Spencer Foundation – Small Research Grants on Education
The Spencer Foundation has launched the "Small Research Grants on Education" to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious, and technically sound education research projects. As a "field-initiated" program, it supports proposals spanning a wide range of topics and disciplines (e.g., anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, neuroscience) and welcomes methodological diversity (quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, design-based research, etc.) to investigate compelling questions in education across various life course settings, from the classroom to the workplace and community.
📅 Call Timeline
- Applications Open: January 26, 2026
- Full Proposal Deadline: April 15, 2026 (21.00)
✅ Eligibility
- Must have an earned doctorate in an academic discipline or professional field (Graduate students may be on the team but cannot be PI/Co-PI).
- The PI must be affiliated with a non-profit organization or public/governmental institution.
- International applications are accepted.
- Proposals must be for education research projects.
- Program evaluations without a significant research component, curriculum/software development, and scholarships are not eligible.
- PIs and Co-PIs may only hold one active research grant from the Spencer Foundation at a time and may not submit multiple proposals simultaneously across its programs.
📂 Support Scope and Duration
- Project duration ranges from 1 to 5 years.
- Teams should plan to begin their project no sooner than 8 months from the proposal submission deadline.
- Salaries, benefits, independent consultants, project/conference travel, equipment and software, project expenses (supplies, participant stipends, transcription), and subcontracts are covered.
💶 Funding Opportunities
- Budgets are limited to $50,000 total.
- Per Spencer's policy, indirect cost charges are not allowed for this program.
- Scholars (PI or Co-PI) with a course load of 6 or more per academic year may request up to $10,000 in additional supplemental funds (bringing the possible total up to $60,000) for a course release to mitigate time demands.
📌 This requires a rationale statement and a supporting letter from their Dean or Chair.
📌 Useful Links
