William T. Grant Scholars Program 2026

The William T. Grant Scholars Program supports career development for promising early-career researchers. The program funds five-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas.

Applicants should have a track record of conducting high-quality research and an interest in pursuing a significant shift in their trajectories as researchers. We recognize that early-career researchers are rarely given incentives or support to take measured risks in their work, so this award includes a mentoring component, as well as a supportive academic community.

Proposed research plans must address questions that are relevant to policy and practice in the Foundation’s focus areas:

• Reducing inequality in the academic, social, behavioral, or economic outcomes of young people ages 5–25 in the United States, along dimensions of race, ethnicity, economic standing, sexual or gender minority status, language minority status, or immigrant origins, and
• Improving the use of research evidence in ways that benefit young people ages 5-25 in the United States.

In 2026, the funder will prioritize funding applications that:

• Investigate and test strategies to improve the use of research evidence to benefit young people concerning politically charged and contested issues, particularly in highly polarized contexts. Prior studies of decision-makers’ use of research evidence during school board deliberations (Asen & Gurke, 2014), in legislative sessions (Bogenschneider, Day, & Parrott, 2019; Yanovitzky & Weber, 2020), and by advocacy coalitions (Scott et al., 2017) provide a strong evidence base for designing and studying strategies.
• Propose experimental tests of strategies to improve research use in policy and practice to improve youth outcomes.

Eligibility Requirements

• Applicants must have received their doctorate within seven years of submitting their application, calculated by adding seven to the year the doctorate was conferred. In medicine, the seven-year maximum is dated from the completion of the first residency.
• Applicants must be employed in career-ladder positions. For many applicants, this means holding a tenure-track position in a university. 

Application Instructions

Pre-Proposal Instructions:

Please submit as one combined pdf labeled with PI’s Lastname, Firstname:

1. A one‐page letter of intent with a description of proposed aims and approach.
2. If the final application requires a statement of broader impacts, please summarize your plans to address the specific requirements on an additional page.
3. CV (not biosketch) of the PI.

to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, March 18, 2026. Late proposals will not be considered. Proposals are due to the sponsor 6/30/2026, so you will need to have your materials in to the Office of Sponsored Programs by 6/18/2026 if given the go‐ahead by the Limited Submissions review committee. Note: there is also a 6/10/26 sponsor deadline for mentor and reference letters.