Spring Applications Now Open: Apply Now for APSA Centennial Center Research Grants
Applications for the 2026 APSA Centennial Center Research Grants Spring Cycle are now open! The spring cycle of Centennial Center Research Grants supports research in all fields of political science. Submit your application here!
The application deadline is March 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM PST.
Centennial Center Research Grants
Each year, the Centennial Center offers over $100,000 in research grants to APSA members through its Spring and Summer application deadlines. Learn more about eligibility and funding areas for each of these cycles below.
Eligible costs for Centennial Center Research Grants include:
- Research costs associated with data collection, including costs of conducting interviews and surveys, access to archives, and more.
- Salary support for research assistants (not PIs)
- Per diems regardless of travel/location
- Research software and hardware, including statistical software, productivity software, and devices necessary for scholars with disabilities to conduct their research.
- And more! We recognize that APSA members may have research needs not included in the above list. If you have a cost that is not listed here, please contact us at centennial@apsanet.org.
If you would like to learn more about these grants and our grantmaking process, check out our in-depth grant guide and our frequently asked questions.
Spring Centennial Center Research Grants
Previously the “Small Research Grants Program.” Supports research in all fields of political science conducted by:
- Political scientists in non-tenure track or contingent positions who are ineligible for departmental funding
- Political science faculty of all ranks who are employed in departments that do not grant PhDs.
- Graduate students currently enrolled in a Political Science PhD program.
Maximum grant amount: $2500. Total of $40,000 awarded each year.
Applications Open: January 1st of each year.
Deadline: March 15th of each year*.
Application requires: CV, abstract, short proposal, budget.
APSA offers a total of $40,000 in funding for these grants annually – individual grant proposals may not exceed $2,500. Grant recipients are determined through a peer-review process. The intent of these grants is to provide funding opportunities for:
- Research conducted by political scientists in non-tenure track or contingent positions who are ineligible for departmental funding.
- Research conducted by political science faculty of all ranks who are employed in departments that do not grant PhDs, including community college faculty.
- Graduate students at any research stage and from any institution are welcome to apply. At least one letter of recommendation is required. Please note that priority will be given to proposals from those with limited access to departmental and institutional resources.
How to Apply: Spring Grants Application Instructions
Applications generally require the following materials (see individual application forms for exact details):
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Title Page (1 page): This should include an abstract of your proposal in 150 words or less.
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Research Statement (max of 5 single-spaced pages): Include a description of your research topic, questions, and its import to the field; the research design to be used; and the present status of your project. Although not required, if your project has a potential public engagement component or other public component, please include this as well.
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Bibliography for proposed research statement. List any references in a brief bibliography. Extensive references/citations not required.
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Research budget: This must include individual line items for all direct costs included in your funding request (flight, access to archives, interview compensation, research assistance hourly rate and total hours, etc.). Please bear in mind that the maximum size of a Spring Centennial Center Research Grant is $2,500, and that grants are not renewable.
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CV for PI and any co-PIs
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In addition, graduate student applicants must submit at least one letter of recommendation.
Eligibility and Grant Requirements
- Grant funds may not be used for overhead or indirect costs.
- Grants must support work that has not yet been completed.
- Proposed work must fall within the discipline of political science.
- Grant recipients must maintain an APSA membership throughout their grant period.
Applicants are not eligible for Spring Centennial Center Research Grants if they:
- Received Centennial Center research funding within the past four years (including Spring, Summer, Winter, and Special Projects awards).
For example: Applicants for 2026 funding are ineligible if they received a grant in 2022, 2023, 2024, or 2025. - Propose project activities that begin prior to May 15, based on the March 15 application deadline.
- Are part of a research team in which other co-authors or PIs are not themselves eligible for Spring Centennial Center funding.
Summer Centennial Center Research Grants
Summer Centennial Center Research Grants are open to all APSA members. Grants are supported by a set of endowed funds, some of which target specific research topics. The summer application deadline also offers a limited number of grants for mini-conferences, workshops, and other collaborative projects.
Maximum grant amount for research: $2,500
Maximum grant amount for conferences, workshops, etc.: $10,000
Applications Open: March 15th of each year.
Deadline: May 15th of each year.
Application requires: CV, abstract, short proposal, budget, letters of reference for graduate student applicants and proposals over $5,000.
Summer Grants Application Instructions
Applications generally require the following materials (see individual application forms for exact details):
- Abstract (maximum 1/2 page, 12 pt Times New Roman font, single spaced)
- Project Statement (maximum 2.5 pages single spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman font). Should include: a description of the topic and the value/contribution of the proposed work; a summary of the basic ideas and hypotheses; the methodology to be used; a timeline for the project and the present status of your work (including IRB approval, if relevant); the relevance of your grant application to the grant fund(s) selected; and the materials that will be used.
- CV
- Budget (1 page maximum in spreadsheet, list, or table format). Budget should include detailed breakdown by budget category (e.g., travel, office supplies), and estimated cost per item in each budget category (e.g. flight, car rental, digital recorder). Actual expenses may vary up to 10% from proposed budget, and further revisions to budget may be made during active grant phrase with funder approval. If your project is receiving support from other sources, this should also be noted in your budget. Please not that we do not allow for indirect or overhead costs to be charged to any Centennial Center grants.
- For Summer Centennial Center Research Grants: One letter of recommendation is required from graduate student applicants and for any applicants regardless of status or rank requesting workshop/event funding over $5000. Requests should be sent to letter writers via the grant application form.
Eligibility and Grant Requirements
- Grant funds may not be used for overhead or indirect costs.
- Grants must support work that has not yet been completed.
- Proposed work must fall within the discipline of political science.
- Grant recipients must maintain an APSA membership throughout their grant period.
Applicants are not eligible for Summer Centennial Center Research Grants if they:
- Received Centennial Center research funding within the past four years (including Spring, Summer, Winter, and Special Projects awards).
For example: Applicants for 2025 funding are ineligible if they received a grant in 2022, 2023, 2024, or 2025. - Propose project activities that begin prior to July 15, based on the May 15 application deadline.
When will applicants be notified of decisions? We typically aim to notify applicants of decisions by one month after the application deadline. However, please be advised that the review and notification process may take longer due to limitations on reviewer availability.
Do you have any tips for writing my grant application and preparing my budget? Yes! You can find our grant writing guide here.
What should be included in letters of recommendation? Letters must speak to the applicant’s ability to successfully carry out the proposed work. They may also speak to the value of the proposed work.
How should I acknowledge APSA in funded work? All programs receiving funding from the Centennial Center must include recognition of that funding in publicity materials for that program. Recipients should also send the Centennial Center any news, news articles, or newsletters mentioning the funded project, notification of publications resulting from the project, as well as electronic copies of any photos, videos, or other multimedia content that the Centennial Center can use in promoting or otherwise recognizing the funded project or program.
Do I need to inform APSA of the results of my work? Yes! All projects and programs funded by the APSA must submit an annual report for each year in which they receive funding. This report must detail what the grant funds supported and evaluate progress towards goals in the previous year. Visit our grant reports page to learn more.
Have a question that isn’t answered above? We’re here to help! Contact us at centennial@apsanet.org**Note: There is no need to write to confirm that materials have arrived. We will contact recipients if anything is missing from their application.
Summer Centennial Center Research Grants Topics
Summer Centennial Center Research Grants are supported by a set of thirteen endowed funds. Each grant fund has a unique set of aims, including supporting international scholarship, electoral scholarship, and scholarship on race and gender. Click on one of the fund names below to see detailed information about individual grant aims.
When you submit an application, you will be asked to select individual funds relevant to your research. We highly recommend that you apply widely and that you consider how your project might relate to multiple funds. Applicants are encouraged to note in their project proposal how their work might speak to the focus of multiple funds. For example, you may consider your project to be focused on gender and politics, but your work may draw on, build on, or have implications for legislative studies. You should identify and explain all of these ties and select all relevant funds in your application form. For further advice for preparing your Spring and Summer grant applications visit our tips page.
Supports grants in all research areas and with a variety of aims around professional development, advancing the discipline, and public engagement. This fund provides support for research grants up to $2,500 and for grants of up to $10,000 for events, workshops, and programs with broader disciplinary benefits.
Edward Artinian Fund for Publishing
The Artinian Fund supports programs that encourage and assist early career scholars in publishing their research. To learn more visit our Artinian Fund page.
Huang Hsing Chun-tu Hsueh International Fellowship Fund
Supports international scholarship, especially in Asia.
James Bryce Fund for Political Science
Supports the global study of political life and the internationalization of the political science discipline.
Supports research on diversity, cultural nationalism, African-American voting behavior, education policy, or urban and minority policy and politics.
William A. Steiger Fund for Legislative Studies
The Steiger Fund enables Congressional Fellowship Program alumni to extend their stays in Washington for research. It also supports scholarly research in any aspect of domestic or international legislative politics.
Supports research on the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, and political power.
Herring Fund for Political Art
The Herring Fund for Political Art provides financial support for artistic works that express political themes, especially ones related to democracy and democratic values. The Herring Fund for Political Art was established by former APSA president, Pendleton Herring, who believed that “the chronicles of democratic life are recorded in visual media as well as by the written word. Artists have added to the register of democratic practice in all periods of history by depicting the ideal and profane in political institutions and behavior.”
Any artistic project dealing with the themes of politics, particularly democratic politics, is eligible to receive financial support from the Herring Fund. We will consider projects in any medium as long as the proposed work will be accessible to public audiences. Anyone selected for a Herring Fund grant must maintain an active APSA membership for the duration of the grant period.
The maximum amount an applicant can request from the Herring Fund is $2,500. To apply for a Herring Fund grant, please submit a 2-3 page proposal explaining what your proposed art project is, how it relates to the themes of politics or democracy, and what potential audiences it will be presented to. In addition to this proposal, please submit as appendixes a proposed timeline of your project and a budget detailing how you will use the grant funds you are requesting. Please also include the CVs of your project team members. Additionally, you may chose to submit a portfolio of completed artistic works or samples of prior work as an optional supplement to your CV.
Supports scholars conducting work on the presidency, and whose work brings them to Washington, D.C. to examine executive politics.
Warren E. Miller Fund in Electoral Politics
The Miller Fund supports research in national and comparative electoral politics.
Supports scholarship in the field of women and politics.
The Volcker Fund promotes and supports excellence in research and theory on public administration issues affecting governance in the United States and abroad. This award is administered by the Organized Section for Public Administration. For more information, visit their website.
Alma Ostrom and Leah Hopkins Awan Civic Education Fund
The Ostrom Fund supports the Association’s promotion of democratic engagement;
efforts to advance understanding of self-governing systems; the possibilities of moving from
authoritarian to democratic systems; and the critical role of citizens in a democratic polity. Grants can support training seminars, publications, outreach activities, and research.
The Fund for Latino Scholarship’s primary goal is to encourage and support the recruitment, retention, and promotion of political science students and scholars who study and research Latina/o politics (especially students and tenure track junior faculty). Grants will be made to individuals, institutions, and projects whose purposes most clearly match the goals of the Fund, and whose proposals most persuasively demonstrate capacity for successful completion.
The fund will award grants to initiatives that:
- provide professional opportunities and financial assistance to undergraduate and graduate students and Scholars who study and research on political science topics related to Latina/o politics;
- support the teaching, research and publishing activities of contingent, junior-level, tenure track, and other political science faculty whose main area of academic focus is Latina/o politics; and
- support research projects on Latino/a politics.
The fund’s priority will be travel assistance to young scholars and institutional proposals for student recruitment and retention. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars who are studying Latina/o politics are eligible for support. Travel grants and most research grants will be for $500. Under exceptional circumstances, a grant of up to $1,000 may be awarded. Applicants often utilize this grant to travel to the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.
NOTE: This grant is administered by APSA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department, following a distinct timeline with specific eligibility and reporting requirements. For further information, contact latinofund@apsanet.org