William T. Grant Foundation: 2026 William T. Grant Scholars Program

The William T. Grant Foundation is inviting eligible institutions to nominate one (1) faculty member to apply for the 2026 William T. Grant Scholars Program. The Foundation’s mission is to support research to improve the lives of young people ages 5-25 in the United States. They pursue this mission by supporting research within two focus areas. Researchers interested in applying for a William T. Grant Scholars Award must select one focus area: Reducing Inequality in Youth Outcomes or Improving the Use of Research Evidence in Policy and Practice. Scholars will receive $425,000 over five years. Additional information can be found in the RFA.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be a Wake Forest University School of Medicine tenure-track faculty member.
• Applicants must be nominated by their institutions. Major divisions (e.g., College of Arts and Sciences, Medical School) of an institution may nominate only one applicant each year. In addition to the eligibility criteria below, deans and directors of those divisions should refer to the Selection Criteria to aid them in choosing their nominees. Applicants of any discipline are eligible.
• Applicants must have received their terminal degree within seven years of submitting their application. We calculate this by adding seven years to the date the doctoral degree was conferred. In medicine, the seven-year maximum is dated from the completion of the first residency.
• Applicants must be employed in career-ladder positions. For many applicants, this means holding a tenure-track position in a university. Applicants in other types of organizations should be in positions in which there is a pathway to advancement in a research career at the organization and the organization is fiscally responsible for the applicant’s position. The award may not be used as a post-doctoral fellowship.

Interested applicants should submit pre-proposals following the Limited Submission Pre-Proposal Instructions electronically to the application system by Friday, March 27, 2026, at 11:59PM EST.

Deadlines:

• Internal Deadline: March 27^th, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET
• Selection of External Applicant: April 13^th, 2026
• External Mentor and Reference Letter Deadline: June 10^th, 2026 at 3PM ET
• External Application Deadline: June 30^th, 2026 at 3PM ET