Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research (IBSS) Competition Seeks Submissions

Since 2010, the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (NSF/SBE) has provided matching funds for core SBE programs to facilitate their support of interdisciplinary research projects reviewed independently or coreviewed by multiple programs. The Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research (IBSS) competition seeks to support research conducted by behavioral and social scientists as collaborating members of teams that come from multiple disciplines, who engage in integrated research that employs methods and techniques from multiple disciplines, and whose results are likely to enhance theories and/or methodological approaches or have other stimulating and/or catalytic impact across a range of disciplinary fields.

The IBSS competition invites proposals for two different kinds of projects:

• IBSS Large Interdisciplinary Research Projects. Large interdisciplinary research projects may be supported by awards as large as $1 million. Budgets should be developed at scales appropriate for the project to be conducted. Most projects will extend from 2–5 years in duration.
• IBSS Interdisciplinary Team Exploratory Projects. Support for exploratory efforts by emerging multidisciplinary teams is designed to facilitate the kinds of contact, interaction, and active research activities necessary to enable researchers from multiple disciplines to engage in effective interdisciplinary research. Emphasis is to be placed on the conduct of research and potential outcomes, not on the preparation of plans and proposals for future research. Exploratory projects may be supported by awards as large as $250,000. Most exploratory projects will extend from 1–2 years in duration.

Proposers may opt to submit proposals in response to this program solicitation via Grants.gov or via the NSF FastLane system. The full proposal submission deadline is December 2, 2014.