Eligibility

All PIs and Co-PIs must have a doctorate. In rare circumstances, RSF may consider applications from scholars who do not hold a doctorate but can demonstrate a strong career background that establishes their ability to conduct high-level, peer-reviewed scholarly research. Core research grants have no restrictions on nationality or institution location.

Assistant Professor, Adjunct Assistant Professors and Lecturers who have not received an RSF research grant previously (not including Dissertation Research Grants) are eligible to apply. Applicants must meet these requirements as of the submission deadline. The program prioritizes disciplinary diversity and encourages applications from scholars who are underrepresented in the social sciences and/or employed at under-resourced universities. There are no restrictions on nationality or institution location.

Post-doctoral fellows are not eligible to be PIs, but they can be supported by the grant as research assistants. Full professors and associate professors, and professors who have previously received RSF funding are eligible to be co-PIs on projects but cannot receive salary support or conference travel funds.

Applicants must be tenure-track assistant professors at a college or university in the U.S. by August 1 of the application year. Applicants who have received prior RSF funding are eligible to apply, however we especially encourage applicants who have not previously received RSF support. The program prioritizes disciplinary diversity and encourages applications from scholars who are underrepresented in the social sciences and/or employed at under-resourced universities. There are no restrictions on nationality.

Post-doctoral fellows are not eligible to be PIs or co-PIs but can be supported by the grant as research assistants. Associate professors are eligible to be co-PIs on projects but cannot receive salary support or funds for conference travel. Full professors cannot be co-PIs.

Applicants must be doctoral students who have completed all program requirements except the dissertation. Before funds are released (not necessary at the time of application), an applicant whose proposal is selected for a grant must have their dissertation supervisor document that the dissertation research (a) is the same research that was described in the DRG grant application and (b) has been approved by the dissertation committee. If your discipline, department, or institution does not use this process to approve dissertation proposals, please email programs@rsage.org to see if you or your project is at the appropriate stage for RSF support. These grants will support all aspects of dissertation research (data collection, data preparation, data analysis, and writing), but they are not intended for students who have completed data collection and propose to spend the entire grant period finishing the dissertation.

There is a lifetime limit of one dissertation research grant per applicant. RSF encourages applications from scholars who are traditionally underrepresented in the social sciences or based at under-resourced institutions.

Eligibility is limited to students at institutions based in the United States. There are no restrictions on nationality.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. or comparable terminal degree, or a career background that establishes their ability to conduct high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarly research. Applicants must be at least two years beyond the Ph.D. at the application deadline.

The Foundation will consider applications from groups of two, and in some exceptional circumstances, up to three scholars, who are collaborating on a common research project.

Individuals are allowed a maximum of two visits to RSF as a Visiting Scholar. A former visiting scholar may apply for a second fellowship that would begin no earlier than seven years after their first visit. However, because of the limited number of scholars selected each year and the high-quality of the applications, first-time applicants, all else equal, receive priority.

Applicants must be several years beyond the Ph.D. and have a publications record and current research project that is relevant to the Foundation’s program areas. Priority will be given to RSF-sponsored grantees and scholars who are seeking to complete existing work, although we welcome applications from scholars carrying out innovative work related to our current program areas.