The Lou Schuyler Internal Postdoctoral Research Grant Program aims to enhance the independence and productivity of early-career postdoctoral scholars at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI), thereby advancing their future scientific and scholarly pursuits by:
• Providing internal funds to stimulate new, exploratory research directions and improve the quality of preliminary data, analyses, modeling, or other scholarly activities.
• Providing opportunities for increased mentorship and training of early career scholars learning to navigate grant processes, including grant proposal development and post-award grant management.
• Providing support for early career scholars to build collaborative networks through transdisciplinary team building activities.
This program is managed by the SFI Sponsored Research Services Office under the Office of Science.
Download the Full Instruction Booklet HERE
ELIGIBILITY
The applicant lead/Principal Investigator (PI) must be a postdoctoral fellow employed at least half-time at the Santa Fe Institute; the PI must be committed to leading and actively engaging in the proposed project.
Applicants may only apply for one project per cycle as Lead PI and may only receive one award per 12-month period.
Applicants with existing awards under this program may not re-apply until the end of their current award. A revised application that was previously rejected may be resubmitted once within a year of the initial rejection.
Applicants submitting a proposal related to a project previously funded by this internal funding program must demonstrate that the new application is substantially different.
For applicants with existing external funding, the proposal must demonstrate that the funds will be used to initiate new research directions or activities separate from existing projects.
SFI Program Postdoctoral Fellows are strongly encouraged to discuss their application with the PI of the grant that funds their position; an application under this program will be denied if there are other funds available under the external grant award for the activities requested.
PLEASE NOTE: If you don't already have a SURVEY MONKEY APPLY account you will need to create one before you apply.
AWARD INFORMATION
Deadline for this Application is September 5, 2025.
Awards under the Lou Schuyler Internal Postdoctoral Research Grant Program are limited to a maximum of $15,000 and will be awarded for a 12-month project period starting in January 2026.
Successful applicants will be asked to prepare brief narrative reports on project activities and outcomes at the end of the project award period.
REQUIREMENTS
Applications may only include up to two Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) and four Collaborators.
All proposal documents must follow the required formatting and page limits, as determined in the proposal guidelines.
Projects that exceed the Co-PI, Collaborator or funding limits, or that do not follow the formatting and page limits will be returned without review.
ALLOWABLE COSTS
Postdoctoral researchers employed at the Santa Fe Institute may apply for small internal grants to support research and scholarly activity which otherwise would not be feasible with other available internal or external funds.
Allowable costs may include international and domestic travel required for the proposed scholarly activity, IRB fees, data and data collection fees, materials and supplies, including those necessary for field work, equipment, research assistants, and costs associated with hosting small meetings / micro working groups.
Sub-awards are not allowed; however, external collaborators may invoice project-specific expenses that are otherwise allowable.
The small award limit does not allow for salary and fringe support. Additionally, conference travel, publication costs, workshops, and unrelated collaborator or mentor visits are generally not allowed, as other internal funds are available to cover these expenses.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the SFI Sponsored Research Office for guidance on eligibility, program fit, budgets and allowable costs prior to submitting an application.
Lou Schuyler Internal Postdoctoral Research Grant Program
The Lou Schuyler Internal Postdoctoral Research Grant Program aims to enhance the independence and productivity of early-career postdoctoral scholars at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI), thereby advancing their future scientific and scholarly pursuits by:
• Providing internal funds to stimulate new, exploratory research directions and improve the quality of preliminary data, analyses, modeling, or other scholarly activities.
• Providing opportunities for increased mentorship and training of early career scholars learning to navigate grant processes, including grant proposal development and post-award grant management.
• Providing support for early career scholars to build collaborative networks through transdisciplinary team building activities.
This program is managed by the SFI Sponsored Research Services Office under the Office of Science.
Download the Full Instruction Booklet HERE
ELIGIBILITY
The applicant lead/Principal Investigator (PI) must be a postdoctoral fellow employed at least half-time at the Santa Fe Institute; the PI must be committed to leading and actively engaging in the proposed project.
Applicants may only apply for one project per cycle as Lead PI and may only receive one award per 12-month period.
Applicants with existing awards under this program may not re-apply until the end of their current award. A revised application that was previously rejected may be resubmitted once within a year of the initial rejection.
Applicants submitting a proposal related to a project previously funded by this internal funding program must demonstrate that the new application is substantially different.
For applicants with existing external funding, the proposal must demonstrate that the funds will be used to initiate new research directions or activities separate from existing projects.
SFI Program Postdoctoral Fellows are strongly encouraged to discuss their application with the PI of the grant that funds their position; an application under this program will be denied if there are other funds available under the external grant award for the activities requested.
PLEASE NOTE: If you don't already have a SURVEY MONKEY APPLY account you will need to create one before you apply.
AWARD INFORMATION
Deadline for this Application is September 5, 2025.
Awards under the Lou Schuyler Internal Postdoctoral Research Grant Program are limited to a maximum of $15,000 and will be awarded for a 12-month project period starting in January 2026.
Successful applicants will be asked to prepare brief narrative reports on project activities and outcomes at the end of the project award period.
REQUIREMENTS
Applications may only include up to two Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs) and four Collaborators.
All proposal documents must follow the required formatting and page limits, as determined in the proposal guidelines.
Projects that exceed the Co-PI, Collaborator or funding limits, or that do not follow the formatting and page limits will be returned without review.
ALLOWABLE COSTS
Postdoctoral researchers employed at the Santa Fe Institute may apply for small internal grants to support research and scholarly activity which otherwise would not be feasible with other available internal or external funds.
Allowable costs may include international and domestic travel required for the proposed scholarly activity, IRB fees, data and data collection fees, materials and supplies, including those necessary for field work, equipment, research assistants, and costs associated with hosting small meetings / micro working groups.
Sub-awards are not allowed; however, external collaborators may invoice project-specific expenses that are otherwise allowable.
The small award limit does not allow for salary and fringe support. Additionally, conference travel, publication costs, workshops, and unrelated collaborator or mentor visits are generally not allowed, as other internal funds are available to cover these expenses.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the SFI Sponsored Research Office for guidance on eligibility, program fit, budgets and allowable costs prior to submitting an application.