Deadline: 2-Jun-21
The Spencer Foundation has launched The Racial Equity Special Research Grants Program to support education research projects that will contribute to understanding and ameliorating racial inequality in education.
The goal of this program is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious, and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in relation to racial equity in education.
The Foundation is interested in funding studies that aim to understand and disrupt the reproduction and deepening of educational inequality in education and seek to remake and imagine new forms of equitable education. Thus, they are also interested in research projects that are working toward transforming systems by reimagining educational opportunities in a multiplicity of education systems, levels, settings, and developmental ranges and that reach beyond documenting conditions and paradigms that contribute to persistent racial inequalities.
This program is “field-initiated” in that proposal submissions are not required to focus on a particular research topic, discipline, design, or method. They hope that scholars will identify the most compelling and needed areas of research. For instance, scholars might focus on: Instructional challenges and innovations; racial and geographic disparities and promising directions for engaging and supporting children, families, and communities; informal learning environments and informal educators; assessment challenges and opportunities; social-emotional learning and well-being; educator and leader development, identity, and well-being; digital learning environments; systems change and policy-making; intersections between housing, health, and education.
Funding Information
- Proposed budgets for this program are limited to $75,000 total and may not include indirect cost charges per Spencer’s policy.
- Projects proposed may not be longer than 5 years in duration.
Eligibility Criteria
- Proposals to the Racial Equity Research Grants program must be for academic research projects that will contribute to understanding and ameliorating racial inequality in education, broadly conceived. Proposals for activities other than research are not eligible (e.g., program evaluations, professional development, curriculum development, scholarships, capital projects). Additionally, proposals for research studies focused on areas other than education, are not eligible.
- Principal Investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs applying for a Racial Equity Research Grant must have an earned doctorate in an academic discipline or professional field, or appropriate experience in an education research-related profession. While graduate students may be part of the research team, they may not be named the PI or Co-PI on the proposal.
- The PI must be affiliated with a non-profit organization that is willing to serve as the administering organization if the grant is awarded. The Spencer Foundation does not award grants directly to individuals. Examples include non-profit colleges, universities, school districts, and research facilities, as well as other non-profit organizations with a 501(c)(3) determination from the IRS.
- Proposals are accepted from the U.S. and internationally, however, all proposals must be submitted in English and budgets must be proposed in U.S. Dollars.
For more information, visit https://www.spencer.org/grant_types/racial-equity-special-research-grants