The Spencer Foundation announces its Research Grants on Education, inviting scholars to pursue ambitious education research that advances understanding, practice, and policy. Beginning in 2026, the program shifts to a single annual funding cycle and expands the number of projects funded, with grant amounts ranging from $125,000 to $500,000 and project durations spanning one to five years. This fully field-initiated program allows researchers to propose topics, methods, and designs of their choosing, emphasizing rigorous inquiry, intellectual ambition, and potential lasting impact on the field of education.

Overview of Opportunity and Scope

The Spencer Foundation seeks studies that address meaningful questions in education across diverse settings and life stages, from classrooms to workplaces, homes, communities, and recreational spaces. Proposals may explore learning across the lifespan and across multiple contexts, with emphasis on depth of inquiry and thoughtful project design. The program values work that can inform practice, policy, and broader public understanding, and it prioritizes dissemination and real-world impact as an integral part of the research plan.

In this framework, scholars from a wide range of disciplines—education, sociology, anthropology, psychology, law, economics, philosophy, history, neuroscience, and related fields—are encouraged to contribute. Methodological diversity is welcomed, including quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, ethnographic, design-based, participatory, and historical approaches. Proposals that involve multiple data sources, extended timeframes, or collaborations with practitioners or community members are particularly encouraged, as are multidisciplinary and multigenerational research teams.

Applicants should present a compelling case for how their findings could influence practice, inform policy, or contribute to broader understanding of educational processes. The program explicitly invites researchers to think about long-term impact and dissemination from the outset, ensuring that the work can reach relevant audiences beyond academia. The opportunity represents a major global investment in education research, designed to advance knowledge with practical consequences for diverse learners and settings.

Eligibility and Applicant Profile

Eligible applicants include principal investigators and co-investigators who hold a doctoral degree and are affiliated with a nonprofit or public institution capable of administering the grant. Projects must focus on education research and cannot involve program development, evaluations, technology creation, or other non-research activities. Proposals may be submitted from anywhere in the world, provided they are written in English and budgets are prepared in U.S. dollars.

Project duration is capped at five years, and applicants may not hold more than one active Spencer research grant at a time. The program emphasizes high-quality, original research with global relevance and the potential to deepen understanding and contribute to the field over time. These criteria collectively shape a competitive but expansive opportunity for researchers who seek to tackle substantive questions in education.

Key eligibility highlights include:

• Doctoral-degree required for lead researchers.
• Affiliation with nonprofit or public institutions able to administer the grant.
• Education research focus with no scope for program development, evaluations, or technology creation.
• Global submission allowed with English-language proposals and USD budgets.
• Five-year maximum project duration and one active Spencer grant limit per investigator at a time.

Funding Details, Duration, and Budget Guidance

Grant awards span from $125,000 to $500,000, supporting research projects that can be conducted over one to five years. Beginning in 2026, the program adopts a single annual funding cycle and expands the number of projects funded, offering broader opportunities for researchers to secure support for their work. Applicants are encouraged to request a budget that aligns with the scope of their study rather than pursuing the highest possible tier.

The initiative is a fully field-initiated program, meaning investigators determine the topics, methods, and designs. This structure prioritizes rigorous, thoughtful, and well-designed investigations that can yield meaningful evidence for educational practice and policy. The funding model is designed to enable substantial, longer-term inquiries that can contribute lasting knowledge to the field and inform decisions at multiple levels of education systems.

Important funding details to note:

• Grant range: $125,000–$500,000
• Project duration: 1–5 years
• Funding cycle: single annual cycle starting in 2026
• Budget guidance: tailor the request to the scope of work, not necessarily the top tier
• Cycle openness: global eligibility with English-language proposals
• Currency: budgets in USD
• Active grant limit: one Spencer research grant at a time

Research Design, Collaboration, and Methodological Diversity

Disciplinary breadth accommodates research across education, sociology, anthropology, psychology, law, economics, philosophy, history, neuroscience, and related fields. The program actively supports a wide range of methodological approaches, including quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, ethnographic, design-based, participatory, and historical research. Proposals that engage multiple data sources, span extended periods, or involve collaboration with practitioners or community members are particularly encouraged, as are multidisciplinary and multigenerational teams.

Projects should articulate clear pathways to impact, demonstrating how findings may influence practice, inform policy, or contribute to broader public understanding. A thoughtful dissemination plan and attention to long-term influence are essential components of a successful proposal. By inviting diverse designs and collaborative structures, the program aims to generate rigorous knowledge with practical relevance across educational settings and populations.

In addition to methodological variety, teams are encouraged to assemble cross-disciplinary partnerships and include practitioners or community members in the research process when possible. Such collaboration is expected to strengthen the relevance and applicability of results, as well as broaden dissemination to stakeholders who can implement or advocate for evidence-based changes. The funder views these features as critical to achieving enduring impact beyond academic audiences.

Application Process, Timeline, and Expected Impact

Global applicants may submit proposals, provided they adhere to the English-language and USD-budget requirements. Beginning in 2026, the program will operate on a single annual funding cycle, with the expectation that more projects will be supported in each cycle. While deadlines are not specified in the available information, the shift to a single annual cycle signals a renewed emphasis on timely, annual opportunities for researchers to apply and compete for funding.

Support resources accompany the opportunity, including guidance on grant writing and the ability to create an account to filter grants by country. The funder emphasizes a clear and thorough application process, urging researchers to prepare strong proposals with well-defined research questions, rigorous designs, explicit data sources, and comprehensive dissemination plans. Applicants should also present a thoughtful long-term impact strategy, illustrating how findings could transform practice, policy, or public understanding of education.

Action steps highlighted for potential applicants include preparation of a robust research plan, a realistic and defendable budget aligned with project scope, and a dissemination strategy that identifies intended audiences and channels. The program encourages multidisciplinary and community-engaged approaches that can translate into real-world improvements and knowledge gains. While the exact submission window is not provided here, the structure indicates a standardized, annual opportunity to present high-quality, policy-relevant education research to a global audience.