Accountable Institutions and Behavior | PD 19 120Y

Opportunity Information: Apply for PD 19 120Y

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) Program is a discretionary grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number PD 19 120Y; CFDA 47.075) that funds basic scientific research aimed at improving foundational understanding of how attitudes, behavior, and institutions interact in areas tied to public policy and the delivery of public services. The program is positioned squarely in the science and technology and other research and development category, and it is open to unrestricted eligible applicants. The opportunity listed an original closing date of 2024-08-15.

AIB is centered on theory-driven, empirically grounded research rather than implementation or operational problem-solving. NSF signals that competitive proposals should be theoretically motivated, conceptually precise, methodologically rigorous, and empirically oriented. In practice, this means projects should clearly articulate the conceptual framework and mechanisms being tested, connect those ideas to existing scholarly debates, and use strong research designs and evidence to advance generalizable knowledge rather than produce an immediate applied product or program evaluation for a specific agency. The program explicitly notes that it does not fund applied research, so proposals framed primarily around direct service improvements, near-term program rollouts, or narrowly local solutions without broader theoretical payoff are typically a poor fit.

The substantive scope is broad, covering many core topics in political behavior, governance, and public administration. Examples of areas within scope include individual and group decision-making as it relates to politics and policy, the design and functioning of political institutions whether appointed or elected, how attitudes and preferences form and how people express them, electoral processes and voting behavior, the workings of public administration, and the development, adoption, and consequences of public policy. Research can be focused on a single case when that case is used to test or refine theory, but the program also welcomes comparative work, whether comparisons are across places, across institutions, across groups, or across time. Both cross-sectional studies and longitudinal designs are described as appropriate, which leaves room for experiments, observational studies, field research, historical-institutional analyses, survey-based work, and other empirically grounded strategies, so long as they meet the program's expectations for conceptual clarity and methodological strength.

Beyond standard research projects, AIB also supports research experiences for undergraduate students, which can include structured opportunities for undergraduates to participate in the research process and build research skills in a meaningful way. In addition, the program supports infrastructural activities, including methodological innovations. This can include work that improves the tools, data, measurement approaches, or analytic methods that researchers use to study accountable governance and political behavior, provided those innovations advance scientific capacity rather than serve a purely operational or applied purpose.

Finally, NSF encourages prospective applicants to look at related NSF programs, specifically the Law and Science (LS) program and the Security and Preparedness (SAP) program, suggesting that some projects may align better with those portfolios depending on whether the core contribution sits at the intersection of law and legal institutions, or focuses on security, risk, resilience, and preparedness questions. This is a hint that applicants should pay close attention to program fit and position their work where the intellectual contribution most clearly belongs.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Accountable Institutions and Behavior" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.075.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-08-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-08-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for PD 19 120Y

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