Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards | 23 581

Opportunity Information: Apply for 23 581

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards (Funding Opportunity Number 23-581) is a discretionary grant opportunity focused on supporting basic, theory-driven research in cultural anthropology. The central aim is to fund fundamental and systematic studies and training efforts that deepen scientific understanding of why human societies and cultures vary, how that variability is produced, and what consequences it has across different settings. The program is open to researchers working in any sub-field of cultural anthropology and explicitly welcomes projects conducted at any temporal or spatial scale, meaning proposals can range from contemporary ethnographic questions to historically oriented or long-term comparative work, and from small communities to broad regional or global analyses.

A key feature of this opportunity is its broad acceptance of methods, as long as they are well matched to the research questions and support rigorous, empirically grounded findings. NSF indicates that acceptable approaches can include classic ethnographic fieldwork as well as surveys, remote sensing, collection of biomarkers, experimental research in laboratory or non-laboratory environments, archival research, analysis of museum or materials collections, analysis of existing datasets, and mathematical or computational modeling. In other words, proposals are not confined to any one research tradition; instead, the emphasis is on using appropriate tools to produce strong evidence and analysis.

The program places heavy weight on the idea that funded projects should contribute to generalizable knowledge and strengthen anthropology as a cumulative science. That means NSF is looking for work that goes beyond producing a rich case study for its own sake and instead uses specific cases to generate or test broader concepts, mechanisms, or theoretical expectations about human social life and cultural processes. Proposals should clearly articulate how the research will build, refine, challenge, or adjudicate anthropological theory, and how its results will matter for understanding human culture and society more broadly.

NSF also draws a firm line around what it will not support under this program. Because NSF’s mandate is basic science, projects whose primary purpose is applied outcomes, such as improving clinical practice, delivering immediate policy solutions, or directly implementing interventions, are not appropriate if they are not centered on theory-generating or theory-testing contributions. Use-inspired work can still fit, but only when the theory-advancing aims are clearly the core of the proposal, with any applied or practical relevance positioned as secondary. Proposals that mainly use anthropological methods to solve social, medical, or other practical problems without a clear plan to expand or test cultural anthropological theory can be rejected without review.

Administratively, this opportunity is run by the National Science Foundation under CFDA 47.075. Eligibility is listed as “unrestricted,” meaning it is broadly open to applicants, subject to any specific clarifications NSF may include in the full solicitation text. The opportunity was created on April 22, 2023, with an original closing date of August 15, 2023. NSF anticipated making about 40 awards, and the listing shows an award ceiling of $0, which typically indicates that a fixed maximum is not specified in the summary and applicants should rely on solicitation details and NSF program norms when developing budgets. Overall, the grant is best suited for senior researchers proposing rigorous, theoretically focused cultural anthropology research that produces empirically supported insights with relevance beyond a single site or population.

• 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 Apr 22, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 15, 2023. (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 23 581

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