Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED)

GRANTED supports ambitious ideas and innovative strategies to address challenges and inequalities within the research enterprise. The research enterprise is broadly defined and includes administrative support and service infrastructure such as, but not limited to, human capital, research development and administration, research analytics, technology transfer and commercialization, corporate relations/public-private partnerships, research integrity, compliance and security, research policy, administration of student research training, and research leadership. Strengthening this administrative infrastructure supporting research and STEM training is necessary to fully utilize the Nation's talent and capabilities and empower America's organizations that engage in or support research, to participate in a diverse, equitable, and internationally competitive research enterprise.

Program Description

A strong national research enterprise relies on more than funding for the research itself. It also requires robust administrative support and service infrastructure, which is often unseen, yet includes critical components of the research enterprise. This infrastructure enables the development of proposals and management of awards. It supports broader impacts activities through technology transfer, public-private partnerships and community engaged research. Policy and process guides research compliance and enables the security and integrity of the work. Research analytics and communication, managing the training of our scientific workforce, and harnessing the creativity and drive of research leadership, and more, are fundamental components of the infrastructure. Access to, and provisioning of, administrative infrastructure varies significantly among organizations in research, resulting in structural barriers that impede broad participation in the Nation's research and discovery opportunities. Securing global leadership demands we act together to transform the research enterprise to be more resilient, sustainable, equitable, and diverse.

The GRANTED initiative provides unique opportunities to realize this vision for research enterprise infrastructure. Proposals in response to this GRANTED program description should be broadly inclusive and engage the professional, administrative research support and service workforce in project leadership roles described within proposals. Proposed projects should look beyond individual and discipline-specific research needs and focus on activities that create institution/organization-wide impact. Projects that identify nationally scalable models to build and sustain research enterprise infrastructure are strongly encouraged.  Competitive proposals will recognize structural challenges and include goals to implement interventions, solutions, and/or strategies that will mitigate the challenges and broaden participation. Proposals must be centered around one or more of the three main themes of GRANTED:

• Enhancing practices and processes within the research enterprise;

• Developing and strengthening human capital within the research enterprise;

• Translating effective practices related to the research enterprise into diverse institutional and organizational contexts through partnerships with professional societies and organizations.

All types of institutions and organizations engaged, or aspiring to be engaged, in the research enterprise are invited to participate, as described in the current NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) Part 1/Chapter 1, Section E. Prospective PIs are strongly encouraged to contact GRANTED initiative personnel (GRANTED@nsf.gov) with inquiries prior to developing and submitting a proposal to this program description. The project budget and duration should be determined by the scope of the proposed activities and presented in accordance with the PAPPG. GRANTED is not intended to fund discipline-specific STEM research and training projects.

Collectively, proposals funded through this Program Description will: 1) advance transformation of the national research enterprise, 2) generate scalable models that mitigate structural barriers and expand research capacity and competitiveness, 3) create new and authentic collaborations, partnerships, and communities centered around strengthening the Nation's research enterprise, 4) diversify the project leadership, institutions, ideas, and approaches that NSF funds, and 5) broaden participation in the Nation's research enterprise.