William T. Grant Scholars Program

Overview

The William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas. 

Applicants should have a track record of conducting high-quality research and an interest in pursuing a significant shift in their trajectories as researchers. We recognize that early-career researchers are rarely given incentives or support to take measured risks in their work, so this award includes a mentoring component, as well  as a supportive academic community.

The Foundation supports research in two distinct focus areas: 1) Reducing inequality in youth outcomes, and 2) Improving the use of research evidence by in policy and practice. Proposed research must address questions that align with one of these areas.

Focus Area: Reducing Inequality 
In this focus area, we fund research studies that aim to build, test, or increase understanding of programs, policies, or practices to reduce inequality in the academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes ofyoung people ages 5-25 in the United States, along dimensions of race, ethnicity, economic standing, language minority status, or immigrant origins.

NOTE: While we value research on the causes and consequences of inequality, we do not fund this work. Instead, we support research that informs or examines a policy, program, or practice response that can be implemented through an organization, institution, or system. 

Focus Area: Improving the Use of Research Evidence 
In this focus area, we fund research studies that advance theory and build empirical knowledge on ways to improve the use of research evidence by policymakers, agency leaders, organizational managers, intermediaries, and other decision-makers that shape youth-serving systems in the United States. 

While an extensive body of knowledge provides a rich understanding of specific conditions that foster the use of research evidence, we lack robust, validated strategies for cultivating them. What is required to create structural and social conditions that support research use? What infrastructure is needed, and what will it ook like? What supports and incentives foster research use? And, ultimately, how do youth outcomes fare when research evidence is used? This is where new research can make a difference.

• Applicants must be nominated by their institutions. Major divisions of an institution (e.g., College of Arts and Sciences, Medical School) may nominate only one applicant each year. In addition to the eligibility criteria below, deans and directors of those divisions should refer to the Review Criteria to aid them in choosing their nominees. Applicants of any discipline are eligible.
• Applicants must have received their doctorate within seven years of submitting their application.
• The award may not be used as a post-doctoral fellowship.

Each Scholar receives exactly $350,000 over five years, including up to 7.5% indirect costs.
Awards begin July 1 of the award year and are made to the applicant’s institution. 

Mentor and Reference Letter Deadline: June 12, 2024
Application Deadline: July 3, 2024
Internal competition (InfoReady) link: https://asu.infoready4.com/#competitionDetail/1932870

Watch the 2022 webinar, “William T. Grant Scholars: An Overview of the Program and How to Apply http://wtgrantfoundation.org/webinar-william-t-grant-scholars-an-overview-of-the-program-and-how-to-apply