make a cohesive argument for how the applicant will expand his or her expertise. The research plan should evolve in conjunction with the development of new expertise, and the mentoring plan should describe how the proposed mentors will support applicants in acquiring that expertise. Proposed research plans must address questions that are relevant to policy and practice in the Foundation’s focus areas: Reducing Inequality and Improving the Use of Research Evidence.
Grant Deadline Dates, annually: January 15 (LOI)/June 1 (Application), April 15 (LOI)/September 1 (Application), October 1 (LOI)/February 15 (Application)
This foundation's grant program assists scholarly research in the life sciences. The Foundation is currently interested in basic research in neurobiology, defined as follows: Invertebrate and vertebrate (excluding clinical) neurobiology, specifically investigations of neural mechanisms involved in sensory, motor, and other complex functions of the whole organism as these relate to behavior. The overall goal should be to better understand behavioral output or brain mechanisms of behavior. The Foundation does not support research focused primarily on disease(s) unless it will also provide insights into normal functioning.
- Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants
Grant Deadline Date: Proposals due by April 24, 2025
The Fund invites applications for its Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants program, which aims to stimulate the growth of new connections between thinkers working in largely disconnected fields who could together change the course of climate change’s impact on human health. Small, early-stage grants of between $2,500 and $50,000 will be awarded through the program.
Grant Deadline Date: Proposals due by May 1, 2025
Grants of up to $25,000 will be awarded in support of individual research projects in anthropology or a closely related field. The program aims to support vibrant and significant work that furthers our understanding of what it means to be human, and there is no preference for any methodology, research location, topic, or subfield. The foundation particularly welcomes proposals that integrate two or more subfields and pioneer new approaches and ideas.
ORSP is pleased to announce that faculty, staff, and students now have access to the GrantForward database. GrantForward is a search engine dedicated to helping institutions and individuals find grants to fund their research.
- GrantForward covers more than 20,000 sponsors worldwide to provide a comprehensive database of more than 83,000 funding opportunities linked with over 6,000 pre-solicitations and 2.1M funded awards that continues to grow with the most up-to-date information.
- GrantForward’s powerful search system helps to lessen the hassle of searching for grants with advanced search filters and specialized search features.
- GrantForward researcher profiles allow researchers to highlight their research achievements and interests to receive personalized grant recommendations that match their research needs.
GrantForward Training Resources
Access the Recording of the entire Webinar "Moving Your Next Project Forward with GrantForward" from Oct 25, 2024 here.
or access FAQ info in these additional resources:
- How do I find a grant? Video or PDF
- How do I receive grant recommendations? Video or PDF
- How do I learn strategic information using GratForward databases? Video or PDF
- Visit GrantForward YouTube Channel for other instruction videos.
- Visit the GrantForward Support page for the complete list of resources.
Create Your GrantForward Account and Researcher Profile
- Start moving your research forward by accessing this Single Sign-On URL https://www.grantforward.com/saml/kean and sign in using your institution account or
- Go to GrantForward.com, enter their institutional email address in the Log In (at the upper-right corner), then click outside of the Email Address input box to trigger the email recognition. When your email is detected, choose “Click here to use Single-Sign-On".
- If you would like to benefit from receiving grant recommendations, then you will also need to make sure to create your researcher profile (see this Tutorial demo)