Security and Preparedness | PD 19 118Y

Opportunity Information: Apply for PD 19 118Y

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Security and Preparedness (SAP) program (Funding Opportunity Number PD 19 118Y) is a discretionary grant opportunity that supports basic scientific research aimed at improving knowledge and understanding of issues tied broadly to global and national security. The focus is on foundational, theory-driven scholarship rather than near-term operational solutions, meaning proposals should be designed to advance generalizable understanding of security-related phenomena instead of delivering applied tools, products, or implementation plans for specific agencies or contexts.

Projects submitted to SAP are reviewed using NSF's core criteria: intellectual merit and broader impacts. In practice, that means proposals should present a clear research question and a strong contribution to existing scholarship (intellectual merit), while also explaining how the work could benefit society in wider ways, such as informing public understanding, strengthening research capacity, improving education and training pathways, or producing data and methods that other researchers can use (broader impacts). NSF signals that competitive proposals in this program are expected to be theoretically motivated, conceptually precise, methodologically rigorous, and empirically oriented, so applicants should be prepared to justify their research design, data strategy, and analytic approach in a way that stands up to peer review.

The program is open to a wide range of substantive topics connected to security and stability. Examples explicitly noted include international relations and global/national security dynamics; human security; political violence; state stability and fragility; conflict processes; regime transition; international and comparative political economy; and peace science. The "not limited to" language is important, because it leaves room for adjacent lines of inquiry as long as the core contribution advances scientific understanding of security and preparedness concerns. Alongside standard research awards, SAP also supports research experiences for undergraduate students, which can include structured opportunities for undergraduates to participate in research, training, and mentoring. The program additionally supports infrastructural activities, including methodological innovations, suggesting that proposals can center on building or improving the research infrastructure that enables better science in this area, such as new empirical strategies, data resources, measurement approaches, or analytical methods.

A key boundary is that SAP does not fund applied research. Applicants should interpret this as a preference for basic research contributions over projects primarily aimed at immediate practical deployment, program implementation, or operational optimization for a particular organization. Projects can still be policy-relevant in the sense that they may generate insights that policymakers could eventually use, but the proposal should be framed as a scientific effort to explain, test, measure, or model important security-related processes rather than to implement or evaluate a specific operational intervention.

Administratively, the opportunity is run by the National Science Foundation under CFDA number 47.075, falls within the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category, and uses the grant instrument. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, indicating there is no special applicant limitation stated in the provided listing. The original closing date shown is 2024-08-15, and the opportunity record was created on 2019-08-30. The listing does not provide an award ceiling or expected number of awards in the fields shown, so applicants typically need to consult the full solicitation or program page for current budget guidance and submission specifics.

Finally, NSF encourages prospective applicants to also review the Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) and Law and Science (LS) program websites. This is a useful signal that SAP sits in a broader ecosystem of NSF programs that may overlap in topic area or approach, and that some projects might fit better in AIB or LS depending on whether the central contribution is about institutional accountability and behavior, legal systems and processes, or related governance and compliance questions tied to security outcomes.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Security and Preparedness" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.075.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-08-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-08-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for PD 19 118Y

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