Cultural Anthropology Program - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants

The National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences and the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, administers the Cultural Anthropology Program’s Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (CA-DDRIG). The program supports doctoral students in U.S. institutions who are conducting basic scientific research in cultural anthropology. Its primary purpose is to strengthen the theoretical and methodological foundations of cultural anthropology by funding dissertation research that advances understanding of human social and cultural variability. NSF emphasizes its mission of supporting fundamental, theory-driven research rather than applied projects, descriptive ethnography, or humanistic inquiry that does not generate generalizable findings. The CA-DDRIG program welcomes proposals across the subfields of cultural anthropology, provided that projects are empirically grounded and theoretically engaged. Research priorities include investigations of sociocultural drivers of environmental processes such as deforestation and urbanization, studies of resilience in sociocultural systems, the principles underlying conflict and cooperation, economic and migration systems, kinship and family variation, health-related cultural processes, biocultural dynamics, social regulation and violence, and the origins of sociocultural complexity. The program also supports research into language and culture, computational models of sociocultural systems, and the sociocultural drivers of technological systems, including artificial intelligence. Proposals must frame research questions in ways that contribute to the development or testing of anthropological theory rather than focusing solely on local descriptive accounts. Funding is provided for research costs that are not typically covered by a student’s home institution. The maximum allowable direct costs for each award are $25,000, with indirect costs applied on top as allowed under federally negotiated rates. Eligible expenses include travel to research sites, modest equipment and supplies, participant incentives, itinerant field assistance, data collection, and costs associated with ensuring broader impacts. Prohibited costs include student or advisor salaries, tuition, stipends, general textbooks, and routine living expenses. Funds cannot be used for post-field analysis or dissertation writing. NSF anticipates funding between 40 and 50 awards annually, with approximately $800,000 available, subject to appropriations. Eligibility is restricted to U.S. institutions of higher education, including community colleges, acting on behalf of faculty members and their doctoral students. Nonprofit non-academic organizations and federally recognized tribal nations may also apply if directly engaged in educational or research activities. Proposals must be submitted by the dissertation advisor, who serves as the principal investigator, while the student is listed as co-principal investigator and is responsible for authoring the proposal. Students must be enrolled at a U.S. institution but are not required to be U.S. citizens. Advisors must be available throughout submission, review, and project performance to serve as NSF’s primary contact. Institutions may submit only two proposals for a single student across their graduate career, including one resubmission, unless granted a waiver by the program. Applications must be submitted electronically through either Research.gov or Grants.gov. Proposal preparation must follow the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) with solicitation-specific requirements. Proposals must include a project description of up to 10 pages addressing research questions, intellectual merit, broader impacts, methodology, feasibility, data analysis plans, and research schedule. A separate data management and sharing plan is required. Letters of intent and preliminary proposals are not required, and reference letters are not accepted. Proposals are reviewed through NSF’s merit review process, assessing intellectual merit and broader impacts. The expected review period is approximately six months. The program operates under a recurring cycle with two annual deadlines. For the 2025 cycle, proposals are due by January 15, 2025, and August 15, 2025, with the same dates recurring annually thereafter. Submissions must be received by 5:00 p.m. in the applicant organization’s local time zone. Proposal processing time means applicants should plan submissions at points in their graduate training where results can inform dissertation progress. Awards are issued as standard NSF grants, and recipients are subject to NSF’s reporting requirements, including annual and final reports submitted via Research.gov. Program contacts include Jeffrey Mantz (jmantz@nsf.gov, 703-292-7783), Tarini Bedi (tbedi@nsf.gov, 703-292-8740), Jeremy Koster (jkoster@nsf.gov, 703-292-8740), and Brittiney Cleveland (bclevela@nsf.gov, 703-292-4634). General inquiries can also be directed to the NSF Information Center at (703) 292-5111. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult the program page and NSF updates for any changes to solicitation requirements or deadlines. Through this program, NSF continues its mission to advance the progress of science by supporting rigorous and innovative doctoral research that contributes to anthropological theory and broadens participation in science and engineering.