William R. Waters Research Grant
William R. Waters Research Grant supports early-career scholars’ research in social economics and social economy, connecting philosophical foundations and empirical observations to inform policy.
Funder: Association for Social Economics
Due Dates: October 30, 2026, at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (Application) | September 15, 2027 (Recipient progress report)
Funding Amounts: Up to $5,000 (annual grant)
Summary: Supports early-career research in social economics and social economy connecting philosophical foundations, empirical observations, and policy.
Key Information: Open to Ph.D. students with unfinished dissertations, postdoctoral researchers, and qualifying new faculty.
Description
The Association for Social Economics (ASE) administers the William R. Waters Research Grant to support promising scholars beginning their careers in social economics and social economy. Established in 1999, the program honors Waters’s service as a longtime editor of the Review of Social Economy and ASE president in 1987.
The grant encourages research guided by Waters’s 1988 presidential address: explaining how people use human and physical resources to achieve material comfort while incorporating cultural, political, and ethical dimensions. Its intellectual priorities connect the philosophical foundations of social economics with empirical observations of significant economic characteristics. Together, these foundations and observations inform social economic policy, rather than treating economic activity in isolation.
