Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards

The Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards (CA-SR), administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), support empirically grounded research aimed at advancing knowledge about human cultural and social diversity. Managed by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, this program provides funding for basic anthropological research and is particularly interested in projects that are theoretically innovative, methodologically rigorous, and that enhance understanding of sociocultural processes at all scales—from the local to the global. The program explicitly excludes applied policy or clinical practice as primary objectives unless they are clearly secondary to theory-building aims. This funding opportunity is open to researchers in all sub-fields of cultural anthropology and welcomes a wide range of methods, including ethnographic fieldwork, surveys, remote sensing, biomarker collection, computational modeling, and archival analysis. Proposals must demonstrate scientific merit, offer generalizable insights beyond specific case studies, and adhere to the National Science Board’s merit review criteria. The program strongly supports interdisciplinary collaboration and encourages convergent research that draws from various scientific fields. TREES (Trans-disciplinary REsearch in Environmental Social Science) proposals are also eligible, with separate guidance and budget expectations. Awards are offered as either Standard or Continuing Grants, with an estimated 30 to 40 awards given annually, contingent on funding availability. The total anticipated program funding is approximately $4,000,000 per year. Senior Research Awards typically do not exceed $120,000 annually for up to 36 months, while TREES projects may request between $200,000 and $250,000 per year for up to four years. CAREER proposals, targeted at junior faculty, require a minimum request of $400,000 over five years. Cost sharing is not permitted, and indirect cost limitations do not apply unless otherwise noted. Eligible applicants include accredited U.S.-based institutions of higher education, nonprofit non-academic organizations such as museums and research laboratories, and federally recognized Tribal Nations. There are no restrictions on the number of proposals per institution or per individual principal investigator (PI). All proposals must conform to the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), and submission can be made via Research.gov or Grants.gov. The program operates on two annual proposal target dates: January 15 and August 15, with the same dates applying annually thereafter. These deadlines apply to all proposal types supported under this solicitation except for DDRIGs, which are governed by a separate call. There are no pre-application requirements such as Letters of Intent or preliminary proposals. Proposals are evaluated based on intellectual merit and broader impacts, with additional consideration for ethical standards, results from prior NSF support, and data management plans. Contact information for the program includes Jeffrey W. Mantz (jmantz@nsf.gov), Tarini Bedi (tbedi@nsf.gov), and Jeremy Koster (jkoster@nsf.gov) for program inquiries, and Cori J. Jacildone (cjacildo@nsf.gov) for business operations. This solicitation is identified as NSF 25-502 and was last posted on October 7, 2024. Researchers are encouraged to email a one-page summary of their project to the program officers for feedback if uncertain about the program’s fit for their proposed research.

Clearly articulate the proposal’s contribution to anthropological theory; ensure data management and broader impacts are well defined.