Office of Research
Institutional Support for Open Source Software in Research
The Technology program at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation supports research, training, community-building, and technological innovation in order to foster advances in the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge. The program is currently soliciting Letters of Inquiry from Principal Investigators at U.S. research institutions to launch Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs). A small number of full proposals will be invited from submissions received in response to this Call. Grant amounts are expected to be up to $750,000 over a two-year period. Successful Letters of Inquiry will offer a clear vision for a long-term institutional support ecosystem for open source software - and the university faculty, students, research software engineers, and staff who build and maintain it - beyond the funding period.
Since 2020, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has been helping universities establish Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) as a strategy to institutionalize support for open source software in research and beyond. Drawing inspiration from a model that is increasingly common in technology companies, a university OSPO is an organizational construct with dedicated staff who coordinate and support open source activity. While anchored in the norms and practices of open source software, an OSPO can also support other kinds of open source work (including but not limited to hardware, data, and models).
The intention of this Call is to identify a broadly diverse set of higher education institutions which are well-positioned to create or build on existing institutional structures to support open source practices. Successful grantees will establish organizational roles and structures that are sustained beyond this funding, and serve as inspirational exemplars for other universities and research institutions.
Application Instructions
The UW is organizing a university-wide Letter of Intent in response to this limited submission opportunity. Please contact Associate Vice Provost for Research Sara Curran (scurran@uw.edu) by 2/1/2023 if you are interested in being a part of the planning for that LOI.
Inquiries and Contact Information
Investigators who identify a grant, award or fellowship program that restricts the number of applications that can be submitted from an Institution should immediately contact their Chairperson, Associate Dean for Research (or Dean, if no ADR) and the Office of Research (see below) if they intend to prepare a response. Failure to do so, or to meet the deadlines for submission of pre-proposal, will preclude submission of the application through the Office of Sponsored Programs.
For general inquiries, or to request a listing of a limited submission opportunity that should be but is not already listed, please email us at limitedsubs@uw.edu.