Sloan Economics Research Program

Sloan Economics NSF Emergency Grants

Funds emergency scientific research continuity in economics after abrupt project disruptions.

The Sloan Foundation Economics program offers emergency grants of up to $250,000 for economics-related research projects whose National Science Foundation funding was terminated. This track sits within the broader Economics program at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and is accessed through the same rolling Letter of Inquiry intake process used for standard Economics grants. The track was established in response to NSF funding disruptions affecting active research projects, and it provides bridge or replacement funding so that ongoing scholarly work is not abandoned. Award amounts are defined by the documented funding gap left by the terminated NSF grant, up to the $250,000 ceiling.

Eligible applicants are universities, nonprofit research organizations, and nonprofits conducting economics-related research that had an active NSF grant terminated. For-profit institutions and individuals are not eligible. Applicants must document that their project previously held NSF funding and that this funding was terminated before the project's completion. The application route is the standard Sloan Economics LOI: a brief letter emailed to the Economics program team describing the project, the terminated NSF grant, the funding gap, and the plan to complete the research if Sloan support is provided. The Foundation responds to LOIs within approximately eight weeks.

Because this track is designed for projects already underway with demonstrated scholarly merit — having passed NSF's prior review — the key elements of a strong application are clear documentation of the terminated award, a precise budget showing the remaining cost to complete the project, and a brief statement of why finishing the work is important to the field. Projects in any of the Economics program's four focus areas (science and technology policy, transportation and infrastructure, caregiving, or the economics profession) are especially well positioned, though the emergency track does not appear to restrict eligibility to those themes. Applicants should submit their LOI promptly after NSF termination to preserve momentum.