Dynamic Language Infrastructure-Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants

The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency created in 1950 to promote the progress of science and advance national health, prosperity, and welfare, administers the Dynamic Language Infrastructure–Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (DLI-DDRI) program. This program is managed by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences through the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, with participation from the Directorate for Geosciences, Office of Polar Programs. Its purpose is to enhance and improve doctoral dissertation research in linguistics and related fields, particularly focusing on documenting and preserving endangered languages and supporting innovations in language infrastructure. The DLI-DDRI program funds projects that contribute to linguistic theory and the broader field of language documentation. Applicants may propose projects in three main areas: language description, infrastructure development, and computational methods. Language description projects may involve fieldwork to digitally record endangered languages and the development of lexicons, grammars, and databases. Infrastructure projects focus on digitization and preservation of linguistic materials to provide wider access to endangered language data. Computational methods projects aim to build consistent, interoperable databases and tools to analyze languages that lack large corpora. The program emphasizes creating interoperable digital repositories, promoting access to language data, and advancing methods to analyze linguistic diversity. The grant program is open only to U.S. institutions of higher education with accredited Ph.D.-granting programs. Proposals must list a faculty advisor or another qualified faculty member as principal investigator (PI), while the doctoral student serves as co-principal investigator (co-PI). Doctoral students are limited to submitting two proposals during their graduate careers. While institutions face no limits on the number of submissions, proposals must adhere to NSF guidelines for structure and content, including clear research questions, hypotheses, data collection methods, theoretical framework, and data management planning. Proposals must be submitted through Research.gov or Grants.gov and cannot be submitted via FastLane. Allowable costs under this program include expenses directly related to dissertation research, such as travel to field sites, data collection activities, equipment for language documentation, payments to informants, and costs for archiving data. The grant does not cover stipends or salaries for students or advisors, tuition, or unrelated expenses. Awards are capped at $15,000 in direct costs, not including allowable indirect costs under the institution’s federally negotiated rate. Approximately 10 to 15 awards are expected annually, with a total program budget ranging from $150,000 to $250,000 depending on appropriations. Each award may last up to 24 months. Proposals are reviewed using NSF’s merit review process, which evaluates intellectual merit and broader impacts. Intellectual merit encompasses the potential to advance knowledge within linguistics and related fields, while broader impacts include contributions to society, STEM participation, and diversity. Proposals must also demonstrate attention to ethical considerations, consultation with relevant speech communities, and long-term archiving of research outputs in a trusted repository. Letters of collaboration or institutional sponsorship may be included if external partners are involved. A signed statement from the PI is also required, confirming the student’s readiness to begin the proposed research. Deadlines for this program occur twice annually, with proposals due February 15 and September 15 each year. These target dates are recurring annually. Given today’s date of 2025-10-02, the next deadline is February 15, 2026. Proposals must be submitted by these deadlines, as there are no rolling submissions. Contact information for program officers includes Rachel M. Theodore (rtheodor@nsf.gov, 703-292-4770) and Wilson De Lima Silva (widelima@nsf.gov, 703-292-7096), who can provide guidance to applicants. Additional administrative support is available through Kenyatta Johnson (kenjohns@nsf.gov, 703-292-4850). Proposers are encouraged to review the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide for compliance requirements before submission. The DLI-DDRI program continues to serve a critical role in supporting early-career researchers while strengthening the national and international capacity to document, preserve, and analyze endangered languages. Through its funding priorities, the program advances scientific understanding of human language, supports communities at risk of linguistic loss, and contributes to the development of tools and infrastructure that benefit linguists, anthropologists, and computational researchers alike.