Seed Grants
Cornell CCSS Seed Grants fund early-stage, interdisciplinary social science research projects with a strong emphasis on open science, data archiving, and potential for significant scholarly or policy impact.
Funder: Cornell University
Due Dates (Anticipated): October 2026 (Fall Seed Grants) | April 2027 (Spring Seed Grants)
Funding Amounts: Up to $12,000 per project; funds must be used within two years; one proposal per PI per round.
Summary: Supports Cornell social science faculty in launching projects likely to lead to external funding, collaboration, or significant scholarly or policy outcomes.
Key Information: Faculty must wait two years between awards as lead PI; strong emphasis on open science and data archiving.
Description
The Cornell Center for Social Sciences (CCSS) Seed Grants are designed to provide early-stage research funding for Cornell faculty in the social sciences. The primary goal is to enable projects that have the potential to secure external funding, foster collaborations across Cornell, or produce significant outcomes such as book projects, new analyses, or policy impacts. The program strongly encourages interdisciplinary and cross-unit faculty teams and emphasizes open science practices through required data archiving plans. Funding supports direct research expenses such as data collection, participant incentives, research travel, meetings, and specialized equipment or software.
