OARS funding Sociology

Our goal is to bend the Keeling Curve. To that end, our team is looking for projects with a proven track record of taking greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. We've developed five categories, each one addressing a specific sector of climate innovation. We award $25,000 to two projects in each category annually. Capture & Utilization -- Projects in this category are advancing technological and nature-based strategies for capturing and/or utilizing heat-trapping gases from the air or oceans. Energy -- Projects in this category decarbonize energy, support zero-carbon energy innovations, and lead the way in improving the supply, distribution, and access of low or zero-emissions energy systems worldwide. Finance -- Projects in this category are making financial mechanisms and economics work for greenhouse gas reduction and/or reversal ventures. Social & Cultural Pathways -- Projects in this category are changing the way people consider, understand, and act concerning human impacts on planet Earth. They are trying to answer the question: what does it take, socially and culturally, to develop beyond fossil fuels? Transport & Mobility -- Projects that apply in this category are reimagining and reinventing all types of vehicles, fuels, and mobility options for both people and products. These projects will confront the carbon footprint of the vehicles themselves and the routes traveled.

The RISA program supports the development of knowledge, expertise, and abilities of decision-makers to plan and prepare for climate variability and change. Through regionally-focused and interdisciplinary research and engagement teams, RISA builds and expands the Nation's capacity to adapt and become resilient to extreme weather events and climate change. RISA teams accomplish this through co-developed applied research and partnerships with public and private communities. A central tenet of the RISA program is that learning about climate adaptation and resilience is facilitated by and sustained across a wide range of experts, practitioners, and the public. As such, the RISA program supports a network of people, prioritizing wide participation in learning by doing, learning through adapting, and managing risk with uncertain information. Early decades of the program focused on understanding the use of climate information at regional scales (e.g., through experimental seasonal outlooks), improving predictions and scenarios, building capacity for drought early warning, and advancing the science of climate impact assessments. More recently, emphasis has shifted to address the growing urgency to advance approaches that tackle the complex societal issues surrounding adaptation planning, implementation, and building community resilience. To do so, RISA continues to prioritize collaborative approaches that incorporate multiple knowledge sources and integrate social, physical, and natural science, resulting in long-term support of and increased capacity for communities.

Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) embodies an important forward-looking response by the Foundation to these profound challenges. NNA seeks innovations in fundamental convergence research across the social, natural, environmental, computing and information sciences, and engineering that address the interactions or connections among natural and built environments and social systems, and how these connections inform our understanding of Arctic change and its local and global effects. This solicitation requests proposals that fall within one of three tracks: NNA Planning Grants, dedicated to developing convergence research questions and teams to tackle projects of larger scope in the future; NNA Research Grants, aimed to support creative projects on fundamental research that address convergent scientific and engineering challenges related to the rapidly changing Arctic; and NNA Collaboratory Grants, designed to support collaborative teams undertaking research and training initiatives on critical themes of a broad scope related to the New Arctic.

The Early Career Faculty Innovator Program is inviting a second cohort  of early career faculty in the social and behavioral sciences to co-develop interdisciplinary and actionable research projects in partnership with scientists and engineers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. A primary goal of the Innovator Program is to address complex research problems by building partnerships between NCAR scientists and early career faculty. The Innovators Program aims to fund six faculty and one graduate student of each faculty participant for two years, starting in summer 2021. Research themes that align with NSF and NCAR strategic priorities are selected for each two-year cohort. 2021-2022 Research Theme: Actionable Earth System Science Prospective applicants to the Innovators Program are invited to propose an interdisciplinary research project that can leverage expertise at NCAR and occur over a 2-year period.

NOTE: Webpage provides information about general webinar and BIO Directorate breakout. If you are interested in breakouts for other directorates, contact Heather Johnston (johnsthb@MiamiOH.edu) in Research & Innovation for information. On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 and Thursday, November 5, 2020, NSF will host outreach webinars with information about the Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (Mid-scale RI)-1 funding opportunity (NSF 21-505). The Mid-scale RI Big Idea is intended to provides an agile, Foundation-wide process to fund experimental research capabilities in the mid-scale range ($6 million to $100 million), between the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) and Major Facilities thresholds.  Recently, the solicitation (NSF 21-505) for the Mid-scale RI-1 program (for infrastructure with total project cost of $6 million up until, but not including, $20 million) was published with a deadline of January 7, 2021 for preliminary proposals. Each session will begin at 1:00 p.m. EST and have two parts: a general Mid-scale RI-1 information session (1:00 p.m. -1:40 p.m. EST) with Q&A followed by Directorate-specific breakouts (1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EST) where more technical questions will be addressed. The information presented on Day 1 will be the same as the information presented on Day 2.

Racial Equity 2030 is a global challenge in honor of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's 90th anniversary. It is a call for bold solutions to drive an equitable future for children, their families and communities. This $90 million challenge seeks ideas from anywhere in the world and will scale them over the next decade to transform the systems and institutions that uphold inequity. Solutions may tackle the social, economic, political or institutional inequities we see today. Teams of visionaries, change agents and community leaders from every sector are invited to join.

The goal of this DCL is to encourage partnerships with and among MSIs in order to promote fundamental research, perspectives, and ideas in the SBE sciences. NSF's hope is that this new initiative will build capacity at MSIs for SBE-related research and provide researchers with new ways to diversify and energize their research teams. NSF anticipates funding up to 10 conferences pursuant to this DCL, subject to the availability of funds and the quality of proposals received. Proposals may address any of the scientific areas supported by SBE. Proposals can come directly from HBCUs, HSIs, TCUs and other MSIs, or from any other NSF-eligible research entity. Proposers are strongly encouraged to plan to host and design conferences at the MSI campus identified in the proposal.

The Soros Justice Fellowships fund outstanding individuals to undertake projects that advance reform, spur debate, and catalyze change on a range of issues facing the U.S. criminal justice system. The fellowships are part of a larger effort within the Open Society Foundations to reduce the destructive impact of current criminal justice policies on the lives of individuals, families, and communities in the United States by challenging the overreliance on incarceration and extreme punishment, and ensuring a fair and accountable system of justice.

The Law & Science Program considers proposals that address social scientific studies of law and law-like systems of rules, as well as studies of how science and technology are applied in legal contexts. The Program is inherently interdisciplinary and multi-methodological. Successful proposals describe research that advances scientific theory and understanding of the connections between human behavior and law, legal institutions, or legal processes; or the interactions of law and basic sciences, including biology, computer and information sciences, STEM education, engineering, geosciences, and math and physical sciences. Scientific studies of law often approach law as dynamic, interacting with multiple arenas, and with the participation of multiple actors. Fields of study include many disciplines, and often address problems including, though not limited, to: Crime, Violence, and Policing Cyberspace Economic Issues Environmental Science Evidentiary Issues Forensic Science Governance and Courts Human Rights and Comparative Law Information Technology Legal and Ethical Issues related to Science Legal Decision Making Legal Mobilization and Conceptions of Justice Litigation and the Legal Profession Punishment and Corrections Regulation and Facilitation of Biotechnology (e.g., Gene Editing, Gene Testing, Synthetic Biology) and Other Emerging Sciences and Technologies Use of Science in the Legal Processes

How we measure progress reveals our values and shapes our future. So what does America's portrait of progress tell us about our collective values and goals? The traditional portrait presented by most of our media and political leaders includes the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and stock market. But do such measures really reflect our most cherished values and aspirations

We are looking for ideas that can lead to new multi-grant research portfolios on human flourishing. We are particularly interested in ideas for interdisciplinary scientific research towards discoveries that can promote physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. We welcome ideas that bridge gaps between empirical science and the humanities. Such ideas may include (but are not limited to):  Experimental testing of philosophically grounded models of human flourishing; Research on biological complexity in humans, including genetics, epigenetics, and microbiome research; Investigation of key psychological, neuroscientific, or human developmental concepts, such as (but not limited to) altruism, creativity, imagination, narrative, and meta-cognition; Research on cognitive, affective, or social capacities of individuals or groups; Studies of human biological or cultural evolution.

A. Noam Chomsky Global Connections Awards celebrate the power of human connections. The awards recognize distinguished service to the global mission of the STAR Scholars Network. Several individuals with a deep impact on advancing global, social mobility are recognized every year. We live in a time when innovation and creativity in support of humanity are of great importance. The Star Scholars Network recognizes the commitment of concerned people able and willing to make a difference in the lives of others. Nominations for this award are solicited from around the world. The nominee can be from any field. Beginning in 2020, the Star Scholars Network is committed to promoting transnational research, or collaborative research between scholars of two or more countries (e.g., joint publications, research partnerships, etc.). The Global Connections Awards recognize STAR Scholars for their achievements and distinctive contributions to translational research that demonstrates the very best of scholarly collaboration among scholars around the world. In December 2020, the Star Scholars Network will provide awards in three categories: North Star Medal of Lifetime Achievement, Shining Star Achievement in Research Award, Rising Star Emerging Scholar Certificate

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Southeast Region, is seeking proposals under the Marine Fisheries Initiative Program (MARFIN), for research and development projects that optimize the use of fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and off the South Atlantic states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, involving the U.S. fishing industry (recreational and commercial), including fishery biology, resources assessment, socio-economic assessment, management and conservation, selected harvesting methods, and fish handling and processing. This program addresses NOAA's mission goal "Healthy Oceans."

We welcome applications from a broad range of fields and perspectives. The strength of our fellowship program is its diversity. The following areas are of particular interest: - Radcliffe supports engaged scholarship. We welcome applications from scholars, artists, and practitioners proposing innovative work that confronts pressing social and policy issues and seeking to engage audiences beyond academia. - We welcome proposals relevant to the Institute's focus areas, which include: * Law, education, and justice * Youth leadership and civic engagement * Legacies of slavery  - Reflecting Radcliffe's unique history and institutional legacy, we welcome proposals that focus on women, gender, and society or draw on the Schlesinger Library's rich collections.  - Interdisciplinary exchange is a hallmark of the Radcliffe Fellowship, and we welcome proposals that take advantage of our uniquely diverse intellectual community by engaging with concepts and ideas that cross disciplinary boundaries.

NOAA's Weather Program Office (WPO; formerly OWAQ, the Office of Weather and Air Quality) is soliciting proposals for weather, air quality, and earth-system modeling and observations research reflecting multiple science objectives spanning time scales from hours to seasons, and from weather and water observations and earth system modeling to social, and behavioral, and economic science. There will be three grant competitions from this notification valued at approximately $7,750,000 as follows: 1) Joint Technology Transfer Initiative (JTTI), 2) Observations, and 3) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBES).

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), as part of its Just Tech program, seeks proposals from across the social sciences and related fields that address the risks, opportunities, and challenges posed by public health surveillance stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. We specifically encourage proposals that interrogate the role the public and private sectors may play in mitigating or exacerbating the health crisis, the effects of which are already unevenly distributed.

The goal of this funding opportunity is to translate and adapt knowledge from around the world to the United States on approaches that can improve health or the determinants of health by improving gender equity. In the United States, determinants of health relate to personal safety, economic opportunity, education access (post-secondary or beyond), supportive workplace and social environments, and protection from bias and discrimination for vulnerable groups. Specifically, we seek to learn from initiatives underway outside the United States whose effectiveness is supported or suggested by empirical evidence and that have the potential to be adapted and implemented in the United States. Some examples of approaches of interest are those that aim to: - Achieve pay equity; - Provide supports in the workplace or other social environments for pregnant women, parents and families; - Counteract cultural stereotypes or expectations that bias women and girls toward low-wage careers or health-damaging jobs or roles; - Address norms, practices, and resources in ways that reduce gender-based violence, aggression, or harassment; - Modify social expectations that promote risky behaviors or contribute to poor mental health; - Build on frameworks about gender, power, and health from groups around the world who have unique traditions and practices related to gender norms and roles; - Create opportunities for gender minorities to make decisions that affect their lives and communities, and to emerge as leaders in government and other positions of influence; or - Apply nonbinary interpretations of gender in policymaking, resource allocation, or service provision.

The Institute for Humane Studies offers funding in the amount of $50,000 for semester-long sabbaticals for the study, research, and teaching of classical liberal ideas. Areas of interest for these highly competitive awards include research in the classical liberal intellectual tradition, free/open markets, individual rights, private property, peace, prosperity, self-determination/autonomy, decentralization, limited government, privacy, free speech, the cultural drivers and consequences of classical liberal ideas, and related themes. IHS welcomes applications for the Sabbatical Research Fellowship from permanent, full-time faculty at four-year degree granting institutions in the humanities and social sciences, but preference will be given to scholars in the early stages of their career.

Our focus on reducing inequality grew out of our view that research can do more than help us understand the problem of inequality-it can generate effective responses. We believe that it is time to build stronger bodies of knowledge on how to reduce inequality in the United States and to move beyond the mounting research evidence about the scope, causes, and consequences of inequality. Toward this end, we seek 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. We prioritize studies about reducing inequality on the basis of race, ethnicity, economic standing, language minority status, or immigrant origins.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF) Fellowship awards three individuals with up to $150,000 to turn an inspired idea in the field of social justice into a reality. The program is designed for emergent leaders who have limited access to institutional philanthropy and whose work is traditionally underfunded. NCF welcomes a diverse pool of applicants representing practitioners in a variety of fields. Applicants should demonstrate a deep understanding and clear analysis of the field in which they work. They should also have a history of success in this field but still be positioned to benefit from the Foundation' support. The topic of a Fellow's project should generally align with the Foundation's focus on climate change and inequality. It should aim to transform the systems and mindsets that hinder progress toward a more sustainable and equitable future for all people, particularly women and people of color. The Foundation is also interested in innovative approaches that cut across these areas. Applicants should have a clear idea of the project's goal(s), audience, and impact on community. They should also demonstrate an understanding of the timeline and resources needed to execute their work. Proposed projects might include the creation of a product such as a book or report; a public hearing or presentation; a launch of an initiative or nonprofit organization; an art piece; or other creative work products.