Sloan Public Understanding of Science & Technology

Sloan Public Understanding

Funds public science storytelling through books, film, radio, and digital media.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Public Understanding of Science and Technology program funds media projects that give the public a keener appreciation of the increasingly scientific and technological world, and that build bridges between the sciences and the humanities. The program supports work across eight media platforms: Books, Film, New Media, Radio, Special Initiatives, Television, Theater, and YouTube and TikTok. Each platform has a dedicated sub-area within the program. Grant amounts were not published on the program's main landing page at the time of research, but the Foundation's standard grant database shows year-round awards across these sub-areas. The program is active and accepts applications on a rolling basis with no fixed annual deadline.

Eligibility follows the Foundation's general rules with one important exception: individuals are eligible to apply through the Books sub-area, making it the only Sloan program track that does not require a nonprofit institutional host. All other sub-areas (Film, New Media, Radio, Television, Theater, YouTube and TikTok, Special Initiatives) require a nonprofit organization as the applicant. For-profit companies and political campaigns are not eligible under any track. The Foundation also excludes religious, medical research, and humanities projects that lack a science or technology education dimension. Applications follow the standard two-page LOI process: a brief letter emailed to the Public Understanding program team, covering the project's purpose, the work plan, the requested budget, and key personnel. The Foundation responds within approximately eight weeks.

Applicants are most competitive when the project centers on a specific scientific or technological topic — not science in the abstract — and when the medium chosen matches the audience the project intends to reach. Film, television, and theater projects typically involve partnership with a producing organization. Applicants should review recent Public Understanding grants in the Sloan Foundation's public grants database (sloan.org) to calibrate the typical award size and the types of projects that have been funded across each platform before submitting an LOI.