SSRI Level 4 - Interdisciplinary Research Initiative

Four hands holding puzzles and putting together.

SSRI Level 4 - Interdisciplinary Research Initiative

- Open -

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.

Download Files :

SSRI Level 4 IRI RFA.docx (107.55 KB)

Funding Contact :

Deborah Ehrenthal, Director of SSRI

Funded Projects

Project Team
Ashton Verdery, Associate Professor, Sociology & Demography

Project Description

We request support from the Social Science Research Institute for an Interdisciplinary Research Initiative in support of developing an infrastructure grant to the National Institute on Aging using the P30 mechanism. The proposed interdisciplinary research center would cross Penn State colleges and departments, involving an estimated 45+ faculty and additional staff, and would support research into the demography of aging, which is a topic in which Penn State has developed unique strengths in the past decade. We anticipate a successful award would be in the $350 thousand per year direct funds range, with additional potential to expand research capacity at Penn State through administrative supplements targeting specific initiatives (e.g., Alzheimer’s, diversity, or climate change). These activities align with SSRI strategic priorities. We request funds for the three core team members to develop the proposal in anticipation of a June 2024 submission, as well as funding to support external review of a draft proposal, an activity that has benefitted prior center grant submissions.

Project Team
Daryl Cameron, Associate Professor, Psychology
Andrew High, Associate Professor, Communication Arts and Sciences

Project Description

The Consortium on Moral Decision-Making is an interdisciplinary network of researchers at Penn State that are dedicated to studying the social science of morality and ethical decisions. This Consortium currently has joint financial support from the Rock Ethics Institute, Social Science Research Institute, and the College of Liberal Arts, with additional support from the McCourtney Institute for Democracy and the Department of Philosophy, with a formal Consortium launch to occur during the 2023-2024 academic year. In the current proposal, we are seeking complementary support for this research initiative, given that the research aims of this Consortium – to create an explicitly interdisciplinary collective who can harness the complementary skills of several disciplines to address mutually interesting questions about morality – directly overlap with this request for proposals. We had a soft launch of the Consortium earlier in the spring and it was a success, and we hope to continue its momentum with this additional support. This Level 4 grant would bolster the possibilities for this Consortium to obtain sustained external support (a major long-term goal we have at the outset of the Consortium) as well as support for methodology and training opportunities for students. We would use the requested funds to further the momentum of the research team, to find and pursue relevant funding opportunities for external center and/or training grants (e.g., for student training in methodology in this topic area), and for guidance on proposal submissions. We also seek support for one month of summer support for each of three years for the two project leads to allow them more time to focus attention on the Consortium during these periods of time, as well as for an annual graduate research assistant (or human research technologist).