Influential Research Reducing Inequalities Grant
Influential Research Reducing Inequalities Grant ($2,500) – Up to one may be awarded each year.
Overview
The faculty has voted to adopt "reducing inequalities" as a core theme of the Williams School's contribution to societal impact. This aligns with our mission to develop inclusive leaders.
Reducing inequalities involves implementing policies and initiatives aimed at diminishing disparities in various aspects of life, such as income, wealth, education, healthcare access, exposure to environmental toxins, insecurities (i.e., food, transportation, employment, childcare, housing), contact with crime, and opportunities more broadly. It encompasses efforts to address systemic barriers and discrimination that contribute to unequal outcomes for individuals and communities based on factors such as socioeconomic status, race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Research, teaching, and student engagement all can result in societal impact. As a school, we have chosen to monitor reducing inequalities for accreditation, and we want to provide incentives for faculty to engage in projects that increase impact in that area. Towards this end, the school will introduce two grants that will provide incentives for faculty to address reducing inequalities through their teaching and scholarship. These grants provide additional funding beyond what is already available through Lenfest grants and departmental development funds.
Influential Research Reducing Inequalities Grant
While faculty across departments are already actively engaged in scholarly work and external service that address reducing inequality, our goal over the next five years is to encourage future work that will advance this line of inquiry and social change by rewarding the positive effect of research meeting this objective.
The grants will be awarded to up to one faculty member whose prior scholarly work (basic, pedagogical, or applied) addressing the reduction of inequality has been demonstrated to have a positive outcome on society. Because this is meant to award impact and impact typically takes time to be demonstrated, the paper would typically have been published in years prior to that of the grant. This grant can fund travel, data, or other reimbursable expenses for the faculty member's current or upcoming research project. The committee will evaluate the impact of this research on external stakeholders. The nominees will be asked to highlight any of their scholarly work related to the school's societal impact theme of reducing inequality and discuss the resulting positive societal outcomes in local, national, or global communities. An example of this could be a faculty member who publishes scholarly work on inequality between groups, which results in policy work for government or business that subsequently helps to reduce inequality within a group of people or in an organization.
A faculty member can only win one research grant once every five years, and a grant may not be awarded every year. Winners will present a short summary of their work at the Best Practices Lunch. If the committee finds more than two worthy candidates for the grant in a single year, the researcher(s) who do not win will be informed that their nomination is being held over for the following year.