Grant Amount: Using the form included in the online application, provide budget information for five years. The total budget should be exactly $350,000 (including the combined direct and indirect costs for the full grant period). Indirect costs may not exceed 7.5% of total direct costs. Requests to fund recipient’s salary must not exceed 50% of the total salary received from the sponsoring institution. The portion of the grant used for salary must be equivalent to the time made available for research by this award. The remainder of funds may be used to support research-related work. (The Foundation pays expenses related to the Scholars’ participation in Foundation-sponsored meetings.)
Summary: 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.
Applicants should have a track record of conducting high-quality research and an interest in pursuing a significant shift in their trajectories as researchers. We recognize that early-career researchers are rarely given incentives or support to take measured risks in their work, so this award includes a mentoring component, as well as a supportive academic community.
Researchers interested in applying for a William T. Grant Scholars Award must select one focus area: 1) Reducing inequality in youth outcomes, or 2) Improving the use of research evidence in decisions that affect young people. Proposed research must address questions that align with one of these areas.
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Reducing Inequality: In this focus area, we support studies 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, language minority status, or immigrant origins.
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Improving the Use of Research Evidence: In this focus area, we fund research studies that advance theory and build empirical knowledge on ways to improve the use of research evidence by policymakers, agency leaders, organizational managers, intermediaries, and other decision-makers that shape youth-serving systems in the United States. While an extensive body of knowledge provides a rich understanding of specific conditions that foster the use of research evidence, we lack robust, validated strategies for cultivating them. What is required to create structural and social conditions that support research use? What infrastructure is needed, and what will it look like? What supports and incentives foster research use? And, ultimately, how do youth outcomes fare when research evidence is used? This is where new research can make a difference.
For more information on specific research areas within the above focus areas, please see the full RFP linked below.
Eligibility:
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Applicants must be nominated by their institutions. Major divisions of an institution (e.g., College of Arts and Sciences, Medical School) may nominate only one applicant each year. In addition to the eligibility criteria below, deans and directors of those divisions should refer to the Selection Criteria to aid them in choosing their nominees. Applicants of any discipline are eligible.
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Applicants must have received their terminal degree within seven years of submitting their application. We calculate this by adding seven to the year the doctoral degree was conferred. In medicine, the seven-year maximum is dated from the completion of the first residency. The month in which the degree was conferred or residency completed does not matter for this calculation.
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Applicants must be employed in career-ladder positions. For many applicants, this means holding a tenure-track position in a university. Applicants in other types of organizations should be in positions in which there is a pathway to advancement in a research career at the organization and the organization is fiscally responsible for the applicant’s position. The award may not be used as a post-doctoral fellowship.
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Applicants outside the United States are eligible. As with U.S. applicants, they must pursue research that has compelling policy or practice implications for youth in the United States.
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We strive to support a diverse group of researchers in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and seniority, and we encourage research projects led by Black or African American, Indigenous, Latinx, and/or Asian or Pacific Islander American researchers.
Required Materials for GW’s Selection Process: GW is eligible to nominate 1 applicant from each major division (e.g., CCAS, SMHS, etc.), interested applicants should upload the following materials to OVPR INFOREADY by May 22, 2024 @ 1:00pm:
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A concept paper of no more than 3 pages that describes the 5-year research plan including
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the unique contribution of the research
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its significance in terms of policy and/or practice
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a description of the mentoring plan with new areas of expertise that will be developed during the award and the rationale for the selection of the mentors
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Curriculum Vitae
*Please note, if selected as one of GW’s nominees, three letters of recommendation must be submitted from colleagues, supervisors, or the department/division chairperson who nominates the applicant, respectively. Proposed mentors may not submit recommendation letters.
Full Details: https://wtgrantfoundation.org/funding/william-t-grant-scholars-program
Timeline:
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May 22, 2024 @ 1:00pm: Applicant materials due to OVPR INFOREADY.
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June 12, 2024 @ 3:00pm EST: Mentor and Reference Letter Deadline to Foundation
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July 3, 2024 @ 3:00pm EST: Application Deadline for Foundation
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March 2025: Announcement of Awards
For questions, please contact Dorcas Blue, Executive Director, Foundation Relations, at [email protected].