The McCausland College of Arts and Sciences Grants Office maintains this list of current external funding opportunities for faculty across disciplines. We update the listings monthly to help you discover potential matches for your research, scholarship, and creative activity.
If you're interested in applying for any of the opportunities below, please contact our office for support with the application process.
All external grant applications must go through the university SAM Office (via USCeRA) for unit/college and institutional approvals. Please coordinate USCeRA submission with the CAS Grants Team.
“Please note: Some opportunities may have limited submission policies. Be sure to check details carefully or reach out for clarification.”
| Due Date | Program Announcement | Sponsor | Description | Max Amount | Limited Submission | Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/25/2026 | Community Track: Early Career Research Track | National Academies for Sciences, Engineering and Medicine | For the 2026-2028 Application Cycle, the Community track focuses on Climate Risk, Heath & Decision Making. The track invites applied research that identifies how climate-related stressors (e.g., heat, flooding, pollution) affect human health, community resilience, and regional economies. Based on stakeholder or community demand and consultation, fellows should collect and analyze data, create tools, models, or communication approaches that connect climate science to local decision-making and public health interventions. | n/a | No | View More |
| 3/30/2026 | Housing Case Studies 2026 Research Opportunity | Social Science Research Council | The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), as part of the Better Urbanism, Infrastructure, and Land-Use Decisions (BUILD) Research Network program, seeks proposals from researchers to recruit and supervise students to conduct high-quality case studies during the summer of 2026 on state legislative sessions that passed bills intended to legalize or encourage housing production. | $10,000 | No | View More |
| 3/31/2026 | Research-Practice Partnerships: Collaborative Research for Educational Change | Spencer Foundation | The Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) Grants Program is intended to support education research projects that engage in collaborative and participatory partnerships with project budgets up to $400,000 and durations of up to three years. We accept preproposals once a year in this program. We view partnerships as an important approach to knowledge generation and the improvement of education, broadly construed. Over the long term, we anticipate that research conducted by RPPs will result in new insights into the processes, practices, and policies that improve education for learners, educators, families, communities, and institutions where learning and teaching happen (e.g., schools, universities, community centers, parks, museums, other workplaces). | $400,000 | No | View more |
| 4/1/2026 | Causal Research on the Criminal Justice System | Russell Sage Foundation | The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF), in collaboration with the Criminal Justice program at Arnold Ventures (AV) is pleased to announce its second annual grants competition for early-career scholars. Our goal is to cultivate a pipeline of researchers conducting causal research on the criminal justice system. Criminal justice policies and practices include the work of police, courts, jails, prisons, probation and parole, and immigration detention. Proposals must include causal research designs that can reliably isolate the treatment effects of a policy, practice, or intervention. Examples include difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, instrumental variables, and randomized controlled trials. Mixed methods projects will be considered if a causal research design is central to the proposal. | $100,000 | No | View more |
| 4/1/2026 | Duke Endowment Grants Health Care Division and Child & Family Wellbeing Division | Duke Endowment | Improving health and reducing health disparities will require communities and the health care systems to innovate. The Duke Endowment Health Care Division looks for opportunities to support the development and testing of new approaches that can outperform the current standard of care. These new approaches will require robust evaluation plans that build the evidence necessary to understand what works and accelerate the systemic reforms necessary to scale and sustain best practices. | n/a | Yes | View more |
| 4/2/2026 | Creative Capital Award and State of the Art Prize | Creative Capital | The 2027 Creative Capital Open Call seeks proposals from individual artists in all 50 states for new artistic works in the Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Film, and Literature. The Creative Capital Award provides individual artists with unrestricted project grants for the creation of innovative, original, and imaginative new artistic works. The State of the Art Prize aims to recognize and support one artist from every U.S. state and inhabited territory. | $50,000 | No | View More |
| 4/2/2026 | Beebe Fellowship | National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine | The Beebe Fellowship program provides an opportunity for a scientist to contribute to the fundamental science at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) in Hiroshima, Japan. The fellowship is intended for mid- to senior-level radiation scientists, data scientists, bioinformaticists, clinical data scientists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians and other scientists in fields relevant to RERF. The fellowship is for 3 or 6 months and will include a stipend and travel expenses to Japan. The program is administrated by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine | $100,000 | No | View More |
| 4/03/2026 | Request for Pilot Grant Research Proposals | Scholars in Health and Alzheimer's Research Engagement (SHARE) | The mission of SHARE is to enhance an Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD)
research workforce and strengthen the science on non-medical drivers of health (NMDoH) and best practices in aging and ADRD. This National Institute of Aging-funded pilot project program will provide financial, curricular, and mentorship support to early-career faculty members to advance ADRD research in community engagement, health communication, and implementation science through a holistic and interdisciplinary approach. Each year, SHARE will accept up to three (3) faculty scholars. |
$12,500 | Yes | View More |
| 4/03/2026 | Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications | National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine | For individuals who are working on the frontlines of science communication, science journalism, or practicing research, and who can demonstrate the potential or ability to develop high-quality, engaging science communications or reporting. | $40,000 | No | View More |
| 4/13/2026 | Sandbox Fund | Sundance Institute | The Sandbox Fund offers grants, engagement events, and other opportunities for independent artists seeking to explore the intrinsic link between science and culture through innovative storytelling. | $100,000 | No | View More |
| 4/15/2026 | EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement: EPSCoR Research Fellows | NSF and NASA | Supports early- and mid-career investigators in eligible jurisdictions to develop collaborations at the nation's private, government or academic research institutions. Investigators may be affiliated with institutions of higher education or nonprofits. | n/a | No | View More |
| 4/15/2026 | McKnight Brain Research Foundation Innovator Awards in Cognitive Aging and Memory Loss | American Federation for Aging Research |
The major goal of the program is to identify emerging scientific leaders by building a cadre of outstanding research scientists across the United States to lead transformative research in the field of cognitive aging. The program targets full-time independent investigators at the rank of Assistant Professor or Associate Professor (or equivalent) with established independent research programs who have already demonstrated a firm commitment to cognitive aging research. It will add substantial start-up support for a period of three years to help these investigators develop and/or expand an outstanding research program in cognitive aging and memory loss. |
$750,000 | No | View More |
| 4/15/2026 | Autism & Neuroscience Conferences and Courses Awards | Simons Foundation | The Autism & Neuroscience division at the Simons Foundation is accepting applications for funding of conferences and courses. This year, conferences and courses that align with the scientific missions of any of the following programs will be prioritized: Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI), with a mission to advance the basic science of autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders, Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain (SCPAB), with a focus on healthy cognitive aging, Simons Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience (SCENE), with a focus on understanding how interacting with the world shapes representations in the brain and mind, and the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain (SCGB), with a focus on the fields of systems and computational neuroscience. | $25,000 | No | View More |
| 4/20/2026 | Fellowships for Advanced Social Science Research on Japan | N/A | The Fellowships for Advanced Social Science Research on Japan program is a joint activity of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission (JUSFC) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The goals of the program are to promote Japan studies in the United States, to encourage U.S.-Japanese scholarly exchange, and to foster the next generation of Japan scholars in the United States. Awards support research and writing on modern Japanese society and political economy, Japan's international relations, and U.S.-Japan relations. The program encourages innovative research that puts these subjects in wider regional and global contexts, is comparative and contemporary in nature, and contributes to scholarly knowledge or to the general public’s understanding. Appropriate disciplines include anthropology, economics, geography, history, international relations, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Awards must lead to a product, such as an article, monograph, book, e-book, digital material, translation, edition, or other scholarly resource. | $60,000 | n/a | View more |
| 4/21/2026 | Shenoy Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Neuroscience (SURFiN) | Simons Foundation | The goal of the Shenoy Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Neuroscience (SURFiN) program is to spark and sustain interest in neuroscience among undergraduate students who have not had access to research training opportunities. SURFiN provides funds for paid, in-person undergraduate research assistantships during the academic year to students living near Simons Foundation-supported laboratories in the U.S., Canada and Europe. | $7,500 | No | View More |
| 4/22/2026 | NEH Fellowships | National Endowment for the Humanities | NEH Fellowships are competitive awards granted to individual scholars pursuing projects that embody exceptional research, rigorous analysis, and clear writing. Applications must clearly articulate a project’s value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both. | $60,000 | No | View More |
| 4/22/2026 | Public Scholars | National Endowment for the Humanities | The Public Scholars program offers grants to individual authors for research, writing, travel, and other activities leading to the creation and publication of well-researched nonfiction books in the humanities written for the broad public. Writers with or without an academic affiliation may apply, and no advanced degree is required. | $60,000 | No | View More |
| 5/1/2026 | Air Force Science & Technology Fellowship Program | National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine | The Air Force Science & Technology Fellowship Program (AF STFP) provides nationally competitive fellowship awards for postdoctoral and senior scientists. Selected individuals have the unique opportunity to engage in collaborative research alongside Air Force scientists and engineers within the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), and the U.S. Space Force (USSF). This program offers high-quality research opportunities, aiming to foster innovation and technological advancement within the Air Force through these collaborations. | $100,000 | No | View More |
| 5/1/2026 | Research Program - Phase 1 | W.M. Keck Foundation | Seeks to benefit humanity by supporting Medical Research and Science & Engineering projects that are distinctive and novel in their approach, question the prevailing paradigm, or have the potential to break open new territory in their field. | n/a | No | View more |
| 5/1/2026 | Research Grants | RRF Foundation for Aging | RRF funds research that seeks to identify interventions, policies and practices to improve the well-being of older adults and/or their caregivers. Preference is given to projects aimed at generating practical knowledge and guidance that can be used by advocates, policy-makers, providers, and the aging network. | N/A | No | View More |
| 5/4/2026 | Innovative Research in Cancer Nanotechnology | NIH | The National Cancer Institute (NCI) encourages applications promoting transformative discoveries in cancer biology and/or oncology through the use of nanotechnology. Proposed projects should address overcoming major barriers in cancer biology and/or oncology using nanotechnology and should focus on mechanistic studies to expand the fundamental understanding of nanomaterial and/or nano-device interactions with biological systems. | $475,000 | No | View More |
| 5/4/2026 | Foundations for Digital Twins as Catalyzers of Biomedical Technological Innovation (FDT-BioTech) | NSF | Supports interdisciplinary research projects that explore the mathematical and engineering foundations behind the development and use of digital twins in biomedical and healthcare applications. | n/a | No | View More |
| 5/7/2026 | Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Investigators | NIH | This Trailblazer Award is an opportunity for NIH-defined New and Early Stage Investigators 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. | $400,000 | No | View More |
| 5/14/2026 | Pivot Fellowship | Simons Foundation | Simons invites applications for the Pivot Fellowship program that will support researchers with a strong track record of success and achievement in their current field, and a deep interest, curiosity and drive to make contributions to a new discipline. | Varies based on salary | No | View More |
| 6/1/2026 | NSF EPSCoR Graduate Fellowship Program (EGFP) | NSF | Supports institutions in EPSCoR jurisdictions by providing funding for graduate fellowships for new or continuing students who received the distinction of NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Honorable Mention within the last three years. | $795,000 | Yes | View More |
| 6/2/2026 | OUCH-Int’l and LCRF Research Grant Program on the Effects of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Carcinogenesis and Lung Cancer Prevalence | Lung Cancer Research Foundation | Increasing evidence indicates that air pollution is a major cause of lung cancer, and the number of estimated lung cancer deaths attributable to air pollution has increased by nearly 30% since 2007, as smoking has decreased and air pollution has increased. OUCH-Int’l and LCRF Research Grant Program on the Effects of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Carcinogenesis and Lung Cancer Prevalence is a two-year award supporting investigators at any level in their career. This award’s objective is to fund innovative projects to support research that examines the impact of climate change and environmental pollution on lung cancer risk, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes and identifies strategies to mitigate these effects. | $200,000 | No | View more |
| 6/25/2026 | Visiting Scholars | Russell Sage Foundation | The Russell Sage Foundation’s Visiting Scholars Program provides a unique opportunity for select scholars in the social, economic, political and behavioral sciences to pursue their data analysis and writing while in residence at the foundation’s headquarters in New York City. | $150,000 | No | View More |
| 6/30/2026 | Scholars Program | William T. Grant Foundation | 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. | $425,000 | Yes | View More |
| 7/1/2026 | Archaeology Program Senior Research Awards (Arch-SR) | NSF | Supports archaeological laboratory and field research with the goal of understanding the processes that have shaped past behavior in humans and their fossil relatives. | n/a | No | View More |
| 7/1/2026 | Cottrell Scholar Award | Research Corporation for Science Advancement | The Cottrell Scholar Award honors and helps develop exceptional teacher-scholars recognized by their scientific communities for the quality and innovation of their research and academic leadership. | $120,000 | No | View More |
| 7/15/2026 | Core Research Grants | Russell Sage Foundation | RSF will only accept letters of inquiry (LOIs) under its core programs for Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context (BSDMC) and Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration (REI) and its special initiative on Immigration and Immigrant Integration (III). | $200,000 | No | View More |
| 7/15/2026 | Online Funding Inquiry | John Templeton Foundation | The Foundation offers grants in support of research and public engagement in the major Funding Areas of Life Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Religion, Science and Society, Public Engagement, Individual Freedom and Free Markets | N/A | No | View More |
| 7/16/2026 | Research Fellowships | American Society for Theatre Research | The purpose of the ASTR Research Fellowships is to underwrite some of the research expenses of scholars undertaking projects significant to the field of theatre and/or performance studies. The fellowships can be used in conjunction with funding from other non-ASTR sources. | $3,000 | No | View More |
| 7/29/2026 | Resarch Grants on Reducing Inequality | William T. Grant Foundation | This program supports research 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. | $600,000 | No | View More |
| 7/29/2026 | Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence | William T. Grant Foundation | This program supports research on strategies focused on improving the use, usefulness, and impact of evidence in ways that benefit young people ages 5-25 in the United States. | $1,000,000 | No | View More |
| 8/04/2026 | Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program NSF 23-519 | NSF | The NSF Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program serves to increase access to multi-user scientific and engineering instrumentation for research and research training. MRI provides support to acquire critical research instrumentation without which advances in fundamental science and engineering research may not otherwise occur. MRI also provides support to obtain next-generation research instruments by developing instruments with new capabilities that open new opportunities to advance the frontiers in science and engineering research. Additionally, an MRI award is expected to enhance research training of students who will become the next generation of instrument users, designers and builders. | n/a | Yes | View more |
| 8/7/2026 | Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program (HEGS) | NSF | The objective of the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program is to support basic scientific research about the nature, causes, consequences, or evolution of the spatial dimensions of human behaviors, activities, and dynamics as well as their interactions with environmental and social processes across a range of scales. Contemporary geographical research encompasses diverse research traditions and methodologies. Recognizing the breadth of the field’s contributions to science, the HEGS Program welcomes proposals for empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, methodologically rigorous, and generalizable research that advances geographical and geospatial sciences. | n/a | No | View more |
| 8/17/2026 | Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards (CA-SR) | NSF | The primary objective of the Cultural Anthropology Program is to support fundamental, systematic anthropological research and training to increase understanding of the causes, consequences and complexities of human social and cultural variability. The Cultural Anthropology Program welcomes proposals from researchers in all sub-fields of cultural anthropology and research at any temporal or spatial scale. Methodologies and approaches employed may include ethnographic field research, surveys, remote sensing, the collection of bio-markers, experimental research inside or outside of laboratory settings, archival research, the analysis of materials collections and extant data bases, mathematical and computational modeling and other research tools as appropriate for the proposed research. The overarching research goals should be to produce empirically grounded findings that will be generalizable beyond particular case studies and contribute to building a more robust anthropological science of human society and culture. | n/a | No | View more |
| 9/01/2026 | History of Art Grants | Kress Foundation | The History of Art Grants program supports scholarly projects that will enhance the appreciation and understanding of European works of art and architecture from antiquity to the early 19th century. Grants are awarded to projects, including those incorporating the use of digital methodologies and tools, that create and disseminate specialized knowledge, such as archival projects, development and dissemination of scholarly databases, documentation projects, museum exhibitions and publications, photographic campaigns, scholarly catalogues and publications, and technical and scientific studies. | Varies | No | View More |
| 9/01/2026 | Furthermore | J.M. Kaplan Fund | Furthermore grants assist nonfiction books having to do with art, architecture, and design; cultural history, the city, and related public issues; and conservation and preservation. We look for work that appeals to an informed general audience, gives evidence of high standards in writing, design, and production, and promises a reasonable shelf life. | $12,000 | No | View More |
| 9/15/2026 | Production and Presentation Grants | Graham Foundation | These grants assist individuals with the production-related expenses that are necessary to take a project from conceptualization to realization and public presentation. These projects include, but are not limited to, exhibitions, installations; film/video/new media web initiatives; public programs; and publications. | $15,000 | No | View More |
| 9/15/2026 | Fulbright Global Scholar Award | Fulbright Scholar Program | The Fulbright Global Scholar Award allows U.S. academics and professionals to engage in multi-country, multi-regional projects. As a truly worldwide award, U.S. scholars will be able to propose research or combined teaching/research activity in two to three countries within two different world regions with flexible schedule options; trips can be conducted within one academic year or spread over two consecutive years. | Varies | No | View More |
| 10/21/2026 | Sheldon Danziger Pipeline Grants | Russell Sage Foundation | The Sheldon Danziger Pipeline Grants Competition seeks to support early-career scholars (Assistant Professors, Lecturers and Adjunct Assistant Professors) and promote diversity by prioritizing applications from scholars who are underrepresented in the social sciences and/or employed at under-resourced colleges and universities. | $65,000 | No | View More |
| TBD | Landmarks of American History and Culture for Higher Education | NEH | Landmarks of American History and Culture programs for higher education, advanced graduate students, and humanities professionals situate the study of topics and themes in the humanities within sites, areas, or regions of historic and cultural significance to expand participants’ knowledge of and approaches to teaching diverse histories, cultures, and perspectives in the United States and its jurisdictions. | $190,000 | n/a | View more |
| TBD | Institutes for Higher Education Faculty | NEH | NEH-funded institutes are professional development programs that convene higher education faculty from across the nation to deepen their understanding of significant topics in the humanities and enrich their capacity for effective scholarship and teaching. | $220,000 | n/a | View more |
| n/a | Infrastructure Innovation for Biological Research (Innovation) | NSF | The Infrastructure Innovation for Biological Research Program (Innovation) supports research to design novel or greatly improved research tools and methods that advance contemporary biology in any research area supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences at NSF. The Innovation Program focuses on research infrastructure that is broadly applicable to researchers in three programmatic areas: Bioinformatics, Instrumentation, and Research Methods. | n/a | No | View more |
| n/a | Infrastructure Capacity for Biological Research (Capacity) | NSF | The Infrastructure Capacity for Biological Research (Capacity) Program supports the implementation of, scaling of, or major improvements to research tools, products, and services that advance contemporary biology in any research area supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences at NSF. The Capacity Program focuses on building capacity in research infrastructure that is broadly applicable to a wide range of researchers in three programmatic areas: Cyberinfrastructure, Biological Collections, and Biological Field Stations and Marine Laboratories | n/a | No | View more |
| n/a | Various (see website) | NIH | NIH grant opportunities are numerous and regularly changing across a wide array of component agencies. | n/a | N/A | View more |