Decision, Risk and Management Sciences
The DRMS grant supports social and behavioral science research to enhance decision-making effectiveness in various contexts, including funding for DDRIGs.
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation
Due Dates: August 18, 2026
Funding Amounts: No specified ceiling or floor; typical NSF awards range from single-PI grants to larger collaborative and conference awards, with duration and amount varying by project type.
Summary: Supports research to increase understanding and effectiveness of decision making by individuals, groups, organizations, and society, with a foundation in social and behavioral sciences.
Description
The Decision, Risk and Management Sciences (DRMS) program supports scientific research that advances the understanding and effectiveness of decision making at multiple levels, including individuals, groups, organizations, and society. The program emphasizes projects grounded in the theories and methods of the social and behavioral sciences, aiming to address both fundamental scientific and societal issues with strong broader impacts.
Research areas of interest include:
- Judgment and decision making
- Decision analysis and decision aids
- Risk analysis, perception, and communication
- Societal and public-policy decision making
- Management science and organizational design
The program funds disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, doctoral dissertation research improvement grants (DDRIGs), and conferences. It also supports RAPID grants for research involving ephemeral data (such as data from disasters or unanticipated events) and, less frequently, high-risk exploratory projects (EAGER grants). All proposals must be theory-driven and generalizable. Purely algorithmic management-science proposals should be submitted to the NSF Operations Engineering program.
