Research Funding OpportunitiesDescription: Award provides direct support to under-recognized visual artists 21 years or older.
Award: Up to $10,000.
Eligibility: Self-defined, under-recognized visual artists 21 years or older who are U.S. citizens are eligible to apply. Current students are ineligible. Previous recipients of a direct artist grant from Harpo are ineligible.
Deadline: April 30, 2021
Description: Supporting work that is led by those most impacted by injustice, the Movement Infrastructure Fund invests in movements that work to dismantle and disrupt extractive, exploitative, and oppressive systems. In 2021, Solidaire is interested in movement infrastructure proposals that support resistance through systems and tools, as well as proposals that build transformative futures through agency and scale. Examples include: starting or expanding a community-owned broadband initiative; building out communications tools or staff to advance narrative or culture change; expanding organizers in rural places; or campaigns for local housing solutions. Examples of movement infrastructure include buildings and land, new incorporations or entities, democratic governance structures, expertise and skill building, system development and sustained people power. Solidaire welcomes participatory research projects that are led by/informed by folks directly impacted and which look to create or invest more deeply in movement infrastructure projects with broad impact.
Award: Grants range from $20,000 to $200,000.
Eligibility: Work should be led by the most directly impacted people working on the front lines. Grant requests may be to support work for 12-24 months or for multi-year support (3-5 years). Organizations or groups must have an organizational budget under $3M. Grants can support C3, C4, LLCs, and other vehicles.
Deadline: 11:59 pm PST, April 23, 2021
Description: Seeks to identify, support and elevate innovators who are spearheading transformative early-stage projects in the fields of social justice (buttressing democracy, voter education, and reforms to the criminal justice and immigration systems); the environment (slowing the pace of climate change and mitigating climate impacts); and heritage conservation. Prize is awarded to projects/ideas that: represent a game-changing answer to a clearly identified need; are innovative within one or more of the Fund’s three program areas; demonstrate the potential to develop an actionable pilot/prototype with Prize funding; and hold out the promise to benefit multiple individuals, communities, or sectors through a clearly articulated theory of change.
Award: Up to 10 prizes, each including a cash award of $150,000 over three years, plus $25,000 in technical assistance funds. Awardees also receive guidance through the Fund and its resource network.
Eligibility: Individuals or teams representing non-profit or for-profit organizations are eligible to apply.
Deadline: First round applications due April 30, 2021. Select applicants will be invited to submit a more detailed second-round application in late spring.
Description: The USC Lusk Center for Real Estate is pleased to announce the availability of research awards beginning in July 2021. The stipends are to facilitate high-quality research that will eventually be published in the leading scientific journals. The broad topics should be related to real estate and urban issues. The Lusk Center is especially interested in proposals that focus on housing and real estate finance, non-residential real estate, urban entrepreneurship, urban poverty and segregation, neighborhood change, and local taxes and housing regulation. Studies can focus on the U.S. or any other country.
Award: Up to $25,000 per faculty member and $15,000 per postdoc or Ph.D. student.
Eligibility: USC faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, and Ph.D. students are eligible to apply.
Deadline: April 30, 2021
Description: Solve seeks innovative, human-centered, tech-based solutions to Global Challenges. Their definition of “tech-based” is broad: in addition to AI, blockchain, and virtual reality, Solver teams have leveraged a plant-based fiber that absorbs oil spills, biodegradable sanitary pads, and user-friendly mobile. See website for more info on the diverse technologies used by Solver teams. The 2021 Global Challenges are: Antiracist Technology in the U.S.; Digital Inclusion; Equitable Classrooms; Health Security & Pandemics; and Resilient Ecosystems.
Award: Finalists will pitch their solutions to a panel of expert judges and an audience of 400+ leaders at Solve Challenge Finals in September during UN General Assembly Week in NYC. Selected solvers will join a supportive community of social impact leaders, funders, and experts to help advance their innovative work through Solve’s nine-month program; receive mentorship and strategic advice from Solve/MIT networks; attend the Solve at MIT flagship event in May; and receive access to funding. All solutions will receive a $10,000 grant. Additional prizes/funding are available for specific challenges. See website for more info.
Eligibility: Anyone (individuals, teams, organizations), anywhere around the world can submit a solution to Solve’s Global Challenges. Applicants from previous years and current/alumni Solver teams are welcome to apply. However, the proposed solution must be new and not one previously selected by Solve.
Deadline: 12 pm ET, June 16, 2021
Description: The National Academy of Design invites artists, architects, arts and community-based organizations, and other nonprofits to submit applications for the 2021 Abbey Mural Prize, which awards grants to support the commission of public murals in the United States. Building on a tradition of public murals as instruments of social activism, neighborhood revitalization, and community engagement, the Abbey Mural Prize aims to broaden support and recognition of the vital role that murals play in making public space more open and accessible. Grants will be awarded for the creation or restoration of public murals, especially those that promote accessibility, serve local audiences, and inspire community dialogue. The Academy will hold an Abbey Mural Prize Information Session on March 23, 2021.
Award: Grants typically range from $10,000 to $40,000 USD in minimally restricted support for the production and installation of mural(s) on and within public buildings and on buildings owned by charitable institutions.
Eligibility: Applications are open to all artists, architects, designers, as well as arts and community-based organizations and other nonprofits. Project leads must be eighteen years of age or over. Project proposals must be for sites located within the United States, Tribal Nations, and U.S. territories including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Projects must be public and have start dates before June 30, 2022.
Deadline: April 23, 2021
Description: From 2020 to 2023, the scientific and artistic collaboration Driving the Human will develop and produce seven tangible prototypes responding to complex contemporary scenarios. The project is jointly led by four partner institutions – acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering, Forecast, the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design and ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe – and relies on the expert knowledge and skills of their combined networks. Driving the Human invites designers, artists, and other multidisciplinary agents to engage with these knowledge networks and multidisciplinary know-how in order to develop future-proof concepts and test them as prototypes. The seven final prototypes can materialize in different ways: from installations to designed objects, architectural mock-ups to interactive games, video works to performances, and many others. Throughout 2023, the community that Driving the Human brings together will explore diverse phenomena such as the social impact of global warming, energy cycles and technology-driven disruptions, the impact of collective decision making, and contemporary processes of exchanging values and objects. Ultimately, they will create tools that enable new ways of envisioning and inhabiting the world.
Award: After an initial review, 21 proposals will be presented at the Driving the Human event in Berlin in Oct. 2021. These participants receive an artist fee and travel/accommodation. From the 21, seven finalists will be selected to develop their projects with support from Driving Partner institutions. Each participant receives an artist fee and a production budget to realize their prototype. Final prototypes will be presented to the public in Berlin in Dec. 2022.
Eligibility: Anyone may apply. Creative minds from anywhere in the world, working in a variety of disciplines, are invited to submit proposals for eco-social renewal.
Deadline: 11:59 pm CET, April 9, 2021
Description: Provides funding for innovative research that develops new technologies or adapts existing technologies to preserve cultural resources. Grant recipients undertake innovative research and produce technical reports which respond to national needs in the field of historic preservation. PTT grants will support the following activities: innovative research that develops new technologies or adapts existing technologies to preserve cultural resources (typically $20,000); specialized workshops or symposia that identify and address national preservation needs (typically $15,000 to $20,000); and how-to videos, mobile applications, podcasts, best practices publications, or webinars that disseminate practical preservation methods or provide better tools for preservation practice (typically $5,000 to $15,000).
Award: $5,000-20,000
Eligibility: Federal agencies, states, tribes, local governments, and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply.
Deadline: 5 pm MT, March 15, 2021
Description: Supports research collaborations among faculty and students working on interdisciplinary societally-relevant research topics, such as pandemic-related topics, equity and inclusion, climate change, neuroscience, mindfulness and behavioral science, digital humanities, and climate change, among many others. The aim of these awards is not to fund specific research projects, but rather to support teams of faculty who aim to establish or foster a community of scholars at USC organized around a broad topic of shared interest. Proposals are sought that creatively overcome current pandemic limitations on travel and in-person meetings, proposing new and engaging ways to bring people together with activities that develop the impact of the collaborative group. Proposed activities should establish the foundation for members of the collaborative group to create new research projects as well as contribute to strengthening the individual research programs of its members and others as USC. Encouraged activities include an educational component, providing students an opportunity to not only participate but assist in the design and organization of events. See website for full RFP.
Award: Collaboration Fund Grants provide up to $30,000/year; awards will be made for a three-year period, subject to an annual progress review and activity plan, and continued availability of funding. At the end of three years, collaborations may reapply, on a competitive basis, for an additional three years of funding.
Eligibility: Awards under this program are made through a competitive process, based on proposals submitted by a team of faculty investigators whose primary appointments are in different schools (at least two). The collaboration should engage a large number (normally 10 or more) of participating faculty. In addition to the representation from two schools at USC, team of faculty may include key collaborators from non-USC organizations or institutes with which the group will interact.
Deadline: 5 pm PT, April 5, 2021
Description: The E-ROBOT Prize is designed to catalyze the development of minimally invasive, low-cost, and holistic building envelope retrofit solutions that make retrofits easier, faster, safer, and more accessible for workers. Competitors participate in two phases that will fast-track efforts to identify, develop, and validate disruptive solutions to meet building industry needs. Phase 1 – Concept and Design: In this phase, teams are expected to present an innovative idea that solves a known industry problem for building envelope retrofits. This phase focuses on proving that the solution solves a critical building envelope need, developing a concept and design, and forming a team capable of achieving success. Up to 10 Phase 1 winners will win $200,000 and will then be eligible to compete in Phase 2. Phase 2 – Build and Validate: Winning competitors from Phase 1 will take their individual components add the other required functionality to create a holistic, and “turnkey,” integrated product offering. In Phase 2, up to four winners will win $500,000.
Award: Phase 1: $200,000 per winning team (up to 10); Phase 2: $500,000 per winning team (up to 4)
Eligibility: Competitors are entrepreneurial individuals or teams legally residing or based in the United States. Competitors can be individuals of one or multiple organizations, students, university faculty members, small business owners, researchers, or anyone with the desire and drive to transform an idea into an impactful solution.
Deadline: 5 pm ET, May 12, 2021