Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards | 18 560

Opportunity Information: Apply for 18 560

The Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards is a National Science Foundation (NSF) discretionary grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 18-560; CFDA 47.075) designed to fund fundamental, systematic research and research training in cultural anthropology. Its central aim is to deepen scientific understanding of why human societies and cultures vary, how that variability is produced and maintained, and what consequences it has across different settings. The program is intentionally broad in scope, welcoming proposals from any sub-field of cultural anthropology and permitting research at any geographic region and any point in time, from contemporary communities to historical and archival contexts.

A key feature of this opportunity is its emphasis on basic research, meaning work that generates and tests theory in order to produce new, generalizable knowledge about human culture and society. NSF is explicit that funded projects should move beyond single case descriptions and instead deliver empirically grounded results that can speak to wider anthropological questions and contribute to a stronger, more cumulative anthropological science. Applicants are encouraged to design projects that connect rigorous evidence to broader conceptual debates, whether by refining existing theories, comparing across cases, building new models, or testing specific hypotheses about social and cultural processes.

Methodologically, the program is open to a wide range of research designs and tools. Competitive proposals may rely on classic ethnographic fieldwork as well as surveys, archival research, analysis of existing databases, and study of materials collections. The solicitation also recognizes and supports multi-method and interdisciplinary approaches, including remote sensing, bio-marker collection where relevant, experimental research conducted in laboratories or real-world environments, and mathematical or computational modeling. The underlying expectation is that the chosen methods fit the research questions and are deployed in a way that yields robust, defensible empirical findings.

The program also draws a clear boundary around what it will not fund. Because NSF is mandated to support basic science, proposals whose primary purpose is applied outcomes, such as improving clinical practice, implementing policy interventions, or solving immediate social or medical problems, are not appropriate if they do not also make a clear theory-testing or theory-expanding contribution to cultural anthropology. Practical benefits can be included under Broader Impacts, but the intellectual core must be basic, anthropological science; proposals that mainly apply anthropological methods to produce solutions without advancing anthropological theory are expected to be returned without review.

In terms of administrative details, the opportunity is issued by the National Science Foundation as a grant mechanism within the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to applicants of various entity types, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full solicitation. The opportunity record indicates an expected number of roughly 40 awards, and the listed award ceiling is shown as 0, which typically signals that funding levels vary and applicants should consult the program solicitation and NSF guidelines for typical award sizes and budgeting expectations. The opportunity was created on May 17, 2018, with an original closing date of August 15, 2018.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.075.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 17, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 15, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 40 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for 18 560

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