Early career grants

Early career grants are open to researchers affiliated with a U.S. university whose Ph.D. was issued within the past 8 years, as well as graduate students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at a U.S. university. Graduate student applicants should be in the dissertation phase of their graduate program. Postdoctoral scholars are not considered active students and should apply as early career scholars. If you have received tenure, you are not eligible for an early career grant.

Grants to current graduate students are set at $15,000 over one year. International students at U.S. universities are eligible to apply, though if awarded, the grant would likely need to be administered through the university. International students are advised to communicate their intention to apply with their institution to ensure adherence to institutional protocol if funded.

Grants to all other early career scholars are set at $30,000 over one to two years, depending on the timeline of the research project. Applicants do not have to be in a tenure-track position to be eligible. The affiliated university must administer the grant.

We understand that research is collaborative. Applicants may have co-authors who are further along in their career, though those co-authors are not eligible for funding.

We frequently partner with other foundations to support projects jointly or to share proposals that are not a fit for our grant program but which may be of interest to other funders.

Equitable Growth is willing to fund a wide range of activities, including researcher salary and benefits, research assistance, data purchase, and costs associated with conducting experiments or participating in professional conferences. Our grants cannot cover indirect overhead.

Please reach out to grants@equitablegrowth.org or call (202) 545-3343 with any questions.

Funding interests

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth seeks to invest in early career scholars whose research agendas are policy relevant, related to how inequality affects economic growth, and who are also interested in engaging with nonacademic audiences. We are particularly interested in researchers who, as their career progresses, are willing and able to engage with media and policymakers on their research.

Social scientists and their research can play a powerful role in shaping policy. Grantees will have the opportunity to participate in trainings and receive assistance in translating research for media and policymakers to help equip Equitable Growth’s academic network with the necessary skills and opportunities to shape public debates and policy outcomes, including via temporary government service.

Equitable Growth promotes efforts to increase diversity in the economics profession and across the social sciences. We recognize the importance of diverse perspectives in broadening and deepening research on inequality and growth, and the need to elevate diverse voices to shape debates and policy solutions.

Equitable Growth supports research inquiry using many different types of evidence, relying on a variety of methodological approaches and cutting across academic disciplines.

Read the Request for Proposals: Research Grants for Early Career Scholars.

Eligibility

This Request for Proposals is open to:

  • Graduate students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at a U.S. college or university who are in the dissertation stage of their graduate career
  • Early career scholars at a U.S. college or university whose Ph.D. was issued within the past 8 years. If you have received tenure, you are not eligible for an early career grant

How to apply

To apply for an early career grant, submit a one- to two-page personal statement, five-page research proposal, and two-page abbreviated curriculum vitae using the online application portal. Applicants are encouraged to use this template for the five-page proposal.

Personal statements must include:

  • The motivation behind your research agenda
  • The relevance of your research agenda to Equitable Growth’s funding priorities
  • The potential of your research agenda to provide actionable policy insights
  • A brief description of your research to date and the future direction of your research
  • Your interest and/or experience engaging beyond academia
  • How the funding and resources provided by Equitable Growth would help you advance your career and professional goals

Your personal statement should be about you and your interest in engaging with nonacademic audiences. It should not be a paragraph version of your CV and must include the future direction of your research. We want to learn about what you hope to do in the next phase of your career.

Proposals must include:

  • The problem addressed by the research
  • Engagement with and expected contribution to the literature
  • The methodological approach, including data sources and research design
  • The status of data access
  • Policy implications
  • Timeline for completion

If tables, graphs, or other images are helpful in explaining your project, they can be included. While they will not count against the page limit, we encourage you to limit the use of images to one or two.

Citations can be included as endnotes and do not count against the page limit.

The application form requires the submission of a preliminary budget in the form of a brief narrative (approximately 150 words). A budget section is not required in the body of the proposal. Because grant amounts are set, we are interested in how you anticipate using the funds. If you will use them for salary or stipend support only, simply state that.

Evaluation criteria

Proposals are evaluated by Equitable Growth staff and external reviewers. External reviewers consist of subject-matter and methodological experts ranging from early career to established researchers. External reviewers are selected with a commitment to diversity of race, gender, discipline, area of study, and university affiliation.

All grants are approved by our Steering Committee.

All applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:

  • Relevance of the overall application package to Equitable Growth’s funding priorities
  • Potential of the proposed research and overall research agenda to generate actionable insights and inform policy design and implementation
  • Researcher’s potential to engage beyond academia to inform evidence-backed policy solutions
  • Proposed research questions are appropriately framed within the existing literature
  • Proposed research has the potential to advance the literature
  • Methodological soundness of the research design, including appropriate data

If you have questions regarding your potential grant application to Equitable Growth, please reach out to us via  grants@equitablegrowth.org.

Budget guidelines

Allowable costs

Equitable Growth is willing to fund a wide range of activities, including researcher salary and benefits, research assistance, data purchase, and costs associated with conducting experiments or participating in professional conferences. Our grants cannot cover indirect overhead.

Fringe/benefit costs are allowable up to a maximum rate of 35 percent.

Tuition and related fees are an allowable cost if student research assistants are included in the budget request.

Project length

Grants to graduate students are set at one year. Grants to other early career scholars can be one to two years.

Grantees are encouraged to notify Equitable Growth staff at least 30 days prior to the grant end-date if there is a need to request a no-cost extension.

Frequently Asked Questions

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR AN EARLY CAREER GRANT?

Early Career grants are open to researchers affiliated with a U.S. university. Early career includes graduate students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at a U.S. college or university who are in the dissertation stage of their graduate career, postdoctoral scholars at a U.S. college or university, and untenured scholars at a U.S. college or university, assistant professors or otherwise, whose Ph.D. was issued within the past 8 years. If you have received tenure, you are not eligible to receive an Early Career grant.

The affiliated university must be willing to administer the grant.

Researchers who are the Principal Investigator for an open Equitable Growth grant with an end date beyond June 2025 are not eligible to apply. Co-Principal Investigators/Collaborators with open grants are eligible to apply.

I QUALIFY AS AN EARLY CAREER SCHOLAR, BUT MY CO-PIS DO NOT. CAN I APPLY FOR A JOINT PROJECT?

Yes, the funding can support the project but cannot include support for the mid-career or senior co-PIs. Salary and travel support can only be allotted to the graduate students or early career scholars on the project.

I’M NOT SURE IF MY RESEARCH IS A GOOD FIT. HOW CAN I GET FEEDBACK?

Please review our 2025 Request for Proposals for a general sense of our funding priorities. If you still have questions or would like feedback about whether your research project may be of interest, please email grants@equitablegrowth.org with a brief description of your research and the question(s) you have, or sign up for an Office Hours appointment to meet with Equitable Growth staff.

IS IT ACCEPTABLE FOR THE SAME RESEARCHER TO BE AN APPLICANT AND A CO-AUTHOR ON MULTIPLE PROJECTS? WOULD THIS AFFECT EITHER APPLICANT’S ELIGIBILITY?

Each application is considered on its own merits, so involvement as a co-author would not affect either applicant’s eligibility or the assessment of the application. However, we are unlikely to approve funding to support the same scholar through multiple grants.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO SUBMIT TWO APPLICATIONS FOR DIFFERENT RESEARCH PROJECTS?

No. Early Career grants are intended to support an individual scholar’s research agenda and career.

I AM AFFILIATED WITH A UNIVERSITY OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES. AM I ELIGIBLE TO APPLY?

Scholars at non-U.S. colleges and universities can be part of a research team and can receive support via funded research. However, the Principal Investigator must be affiliated with a U.S. college or university, and the grant must be administered by the U.S. institution.

I HAVE MULTIPLE AFFILIATIONS, INCLUDING AT A U.S. UNIVERSITY. AM I ELIGIBLE TO APPLY?

Yes, so long as the U.S. college or university with which you are affiliated agrees to administer the grant. Equitable Growth does not award grants to think tanks or other research organizations.

UNIVERSITIES IN PUERTO RICO ARE ACCREDITED BY THE MIDDLE STATES ASSOCIATION. DOES THE WASHINGTON CENTER FOR EQUITABLE GROWTH FUND RESEARCHERS LOCATED IN PUERTO RICO?

Universities in Puerto Rico are generally eligible for funding.

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