Education + Human Sciences

Here is a list of public and private sponsors who support initiatives in education and human sciences.

You can also review a list of common federal granting agencies or search the COS database.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): Supports activities to further the agency's mission to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. Example program:

• AHRQ Conference Grant Programs (R13): Supports conferences that help to further its mission to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. The types of conferences eligible for support include research development; research design and methodology; dissemination and implementation; research training, infrastructure, and career development. Awards amount varies.
• AHRQ Small Research Grant Program (R03): Supports different types of health services research projects including pilot and feasibility studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; and, development of new research technology. Awards are up to $100,000 over two years.

American Association of University Women (AAUW): Seeks to advance educational and professional opportunities for women in the United States and around the globe. Provides grants and fellowships, including:

• Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship: Supports non-tenured women scholars conducting postdoctoral research. Award is $30,000.
• Short-Term Research Publication Grants: provide support to scholars to prepare research manuscripts for publication. Preference will be given to applicants whose work supports the vision of AAUW: to break through educational and economic barriers so that all women have a fair chance. Award amount is $6,000 for an eight-week period.
• Community Action Grants: Provides seed money to women and local community-based nonprofit organizations for innovative programs or non-degree research projects that promote education and equity for women and girls. Awards range from $2,000 to $10,000.

American Philosophical Society (APS): Provides fellowships and research grants for a variety of areas, including general publication support, exploratory field studies, APS Library residency, and Native American studies. Programs include:

Otto Bremer Foundation: Assists people in achieving full economic, civic, and social participation in and for the betterment of their communities. Awards typically range from $5,000 to $75,000.

National Science Foundation (NSF): Exists as an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense." Funding areas include biological sciences, computer and information sciences, education and human resources, geosciences, mathematical and physical sciences, and social, behavioral, and economic sciences. The directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences has several relevant programs, including:

• Developmental and Learning Sciences: Supports fundamental research that increases our understanding of cognitive, linguistic, social, cultural, and biological processes related to children's and adolescents' development and learning. Awards vary by project.
• Perception, Action & Cognition: Supports research on perception, action and cognition including the development of these capacities. Emphasis is on research strongly grounded in theory. Research topics include vision, audition, haptics, attention, memory, reasoning, written and spoken discourse, motor control, and developmental issues in all topic areas.  Awards vary by project.

Reiman Foundation: Broadly supports three types of endeavors: education, health care, and children's initiatives. Average awards range from $5,000 to $500,000.

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Supports projects in several categories: Basic Research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; Science Education; Public Understanding of Science; Economic Performance and Quality of Life. Awards average $50,000.

U.S. Department of Education (ED): Promotes student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.  Funding programs are issued from several sub-offices, including:

• Education Research: Supports research activities that will result in the provision of high quality education for all children, improvement in student academic achievement, reduction in the achievement gap between high-performing and low-performing students, and increased access to and opportunity for postsecondary education. Awards range from$75,000 to $2,000,000.
• Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad: Funds fellowships to faculty members who propose to conduct research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies to improve their skill in languages and their knowledge of the culture of the people of these countries. Faculty are expected to conduct research abroad for 3 to 12 months. Awards average $90,000 in support of travel, stipends, research-related expenses.
• Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education: Supports and disseminates innovative reform projects that promise to be models for improving the quality of postsecondary education and increasing student access. Awards average $700,000.
• International Research and Studies Program: Supports surveys, studies, and development of instructional materials to improve and strengthen instruction in modern foreign languages, area studies, and other international fields. Awards average $155,000. 
• Language and Vocabulary Development – Special Education Research: Funds programs that contribute to the improvement of language and vocabulary skills and reading outcomes of students with disabilities. Average awards range from $100,000 to over $1 million.
• Mathematics and Science Partnerships: Supports programs to improve the content knowledge of teachers and the performance of students in the areas of mathematics and science. Must involve partnerships, which include, at a minimum, a high-need local educational agency and the mathematics, science, or engineering department of a university. Awards average $3 million.
• Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program: Provides funds to plan, develop, and carry out programs to strengthen and improve undergraduate instruction in international studies and foreign languages. Awards average $85,500.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WDPI): Lists state and federal grant programs for K-12 education, including those in partnership with institutes of higher education. Example programs:

• Mathematics and Science Partnerships: Supports projects to increase the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science by enhancing the content knowledge and teaching skills of classroom teachers. Partnerships between high-need school districts and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty in institutions of higher education are at the core of these improvement efforts. Recent awards ranged from $200,000 to $600,000.

Wisconsin Historical Society: The Society Research Fellowships program supports research and writing for publication of books by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Awards of $1,000 to $2,000 are made to individuals.