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Research Priorities

The foundation currently supports four core programs: Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context; Future of Work; Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; and Social, Political, and Economic Inequality.

In addition, RSF currently sponsors two special initiatives: Immigration and Immigrant Integration and Promoting Educational Attainment and Economic Mobility among Racially, Ethnically, and Economically Diverse Groups after the 2023 Supreme Court Decision to Ban Race-Conscious Admissions at Colleges and Universities.

RSF’s Pipeline Grants Competition, funded in collaboration with the Economic Mobility and Opportunity Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, seeks to promote diversity in the social sciences broadly, including racial, ethnic, gender, disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity.

RSF, in collaboration with the Criminal Justice program at Arnold Ventures, launched an annual grants competition for early-career scholars, Causal Research on the Criminal Justice System (CRCJ) to cultivate a pipeline of researchers conducting causal research on the criminal justice system.

RSF's Dissertation Research Grants program supports innovative and high-quality dissertation research projects that address questions relevant to RSF’s priority areas.

Crowded pedestrian overpass with people walking in both directions, many in casual or business attire, under a covered walkway in an urban setting.
Behavioral Science & Decision Making in Context
Food delivery cyclist wearing a blue jacket and large blue insulated backpack, riding down a city street with cars parked along the side.
Future of Work
Person holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign at a protest, with a blurred crowd and building in the background.
Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration
Person wearing a thick coat and gloves outside with a cardboard sign that says "Affordable Housing Now!"
Social, Political, and Economic Inequality
Several people waiting in a line indoors under a sign that reads "Immigration - Migración"
Immigration and Immigrant Integration
A diverse group of students sitting in front of a professor and the blackboard of a college-level math class
Race-Conscious College Admissions Ban
Three people having a discussion in a professional environment
Early Career Awards
Long shelves full of books in a library
Past Research Priorities
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