Wednesday, October 31, 2012

NSF Cultural Anthropology Program


The primary objective of the Cultural Anthropology Program is to support basic scientific research on the causes, consequences, and complexities of human social and cultural variability. Anthropological research spans a wide gamut, and contemporary cultural anthropology is an arena in which diverse research traditions and methodologies are valid. Recognizing the breadth of the field’s contributions to science, the Cultural Anthropology Program welcomes proposals for empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, and methodologically sophisticated research in all sub-fields of cultural anthropology. Because the National Science Foundation’s mandate is to support basic research, the NSF Cultural Anthropology Program does not fund research that takes as its primary goal improved clinical practice or applied policy. Program research priorities include, but are not limited to, research that increases our understanding of:

  • Socio-cultural drivers of critical anthropogenic processes such as deforestation, desertification, land cover change, urbanization, and poverty
  • Resilience and robustness of socio-cultural systems
  • Conflict, cooperation, and altruism
  • Economy, culture, migration, and globalization
  • Variability and change in kinship and family norms and practices
  • Cultural and social contexts of health and disease
  • Social regulation, governmentality, and violence
  • Origins of complexity in socio-cultural systems
  • Language and culture: orality and literacy, sociolinguistics, and cognition
  • Human variation through empirically grounded ethnographic descriptions
  • Mathematical and computational models of sociocultural systems such as social network analysis, agent-based models, and integration of agent-based models with geographic information systems (GIS)


Amount note:The award amount varies, depending on grant category. Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (DDRIG) Program budget requests may not exceed $20,000. There is no ceiling on senior proposal budgets, but a typical award rarely exceeds $100,000 per year of the award, including indirect costs. Faculty Scholars Program awards are for up to 12 months and for a maximum of $50,000. Grants for Rapid The Cultural Anthropology program funding limit for Response Research (RAPID) and EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) is $25,000 including direct costs. Awards are limited to $5,000 for Research Experience for Graduate Students (REG) Supplements and $4,000 for Reserch Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Supplements. Funding amounts for workshops, training programs (training workshops, short courses, and fieldwork programs), and Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Grants is unspecified. 


Deadline: January 15, 2013

Read full solicitation

FY 2013 Coastal Resilience Networks

The Department of Commerce is soliciting grant proposals from eligible organizations to implement activities that enhance resilience of coastal communities to natural hazard and climate risks through a regional or national network. Proposals must leverage, enhance, or create a system in which one or more coastal hazard issues can be addressed through partnerships to improve coordination and collaboration throughout the region. Partnerships must include multiple institutions, disciplines, and sectors at the local, state, and federal level. Proposals submitted in response to this announcement should provide beneficial public outcomes for coastal communities to address existing and potential future climate and hazard risks to coastal infrastructure, local economies, vulnerable populations, and the natural environment. Eligible funding applicants are: regional authorities, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, and state, territorial, and county/local governments. The funding applicants must conduct projects in one or more of the following three U.S. regions: the U.S. Flag Pacific Islands (Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), Gulf of Mexico Coast (Alabama, Gulf Coast of Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) and West Coast (California, Oregon, and Washington). 

Award Ceiling: $100,000

Deadlines:
Letters of Intent - 11/19/2012 
Full Proposals - 1/11/2013 

Read full solicitation

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Hydrologic Sciences

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Hydrologic Sciences program focuses on the flow of water and transport processes within streams, soils, and aquifers. Particular attention is given to spatial and temporal heterogeneity of fluxes and storages of water, particles, and chemicals coupling across interfaces with the landscape, microbial communities, and coastal environments, to upscaling and downscaling given these heterogeneities and interfaces and how these processes are altered by climate and land use changes. Studies may address aqueous geochemistry as well as physical, chemical, and biological processes within water bodies. These studies commonly involve expertise from many basic sciences and mathematics, and proposals often require joint review with related programs.

Anticipated funding is $7,900,000, annually. The estimated number of awards is 30 to 40 standard or continuing grants or cooperative agreements per year. Awards are generally made within 6 to 7 months of the proposal submission date for successful proposals.

Deadline: December 5, 2012

Read entire solicitation

Monday, October 22, 2012

Centers for Water Research on National Priorities Related to a Systems View of Nutrient Management


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program is seeking applications to establish Centers to conduct water research and demonstration projects that are innovative and sustainable using a systems approach for nutrient management in the Nation’s waters.
This Request for Applications (RFA) is soliciting proposals that take a systems view of nutrient management.  A systems view of nutrient management considers every potential link in the breadth of possibilities that may influence water quality.  These involve societal and technological considerations and may include, but are not limited to:  local resources, prevailing land uses, watershed health, manure management, energy costs, municipal wastewater treatment, in-building water reuse, or nutrient resource recovery.  A systems view would also consider valuation of monetized and non-monitized possible co-benefits and consequences (e.g., decreased sediment runoff, improved recreational value) which may be part of a nutrient management program. 

Solicitation Closing Date: January 15, 2013

Potential Funding per Award: Up to a total of $2,500,000 in federal funds, including direct and indirect costs, with a maximum duration of 4 years.  Each applicant must contribute a minimum 10% match which may include in-kind contributions. 

Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program


USDA/NIFA announces it's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program,  a competitive grant program to provide funding for fundamental and applied research, education, and extension to address food and agricultural sciences. Grants shall be awarded to address priorities in United States agriculture in the following areas:

1. Plant health and production and plant products;
2. Animal health and production and animal products;
3. Food safety, nutrition, and health;
4. Renewable energy, natural resources, and environment;
5. Agriculture systems and technology; and
6. Agriculture economics and rural communities.


Letter of Intent Deadline - November 20, 2012 (5:00 p.m. ET)
Application Deadline – February 18, 2013 (5:00 p.m. ET)

Standard Grants must not exceed $500,000 total (including indirect costs) for project periods of up to 5 years. 

Read full solicitation

Thursday, October 11, 2012

NSF's Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research (IBSS)


The Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research (IBSS) competition promotes the conduct of interdisciplinary research by teams of investigators in the social and behavioral sciences. Emphasis is placed on support for research that involves researchers from multiple disciplinary fields, that integrates scientific theoretical approaches and methodologies from multiple disciplinary fields, and that is likely to yield generalizable insights and information that will advance basic knowledge and capabilities across multiple disciplinary fields. 


There are two types of projects that may be supported by IBSS:
  • IBSS Large Interdisciplinary Research Projects (with maximum award sizes of $1,000,000)
  • IBSS Interdisciplinary Team Exploratory Projects (with maximum award sizes of $250,000)

Deadline: January 23, 2013


Read full solicitation

Friday, October 5, 2012

NEH's Collaborative Research Grants


Collaborative Research Grants through the National Endowment for the Humanities support interpretive humanities research undertaken by a team of two or more scholars, for full-time or part-time activities for periods of a minimum of one year up to a maximum of three years. Support is available for various combinations of scholars, consultants, and research assistants; project-related travel; field work; applications of information technology; and technical support and services. All grantees are expected to communicate the results of their work to the appropriate scholarly and public audiences.
Eligible projects include
  • research that significantly adds to knowledge and understanding of the humanities;
  • conferences on topics of major importance in the humanities that will benefit scholarly research;
  • archaeological projects that include the interpretation and communication of results (projects may encompass excavation, materials analysis, laboratory work, field reports, and preparation of interpretive monographs); and
  • research that uses the knowledge and perspectives of the humanities and historical or philosophical methods to enhance understanding of science, technology, medicine, and the social sciences.
Awards are made for a minimum of one year up to a maximum of three years and normally range from $25,000 to $100,000 per year. Awards for conferences are typically made for a minimum of one year and normally range from $15,000 to $65,000 per grant.

Deadline: December 6, 2012