2026 BER News and Events
Last Update: June 25, 2026
Greetings Educational Researchers. We hope the summer is bringing you joy, relaxation, inspiration, and not-too-many perilous thunderstorms!
We are sending a special summer edition of the BER newsletter focused on some key research funding opportunities with summer deadlines. We have listed some of these below, but please go to the BER News & Events for a complete list. Continuing a trend, many of these solicitations come from federal agencies and they generally have broad scope and short deadlines. If anyone wants to talk through the feasibility of submitting to these programs, please reach out and we will schedule a time to chat!
Training Opportunities and Resources
- Center for STEM Education Research & Translation. Funded by NSF, supports those working to improve PreK-12 STEM education teaching and learning. Strengthen the translation of STEM education research evidence and innovations to and from STEM K-12 learning environments. Foster meaningful connections, enhance member knowledge and skills, elevate the visibility of NSF investments to advance excellence in STEM teaching and learning. Join Center Mailing List.
- University guidance for China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) has been updated. This applies to any activities, including research, that might touch the personal information of people in Mainland China. View University Guidance.
- WT Grant Foundation. Use of Research Evidence Early-Career Reviewer Program. Early-career researchers are invited to serve as peer reviewers for proposals focused on improving the use of research evidence to benefit youth. Applications due 7/8/26.
- The University Library has just announced an Open Access Publishing Agreement with Wiley that could offer researchers the ability to publish research findings through 12/31/2027, without charge.
Research Funding
- Spencer Foundation Research Practice Partnerships. Education research projects that engage in collaborative and participatory partnerships as an important approach to knowledge generation and the improvement of education, broadly construed. Pre-proposals due 7/10/26. Proposal (if invited) Due: 10/28/26.
- Russell Sage Foundation: Sheldon Danzinger Pipeline Grants. Research focused on structural barriers to economic mobility and how individuals, communities and state entities understand, navigate and challenge systemic inequalities. Supports early-career scholars and promotes diversity in the social sciences. LOI due 7/15/26. Proposal (if invited) Due: 10/26/26.
- NSF: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE). Research that promotes novel, creative, and transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for undergraduate students. Due 7/15/26.
- Social Science Research Council: The LEGO Foundation Fellowship. Deepen our understanding of how children thrive. Spanning disciplines from education and psychology to public health, data science, and humanitarian studies. Early- and mid-career scholars whose work has the potential to generate evidence that matters for children’s lives. Due 7/31/26.
- K-12 AI Infrastructure Program: Teaching & Learning (T&L) Benchmarks and Datasets Request for Proposals. Digital Promise-led coalition seeks to improve the quality and relevance of existing Artificial Intelligence (AI) datasets, evaluations and benchmarks for education. Aims to fund the design, development, and validation of open-source AI focused on K-12 math education. Due 7/31/26.
- William T. Grant: Research Grant On Improving The Use Of Research Evidence - Officers' Research Grants. Strategies to improve the use of research evidence in ways that benefit young people ages 5-25 in the US. Officers’ Research Grants, with a $50K cap, are reviewed internally by the funder. Letter (on which funding decision is made) Due: 7/29/26.
- Spencer Foundation Vision Grants. Team planning for a large-scale study or program of research: geared toward real-world impact to make education systems more equitable; drawing on research across disciplines and methods; developed through meaningful and equitable collaboration with practitioners, policymakers, communities, & other partners; focused on transforming educational systems. LOI Due 8/12/26; Proposal Due 9/16/26.
- Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood Seed Grants. Aims to incubate promising research and development projects that appear likely to improve the welfare of young children, from infancy through 7 years, in the United States. LOI Due 9/30/26.
- NSF: Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER). Grants that support early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Due 7/22/26.
- Russell Sage Foundation. Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context. Further our understanding of economic, social, political, and psychological decision-making processes, attitudes, behaviors, and institutional practices in public and private contexts. LOI Due 7/15/26. Proposal (if invited) Due: 10/26/26.
- Russell Sage Foundation: Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration. Encourages multi-disciplinary perspectives on questions stemming from the significant changes in the racial, ethnic, and immigrant-origin composition of the U.S. population. LOI Due 7/15/26. Proposal (if invited) Due: 10/26/26.
- Joint Research Project: University Academic Alliance in Taiwan (UAAT)-University of Illinois System (U of I). This program aims to facilitate both research and development collaboration between UAAR and U of I that promotes economic and societal development through the research and development of innovative technologies. Due 8/14/26.
- NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA). Research that supports educational activities that increase understanding of biomedical research among pre-college (pre-kindergarten to grade12) individuals, and to encourage awareness of and continued interest in careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Due: 9/25/26.
- Brady Foundation Research Project (RP) and Existing Program Evaluation (EPE) proposals. Funds projects that are consistent with a strength-based perspective and have the potential to inform future educational research, practice, major philanthropic giving, and/or public policy. LOI Due 9/30/26.