Funding

Eligibility: Full-time University faculty members
Financial support range: $5K+
Deadline: April 25, 2025

The Child Maltreatment Solutions Network (CMSN) is pleased to announce a limited funding opportunity for Penn State faculty across University Park and Commonwealth campuses to support activities directly aligned with the core mission of the CMSN. The funding is intended to address the issue of child maltreatment and advance interdisciplinary research aimed at enhancing the health and wellbeing of child maltreatment victims and their families. We anticipate being able to support 5 to 7 awards, depending on available funding and submitted proposals.

Forming New Interdisciplinary Teams, Small Pilot Studies, Community Engagement and Policy Development
Eligibility: PSU social and behavioral science faculty
Financial support range: Up to $5,000
Deadline: May 9, 2025

SSRI Level 1 funding is primarily designed to assist PSU social science faculty to form interdisciplinary research teams to conduct research activities such as scientific meetings to develop research questions, conduct preliminary research to establish scientific premise (e.g.,. literature searches), and identify leaders, conduct pilot studies to pursue external funding, develop research partnerships with community organizations, conduct community engagement research activities, develop policy briefs, etc.

Pilot/Feasibility Studies To Support External Grant Applications And Other Impact
Eligibility: PSU social and behavioral science faculty
Financial support range: $5,000-$20,000
Deadline: May 9, 2025

SSRI Level 2 funding is primarily designed to assist PSU social science faculty to support research projects with an identified team of Penn State faculty collaborators, specific research questions, well-conceived theoretical basis, and the potential to secure external funding and/or have other measurable impact i.e.. education, policy, implementation, dissemination, novel methods, etc.

Forming New Interdisciplinary Working Groups
Eligibility: PSU social and behavioral science faculty
Financial support range: $5,000 - $10,000
Deadline: Open until funding cap is reached

SSRI Level 1 Working Group funding is primarily designed to assist PSU social science faculty to form interdisciplinary research groups focusing on promising new interdisciplinary research topics who would organize colloquia, annual meetings, seminars or other convenings, and/or other research activities with the goal of developing competitive proposals for external funding.

Forming New Interdisciplinary Research Centers or Center Scale Initiatives
Eligibility: PSU social and behavioral science faculty
Financial support range: Funding for up to one month of summer salary or one course release for up to 3 faculty leading proposal development and who are likely to serve as PI/PD.
Deadline: Open - Until Funding Cap is reached

Faculty members who are engaging interdisciplinary colleagues across colleges, and potentially institutes, and who together create a critical mass of scholars and are ready to work towards the development of large institutional proposal(s) for external funding within the next one to two years are encouraged to apply. Additional funding for other expenses may be requested and must be justified by the budget request. The application process will begin with a 1-page letter of interest and consultation with the SSRI Director.

Independent and collaborative research between commonwealth campuses and interdisciplinary institutes and units at University Park.
Eligibility: Faculty at Commonwealth Campuses
Financial support range: up to $10,000
Deadline: Under Revision

To encourage and support both independent and collaborative research projects between Penn State Commonwealth Campuses and core multi-user faculty and research facility staff at the Interdisciplinary Institutes at University Park and at the College of Medicine, Commonwealth Campus faculty are provided the opportunity to submit research proposals that will provide access to Penn State’s shared facilities (equipment, instruments, capabilities, and/or expertise).

This program is currently run through InfoReady and is under revision by OSVPR. If would like further information please contact Betsy Beck, egb3@psu.edu.

Population Research focused on Communities, Neighborhoods and Spatial Processes, Immigration, Migration and Immigrant Integration, Families, Networks and Social Change or Population Heath Grant
Eligibility: All Penn State PRI Faculty Associates and Affiliates
Financial support range: up to $10,000
Deadline: Open

PRI Seed Grants to provide support to develop proposals for external funding. Activities supported by new seed funding may include a course buyout for the lead investigator at a flat rate of $7,500, which has been negotiated with PRI-affiliated academic departments.

Supporting innovative, interdisciplinary research related to obesity and obesity-related health outcomes across the life cycle
Eligibility: All tenure line, research or clinical faculty can apply as PI (Principal Investigator) and co-PIs
Financial support range: up to $15,000

The Penn State Center for Childhood Obesity Research (CCOR) in collaboration with the Social Sciences Research Institute (SSRI) announces an Interdisciplinary Obesity Research Seed Grant Program that aims to fund innovative, interdisciplinary research related to obesity and obesity-related health outcomes across the life cycle. This Seed Grant is primarily designed to assist PSU social and behavioral science faculty at University Park, the Commonwealth campuses, and the College of Medicine to advance their research by securing extramural funding. CCOR will offer consultation as faculty develop a proposal, prior to submission. You may do so by contacting Dr. Emily Hohman at eeh12@psu.edu.

Developing new or leveraging existent strategic partnerships and alliances with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs)
Eligibility: All tenure line, research or clinical faculty can apply as PI (Principal Investigator) and co-PIs
Financial support range: up to $30,000

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences in collaboration with the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), Materials Research Institute (MRI), the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE), the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS), the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and the Cancer Institute (PSCI), is offering a new interdisciplinary seed grant program aimed at developing new or leveraging existent strategic partnerships and alliances with Minority Serving Institutions(MSIs). The goal of the seed grant program is to perform collaborative work that advances research development capability as well as student and faculty training needed to support such research collaborations.

Additional info: Huck IPDR page