Dear Colleague Letter: Catalyzing Human-Centered Solutions through Research and Innovation in Science, the Environment and Society

Overview

The National Science Foundation (NSF) seeks to build research capacity and infrastructure to address complex and compounding national and global crises whose solutions require a human-centered approach. To help generate effective and long-lasting solutions that benefit the U.S. public, NSF is providing this funding opportunity to inform possible future Centers for Research and Innovation in Science, the Environment and Society (CRISES).

The envisioned centers will catalyze new research and research-based innovations to address seemingly intractable problems that confront our society. They will develop evidence-based solutions that address fundamental quality-of-life issues, such as those involving the environment, extreme weather and sustainability; workforce and the economy; equity and access to opportunities; and well-being.

This funding opportunity is led by NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE) in partnership with NSF's directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Geosciences (GEO).

In this first call, NSF invites proposals of the following types that will bring together experts across disciplines to seed ideas and help inform the possible full-scale implementation of a CRISES center:

• Conference proposals 
• Planning proposals 

Proposals must include the following:

• A lead principal investigator who is a social, behavioral or economic scientist (with a degree in the SBE sciences or significant publications in SBE journals).
• A focus on at least one program area currently supported by the SBE directorate.
• Planned activities that will bring together experts from a range of disciplines to explore the creation of a center to study and develop solutions to one or more pressing societal issues.

• NSF anticipates funding up to 12 awards through this opportunity.
• Proposal titles should start with "Planning: CRISES:" or “Conference: CRISES:”.
• Prior to submission of a planning proposal, prospective PIs are required to submit a research concept outline of up to two pages that includes the project title, team members, institutions involved and a summary of the project concept. Concept outlines should be submitted by email to [email protected] by May 26, 2023.