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. The Foundation recognizes 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.

The Foundation supports research in two distinct focus areas: 1) Reducing inequality in youth outcomes, and 2) Improving the use of research evidence by in policy and practice. Proposed research must address questions that align with one of these areas.

UD White Paper Deadline: 04/25/2025
Mentor and Reference Letter Deadline: 06/11/2025, 3:00 PM EST
Application Deadline: 07/01/2025, 3:00 PM EST

Link to FOA Here: William T. Grant Scholars Program Guidelines

Candidate Eligibility: 

• Applicants of any discipline are eligible.
• Applicants must have received their doctorate within seven years of submitting their application
• Applicants must be employed in career-ladder (tenure-track) positions.

Institutional Limit: UD may nominate one candidate per College.

Application Information: Applicants must submit the following (applications not adhering to this requirement will be returned without review.):

1. CV
2. 1-page abstract of the proposed research project and mentoring plan
3. 3-page description of the proposed research and mentoring plan including:

• the unique contribution of the research
• its significance in terms of policy and/or practice 
• research design and methodology
• data sources and collection procedures 
• a description of the proposed mentoring plan, including proposed mentors and mentoring activities designed to develop the new area of expertise that will be developed during the award

Merit Review Criteria: Submissions will be reviewed based on the Review Criteria detailed in the solicitation.