Grant Support

SSRI Seed Grants

SSRI offers several types of funding for researchers working in the social sciences. We have different levels of funding, as well as funding that is specific to different institutes, types of research, and services offered. For more information, please click here.

PRI Seed Grants

PRI puts out two calls per year for seed grant funding that are interdisciplinary, innovative, likely to have special scientific impact, and related to our signature themes.

Award of up to $10,000 provide support to develop proposals for external funding. Activities supported by new seed funding may include a course buyout for the lead investigator at a flat rate of $7,500, which has been negotiated with PRI-affiliated academic departments.

Other services and research needs may also be supported such as:

• Pilot data collection
• Research site visits
• Consultant travel
• Bioassay work
• Special census tabulations
• Supplementary research assistance

*Hardware purchases are not supported through the seed funding program.

Seed funding proposals will be judged by the:

• Clarity of the proposal
• Demographic importance of the research problem and questions
• Innovativeness
• Appropriateness of the proposed procedures
• Clear time table for external funding submission plans
• Likelihood that the objectives will be achieved

All Penn State PRI appointed Associates are invited to apply. Collaborators may come from outside PRI.

Proposals are evaluated by an internal committee comprised of PRI Associates. Expenditures of awards can begin immediately and must be spent within a year of receipt. Seed grant recipients are expected to submit a proposal for external funding and a short annual progress report to PRI (required each year until the proposal is submitted).

Additionally, new investigators (who have never been PI on a funded project) are expected to attend monthly peer mentoring meetings, and experienced investigators are expected to provide feedback at least once on a colleague’s grant application.

Please contact Sarah Damaske, PRI Associate Director, for further information.

Team Grants

PRI Innovation, Collaboration and Leadership Internal Grant Competition:

The Population Research Institute at the Pennsylvania State University sponsors team grants aimed at building new collaborative, interdisciplinary research teams. The primary goal of this internal grant competition is to foster the development of at least one new team of researchers that can develop an innovative research program that will be sustained by the receipt of multiple external awards. This must include at least one submission to the PDB of NICHD, including the first application, but may also include additional submissions to other branches and Institutes within NIH or other funding agencies and foundations.

We value teams composed of researchers from more than one academic department, proposals that incorporate more than one PRI research area and those teams with a combination of new investigators and senior scholars. We strongly encourage the PRI working groups to discuss this opportunity and to consider brainstorming new ideas either within a single working group or across two groups with potential for collaboration.

Questions?
Contact: Nicole Sharkey, Project Manager, Population Research Institute, PSU