Minerva Research Initiative | WHS AD FOA DECUR 19

Opportunity Information: Apply for WHS AD FOA DECUR 19

The Minerva Research Initiative is a Department of Defense grant program that funds basic social science research tied to questions the DoD considers strategically important for U.S. national security policy. The core purpose is to strengthen the Department's long-term intellectual capital in the social sciences, improve its ability to anticipate and respond to future security challenges, and build durable, candid working relationships between the DoD and the academic social science community. Minerva is set up to connect universities and research institutions (including cross-institutional and multidisciplinary teams) around problem areas that the DoD identifies as priority interests, with the expectation that the resulting work contributes foundational insights rather than short-term, narrowly operational deliverables.

This particular competition invites whitepapers and full proposals aligned with nine topic areas. Those areas span classic international relations and political economy questions, as well as newer issues at the intersection of human behavior and emerging technology. The topics are: (1) peer or near-peer statecraft, influence, and regional balances of power; (2) power, deterrence, and escalation management; (3) alliances and burden sharing; (4) economic interdependence and security; (5) the economic viability, resilience, and sustainability of logistics infrastructure; (6) multi-domain behavioral complexity and computational social modeling; (7) autonomy, artificial intelligence, machine ethics, and social interactions; (8) models and methods for understanding covert online influence; and (9) automated cyber vulnerability analysis. The program notes that the topic descriptions are intended as a frame of reference rather than strict boundaries, which signals openness to creative approaches as long as they clearly connect to one or more of these interest areas.

Applicants can propose either single-investigator projects or larger collaborative efforts. Team-based proposals are explicitly encouraged when the expertise needed to address the problem is distributed across multiple universities, institutions, or departments. For team submissions, the solicitation requires clear organization and accountability: only one Principal Investigator is designated as the responsible technical point of contact, and one institution serves as the primary award recipient. The proposal must plainly describe how each participating institution contributes, what roles they play, and how funding will be divided, including any subawards. Beyond management and budgeting details, the solicitation emphasizes that the basic research contribution should be clearly articulated in the narrative, meaning reviewers should be able to see exactly what new knowledge, theory, data, or methods the work will produce and why it matters for the stated national security-related topic area.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity issued by the Department of Defense under the science and technology and other research and development activity category (CFDA 12.630). Eligibility is listed as unrestricted (open to any entity type, subject to any additional eligibility language in the full announcement). The funding opportunity number is WHS AD FOA DECUR 19. The announcement date is August 7, 2019, with an original closing date of November 19, 2019. The stated award ceiling is $2,000,000, and the DoD anticipated making around six awards under this competition.

• The Department of Defense in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Minerva Research Initiative" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.630.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 07, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 19, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for WHS AD FOA DECUR 19

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