Grants Program

Possible areas of exploration include:

• Identifying, characterizing, understanding, limiting and/or mitigating mis and disinformation, political polarization and toxicity that may arise via social media, chatbots and online platforms.
• Exploring the efficacy of interventions designed to reduce the potential harm of social media products, including mitigating social media addiction and potential negative effects on overall happiness and well-being.
• Implementation and/or evaluation of efforts to ensure the humanness of online interactions.

Possible areas of exploration include:

• Efforts to implement and evaluate the use of technology to improve the effective delivery of public services.
• Implementing and/or evaluating policies that create incentives that encourage constructive interactions on and with online technology.
  

Possible areas of exploration include:

• Understanding and evaluating state, national and international efforts to regulate tech and AI.
• Creation of policy frameworks that will help governments appropriately regulate fast-moving technology.
• Exploring how private sector actors can create policies that promote ethical uses of technology that maximize benefits and minimize harms to society.

Proposals will be evaluated according to three criteria:

1. Mission: The proposed research is consistent with TPP’s mission of developing and evaluating policies and programs that promote ethical and beneficial uses of technology and/or reduce harms from these technologies.
2. Merit: The proposal clearly explains the qualifications of the researchers and the contributions of the project.
   1. Research team: The researchers have exemplary experience and expertise.  The researchers also have a track record of delivering funded work on time and on budget. 
   2. Proposal: The proposal is grounded in high-quality research and outlines a clear contribution to knowledge and/or delivery of improvements in the tech policy arena.  Innovations and creative collaborations are particularly valued. The budget is appropriate and the delivery timelines and staffing plans are thorough and achievable.
3. Impact and community: The proposal is action and impact-oriented, with metrics defined to measure this impact. The proposal describes strategies for translating research findings into policy impact and communicating them beyond academic circles. Grant recipients will be expected to check in with TPP each semester to provide progress updates.  They will also be expected to join in the research and policy community we are building in our three focus areas.

Applications for this year’s grant program is now open!

Interested Georgetown faculty and research staff should submit a proposal through this Google application. Non-Georgetown researchers and organizations who would like to explore a collaboration with GU researchers should contact those researchers directly. You can find a template here to complete and upload to this google application.

The application asks for the following materials:

1. Cover page with project summary, with basic information on the primary investigator, additional researchers, funding request amount, and proposed start and end dates.

•  Please indicate on the cover page if you are applying for a continuation of a TPP-funded project. Use the cover to include the updated information. 

2. Project narrative of no more than four pages that includes the following sections:

1. Project goals and objectives
2. Research methods
3. Impact on tech policy 
4. Community building
5. Existing funding sources and major grant/research/administrative obligations of investigators
6. Existing track record of completing work of this kind

3.Project budget outlining categories of spending (e.g., personnel, student assistance, data acquisition/collection, equipment, convenings, travel, etc.) over the proposed funding period

Awards of funding will be determined by a committee, which includes Georgetown faculty, representatives from partner universities and representatives of Project Liberty’s Institute.

2/20/2026     Call for proposals
3/20/2026    Proposals are due
4/30/2026     Applicants are notified of decisions
7/1/2026        Funds are distributed to FY27 Grantees 

Questions? Please contact Maria Sanchez, Program Manager, Tech & Public Policy program at ms5271@georgetown.edu 

When will I receive funding for this grant cycle?
The application is for funding for TPP’s FY2027 budget cycle. Awarded grantees will begin receiving funds on July 1, 2026, the start of TPP’s FY2027 fiscal year.

Who can apply for funding?
Georgetown University (GU)  faculty and research staff. Non-GU researchers (researchers from NGOs, other academic institutions, private industry, etc) interested in collaboration must work with a GU faculty member or researcher in order to be eligible for a TPP grant. Non-GU researchers should contact eligible GU researchers directly. 

Is international collaboration allowed?
Yes, TPP has supported international collaborations in the past. Please ensure that the collaborating university or entity is comfortable with the funding relationship from Georgetown and faculty partner.

Can projects address topics beyond the listed areas of interest?
We encourage proposals that directly address or intersect with the three focus areas highlighted above.

What is the range of funding?

The model grant will between 100k-150k. Smaller budgets may be considered if you have other existing funding and TPP is a contributor.

Are multi-year projects supported?
TPP does not support multi-year projects. Funding is limited to one fiscal year (July 1–June 30, 2027). However, grantees may reapply for continued support of TPP-funded research in the next funding cycle.