Broadening Participation in Cognitive Science Initiative
The Cognitive Science Society promotes diverse participation in Cognitive Science through multiple initiatives. To further support this mission, the Society welcomes grant proposals for our new Broadening Participation in Cognitive Science initiative. For a limited time, the Cognitive Science Society will offer grants up to $5,000. Submissions should propose events, activities or programs that will increase accessibility and inclusion of under-represented communities in Cognitive Science.
Eligibility:
Must be a researcher (e.g., faculty member, postdoctoral researcher, graduate student) affiliated with a university or research institute. This funding opportunity is open to all, regardless of geographic location at the exception of researchers located in countries subject to US embargo.
Important dates:
Deadline for proposal, May 24
Proposal selection criteria:
- Successful proposals will focus on engagement and outreach and must be interdisciplinary and showcase more than one of the core disciplines of Cognitive Science (e.g., cannot be narrowly psychology or neuroscience in its focus)
- Proposals should maximize the impact of their work by making publicly accessible materials
- Proposals that describe a pathway for sustaining the activity beyond a single event will be prioritized
- Proposals must engage with groups that are under-represented in cognitive science. Underrepresented groups could be defined by, but are not limited to, disciplinary expertise, gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, religion, disability status, and geographic location such as rural areas or internationally under-represented areas, such as from countries under-represented in cognitive science
- Proposals should put forward initiatives that increase participation or retention of under-represented populations in Cognitive Science (at all levels of education)
- Originality of ideas is welcome but not required. This grant can be used to scale up an existing outreach program or start something new.
- We will consider a wide variety of initiatives
- Your proposal could engage with students at any academic level and/or the general public, and/or groups nationally or internationally
- Your proposal could also engage with your audience at your institution, a public venue, or meet your audience where they are located (e.g. rural communities)
- Your proposal could engage your audience with cognitive science generally or could engage with them by getting them involved with cognitive science research
- Your proposal could fund staff, travel, equipment/supplies, etc.
- THIS IS NOT A RESEARCH PROPOSAL, and we will not consider research-based projects for this award. Your initiative should focus on engagement and outreach related to cognitive science.
- Proposals can be for events occurring in the summer or during the school year but must be within one year of being awarded
- Winning projects will need to write an activities report within a year of being awarded and write a short blog post about the event for the CogSci blog
If you have any questions about this grant and/or how your ideas could fit it’s criteria, please contact the outreach coordinator at
..How to apply:
Submit a PDF document addressing the following questions, as well as CVs (as PDFs) of all applicants, to Cendrine De Vis at
- Proposal description 2500 word limit (references cited in the proposal will not count towards the word limit)
- Name and contact information for applicant(s)
- Program/Initiative/Event Title
- General description of proposed initiative and main goals
- Detailed description of proposed events/activities/projects. In addition, your description must address the following three points.
- Describe how your proposal supports more than one discipline of Cognitive Science (which spans, but is not limited to, Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Anthropology, Psychology, Education, Neuroscience, and Philosophy).
- Description of how your proposal engages with traditionally under-represented groups in science nationally or internationally and (if applicable) methods to encourage their involvement
- Describe how your proposal would have lasting or broader impact on Cognitive Science outreach. For example, what resources would be created to allow your proposal to be scaled up beyond a single event or repeated? Would your proposal produce any publicly available materials that could be used for Cognitive Science outreach in general?
- Description of previous experience conducting similar work or current support network that would help make the current proposal a reality
- Budget outline detailing how you would allocate the $5,000 grant (e.g., supplies, travel, staffing, etc., with a timeline). Include information on the feasibility and necessity of budgeted items listed in the justifications section. Download the Budget Template. Please note: Projects are more likely to be funded if they do not have other sources of funding allocated to them.
2024 GRANT RECIPIENTS
Broadening Participation in Cognitive Science Initiative was created to support activities that will increase accessibility and inclusion of under-represented communities in Cognitive Science. Each of the winners will receive $5000 to fund their activities.
Promoting Science Participation in the Blind and Visually Impaired Worldwide
James Coughlan and Natela Shanidze, with Charity Pitcher-Cooper
The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, CA
The proposal provides opportunities for individuals within the Blind and Visually Impaired community to engage with cognitive science worldwide through an archive of virtual materials on a variety of cognitive science subdisciplines. This is accomplished through the development of a robust, inclusive online learning resource, with easily searchable and accessible audio, video, and text-based materials.
Nurturing Cognitive Science in Nigeria: Foundations for a new discipline
Adebunmi Oyebisi Oyekola, Chika Ezeugwu, and Adejumoke Idowu Ayede
University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria and Cambridge University
The proposal promotes interest in Cognitive Science among over 100 active participants across Nigeria in a cognitive science based workshop. Materials will be collated as resources for students and academics that attend the event with the goal of creating local cognitive science society chapters across institutions and organizations to foster deeper connections to cognitive science as a discipline in Nigeria.
The Cognitive Science Behind the Adventures of Junajpu and Xbalamke: Spreading Awareness of Cognitive Science Among Educators in Mayan and Mestizo Communities
Myron Alexander Socop Arango and Ming Yean Sia
National Taiwan Normal University
The proposal promotes interest in Cognitive Science among children in Mayan and Mestizo communities in Guatemala. Through an online workshop conducted in Spanish, children will engage with stories from the Popol Wuj, an ancient Mayan text, and hear how they relate to cognitive science content knowledge such as parts of the brain, executive function, animal cognition, and language acquisition.
PAST RECIPIENTS
2023
Launching Cognitive Science in Vietnam
K. David Harrison, Thuy Bui, Nidal Kamel, Daniel Ruelle, Jhon Sebastian Romero Meza, Hieu Pham
VinUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam
The proposal promotes interest and collaboration in Cognitive Science throughout Vietnam by bringing together researchers and students across 10 Vietnam universities through multiple activities including a public lecture, podcasts, networking event, and curriculum design workshop.
In Your Hands: Promoting Early Diverse Deaf Engagement in the Cognitive Sciences
Misa Suzuki, Bonnie Barrett, Wadha Alshammari, Marjorie Bates:, Phoenix Cook:, Michaela Okosi, Joseph Palagano, Masashi Tamura
Gallaudet University, Washington D.C., USA
The proposal promotes interest in Cognitive Science among deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students through the creation of multimodal (signed, spoken, English print) instructional materials, including publicly available YouTube videos, aimed at K-12 students.
