Society for Research in Child Development
/OVERVIEW: The Society for Research in Child Development supports empirical research on child development from birth through adolescence. Grantmaking consists of awards and fellowships which mainly go to individual scholars working in relevant disciplines at research universities and institutes.
IP TAKE: The publisher of the renowned journal Child Development runs several award and fellowship programs to support research in the field of developmental research. Many awards go to individual investigators, but collaborative work has also been funded. In recent years, the society has supported an increasing number of interdisciplinary projects. Application guidelines and due dates vary by program. This is an accessible and approachable funder, but grants are competitive.
PROFILE: The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) was established in 1923 as a subcommittee of the National Academy of Sciences. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization publishes the journal Child Development, which is widely accepted as the leading publication of developmental science, developmental psychology and early childhood learning. According to its mission statement, SRCD “advances the developmental sciences and promotes the use of developmental research to improve human lives.” Its grantmaking consists of annual and biennial awards and fellowships that support research on child development and early childhood education in a range of disciplines.
Grants for Science Research and Early Childhood Education
The Society for Research in Childhood Development offers the following grants for research:
The Victoria S. Levin Award for Early Career Success in Young Children’s Mental Health Research is awarded annually in the amount of $25,000 to “promising pre-tenured, early-mid-career investigators” for the support of release time and travel involved in submission of applications to the NIH in the area of early childhood mental health. The award also provides for the “opportunity to hire a distinguished scientist to review the application in advance of submission to the NIH.”
SECC Dissertation Research Funding Awards supported student members of SRCD whose dissertation proposals “display strong potential to contribute to the field of child development.” In recent years, the SRCD has awarded nine dissertation awards of $2,000 each.
The Small Grants Program for Early Career Scholars supports the research projects of SRCD members who completed their degrees in the past five years, “regardless of their appointment, institution or country of residence.” Projects are chosen for these $7,500 awards on the basis of scientific merit. In a recent year, the organization awarded 17 early career grants to scholars working in the areas of early childhood and adolescent mental health, special education, communication development and family functioning, to name a few.
The Patrice L. Engle Dissertation Grants for Global Early Child Development are awarded to doctoral candidates who are “from or doing research in low- or middle-income countries” and who plan to pursue a career in global early childhood development. Grants are awarded in the amount of $5,000 and include a two-year student membership to SRCD.
SRCD’s Outstanding Doctoral Dissertations awards are granted biennially in amounts of $500 “for dissertations completed in the previous year that are unusually noteworthy.”
Early Career Research Contributions go to SRCD members “SRCD members who have distinguished themselves as researchers and scholars, as evidenced through research, publications, and scholarly activity.” There is no set monetary value for this prize.
SRDC Senior Distinguished Contributions Awards recognize “SRCD members who have distinguished themselves over a sustained period of time in at least one domain of research and service.” Recent awards have gone to individuals who have made substantial contributions in the areas of the scientific study of child development; policy and practice; the understanding of cultural contexts in development; the mentoring of the next generation of developmental scientists and interdisciplinary work in the study of child development.
Additionally, the SRCD awards the following fellowships annually:
The U.S. Policy Fellowship Programs offer scholars from a range of disciplines the opportunity to experience the development, implementation and evaluation of policy related to child and adolescent development at the federal and state levels. At the federal level, fellows are placed in either a federal agency or a congressional office and serve as resident scholars for a period of one year. State-level fellowships are awarded to pre- and post-doctoral scholars who serve in a state executive branch agency under a placement supervisor and with the support of an academic mentor. State fellows receive a stipend of $30,000, plus $15,000 “to defray the cost of tuition and health insurance.” There is also a Congressional level fellowship.
The Early Career Interdisciplinary Scholars Fellowship Program aims to “connect interdisciplinary and psychology/human development scholars” with opportunities to collaborate on research. The fellowship consists mainly of attendance at and participation in the program’s biennial meeting and a mentorship program.
The AERA-SRCD Early Career Research Fellowship in Middle Childhood Education and Development supports collaborative projects focused on middle childhood education and/or development. Fellows participate in virtual seminars and advising two to three times per year and attend AERA annual meetings and SRCD Biennial meetings to present their work and findings. Fellows will be reimbursed for up to $1,000 in travel expenses for one of the AERA meetings.
SRCD’s awards and fellowships are open and relevant to investigators working in developmental psychology, education, educational psychology and other relevant disciplines. Many recent awards and fellowships have gone to investigators and teams conducting research on topics relevant to early childhood education.
Important Grant Details:
SRCD’s grantmaking consists of awards and fellowships of specific amounts, but the organization gives away between $1.5 and $2.5 million a year. A majority of grantmaking supports individual investigators working in disciplines relevant to the study of child and adolescent development at research universities and institutes. Awards have gone to projects housed at institutions including New York University, Georgetown University, the University of Michigan and Fordham University.
SRCD accepts applications for all its awards and fellowship programs and offers information about guidelines and due dates on its individual program pages. Inquiries about programs or the application status may be sent to the society via email.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
LINKS:
