There are a variety of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education (HASSE) Funding Opportunities commonly awarded to UCSB faculty members. The Office of Research supports UC Santa Barbara’s status as a top-tier research institution and helps catalyze our rich culture of research, innovation and collaboration.
Please note this is for informational purposes only, and much of this is based on previous solicitations. Please check with the specific agencies for the most updated information and deadlines.
Updated September 15, 2025
Funding Sources
Academic Personnel
Hellman Family Faculty Fellows Program
The purpose of the Hellman Fellows program is to provide substantial support for the research of promising assistant professors who have served at least two years at the assistant professor level, and who show capacity for great distinction in their research.
- Deadline: spring
- Amount: Varies, up to $50,000
Faculty Career Development Awards (FCDA)
1. Faculty Career Development Award (for Assistant Professors and Assistant Teaching Professors)
2. Regents’ Junior Faculty Fellowship (for Assistant Professors and Assistant Teaching Professors
3. Regents’ Humanities Faculty Fellowship (for Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Teaching Professors, and Associate Teaching Professors)
- Deadline: winter
- Amount: up to $7,500 in summer salary or $5,000 in replacement funds for course release
Academic Senate Grants
Faculty Research Grants Program
- Deadline: winter
- Amount: up to $20,000
Faculty Travel Grants for Presentation of Research/Creative Works
- Deadline: at least 21 days in advance of travel
- Amount: varies
- Deadline: winter
- Amount: up to $10,000
Center for Black Studies Research (CBSR)
- Deadline: winter
- Amount: $5,000
Chicano Studies Institute (CSI)
Research Cluster Awards, Faculty Fellowships and Dissertation Research Awards
- Deadline: varies
- Amount: varies
The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC)
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: course release
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: Up to $2,000
Visual, Performing, and Media Arts Awards
- Deadline: winter
- Amount: Up to $1,000
UC Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI)
UCHRI primarily funds UC faculty who participate in innovative research and projects that engage a variety of disciplines and stakeholders. UCHRI offers multiple grant opportunities each year, which can be viewed on their grants page.
UC Office of the President Research Initiatives
UC Office of the President funds multiple programs and research initiatives and serves as a portal for other state funding for UC researchers.
California Grants Portal
The California Grants Portal (a project by the California State Library) is your one
destination to find all grants and loans offered on a competitive or first-come basis by
California state agencies. You can subscribe to email updates about all new grant
opportunities and new grant opportunities in a specific category.
Search Topics:
- Agriculture
- Consumer Protection
- Disadvantaged Communities
- Disaster Prevention and Relief
- Education
- Employment, Labor, and Training
- Energy
- Environment and Water
- Food and Nutrition
- Health and Human Services
- Housing, Community, and Economic Development
- Law, Justice, and Legal Services
- Libraries, Parks & Recreation, and Arts
- Science, Technology, and Research & Development
- Transportation
- Veterans and Military
Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
The Institute supports:
- Education Research
- Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences
- Education Research and Development Centers
- Statistical and Research Methodology in Education
- Research Grants Focused on Systematic Replication
- Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Education Policymaking
IES funding opportunities (RFAs) are posted on a rolling basis.
- Deadline: summer
- Amount: varies
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
The most common grants to individual scholars at research institutions are under the Division of Research Programs.
- Deadline: spring
- Amount: up to $60,000
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: up to $300,000
Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: up to $750,000
Scholarly Editions and Translations
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: $300,000-1,000,000
Fellowships for Advanced Social Science Research on Japan
- Deadline: spring
- Amount: $60,000
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Applying to the NIH requires that you identify the appropriate Institute or Center to apply to (see list). Explore the NIH grant process and structure here to get started.
- Deadline: varies
- Amount: varies
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Social science and education research is funded largely through two NSF Directorates. NSF does not fund humanities research. Each directorate encompasses several programs, listed here:
Regular Grants - standard NSF grant for an individual or collaborative team
- Deadline: varies by program
- Amount: varies
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) - provides support over five years
to enable awardees to develop careers not only as outstanding researchers but also as
educators demonstrating commitment to teaching, learning, and dissemination of
knowledge.
- Deadline: summer
- Amount: minimum $400,000
American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
ACLS Fellowships (the fellowship is open to untenured scholars who have earned a PhD in the humanities or humanistic social sciences within the last 8 years).
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: $60,000
The Huntington Library
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: $50,000
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: $3,500 per month
Travel & Exchange Grants for Study Abroad
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: economy round-trip airfare and $3,500
John Templeton Foundation
The John Templeton Foundation supports interdisciplinary research and catalyzes conversations that inspire awe and wonder. Funding areas include: Character Virtue Development; Individual Freedom & Free Markets; Life Sciences; Mathematical & Physical Sciences; Public Engagement; Religion, Science, and Society.
- Deadline: summer
- Amount: varies
The Mellon Foundation
Mellon has four core programs (Arts and Culture; Higher Learning; Humanities in Place; Public Knowledge) and presidential initiatives. Grantmaking across all areas supports ideas and organizations that contribute to a more connected, creative, and just society.
- Deadline: varies
- Amount: varies
Sawyer Seminars (UCSB is invited to apply on a semi-annual basis)
- Deadline: summer
- Amount: $225,000
New Directions Fellowships (UCSB is invited to apply on a semi-annual basis)
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: up to $300,000
Emerging Faculty Leaders Award
- Deadline: winter
- Amount: $20,000
Russell Sage Foundation
The Russell Sage Foundation supports innovative social science research that explores cutting-edge methods, questions, and policies for the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.
Core programs (Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context; Future of Work; Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration; and Social, Political and Economic Inequality)
- Deadline: varies
- Amount: varies
Additional opportunities include Visiting Scholar and Visiting Researcher Fellowships, Sheldon Danziger Pipeline Grants to early-career researchers, and special initiatives.
- Deadline: varies
- Amount: varies
Social Science Research Council
The SSRC’s varied fellowships and prizes share a core commitment to improving conditions for social science knowledge production worldwide. Programs engage themes ranging from global issues facing the United States and Japan to security in Africa and Latin America.
- Deadline: varies
- Amount: varies
Spencer Foundation
Research Grants on Education - Large
- Deadline: winter and summer
- Amount: between $125,000 and $500,000 for up to five years
Research Grants on Education - Small
- Deadline: summer and fall
- Amount: $50,000 for up to five years
Racial Equity Research Grants
Deadline: spring
Amount: $75,000 for up to five years
Research-Practice Partnerships: Collaborative research for educational change
- Deadline: winter
- Amount: $400,000 for up to 3 years
Spencer/National Academy of Education Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: $70,000
Wenner Gren
- Deadline: spring and fall
- Amount: $25,000
Engaged Research Grant
- Deadline: spring and fall
- Amount: $20,000
William T. Grant Foundation
Research Grants on Reducing Inequality
- Deadline: varies
- Amount:
- Major Grants: $100,000 to $600,000 over 2-3 years
- Officers’ Research Grants: $25,000–$50,000 over 1-2 years
Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence
- Deadline: varies
- Amount:
- Major Grants: $100,000 to $600,000 over 2-4 years
- Officers’ Research Grants: $25,000–$50,000 over 1-2 years
William T. Grant Scholars Program
- Deadline: summer
- This is a limited submission program in which only 1 proposal may be submitted from each institution.) UCSB conducts a campus review process to select the proposal that move forwards in the competition. The deadline for campus review is typically in spring.
- Amount: Up to $425,000 over 5 years
- Deadline: fall
- Amount: $650,000 over 3 years
Proposal Development and Submission Resources
Proposal Writing and Development Services Contact
Strategic Research Initiatives
-
Director, Humanities, Fine Arts, Social Sciences, & Education: Barbara Endemaño Walker, Ph.D. | 805-893-3576 | barbara.walker@ucsb.edu
- Associate Director, Humanities, Fine Arts, Social Sciences, and Education: Melissa Bator, Ph.D. | 805-893-7345 | mjb@ucsb.edu
Research Unit Proposal Submission Contacts
Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (ISBER)
- Contracts and Grants Proposal Coordinator: Lien Caredio | liencaredio@ucsb.edu
Chicano Studies Institute
- Business Officer: Tracey Goss | tracey.goss@ucsb.edu
Center for Black Studies Research
- Management Service Officer: Tracey Goss | tracey.goss@ucsb.edu
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center
- Business Officer: Tahna Hekhuis | tahna@ihc.ucsb.edu
PIVOT Funding Search Engine
- PIVOT is a comprehensive database of funding opportunities worldwide and across all disciplines. Information about PIVOT and curated lists of funding opportunities can be found here: PIVOT Guide. For questions about PIVOT or funding searches, contact: Kelly Pillsbury (pillsbury@research.ucsb.edu)
College of Letters and Sciences Grant Resources
- Salary supplements for awards/fellowships: Salary supplements are provided to make up the difference between a fellowship award of at least $25,000 and the faculty member’s salary. The college will require nine (9) credits to be forfeited in exchange for an annual supplement. For untenured ladder faculty, the college will require six (6) sabbatical credits to be forfeited. College-supported awards should be used for research only. Find out more here (scroll to bottom of page)
- Course buyout: Ladder faculty may use extramural funds to buy-out courses according to the guidelines here (scroll to bottom of page)
- Grant matching commitments (cost share or project contributions): Discuss your project contribution needs with your dean and follow the procedures outlined here for requesting UC Cash project contributions for extramural funding proposals.