DRCLAS Faculty Research Grants
The applications for DRCLAS Faculty Grants are now closed. The next cycle will open in Fall 2026. Questions? Contact drclas_facultygrants@fas.harvard.edu
DRCLAS Faculty Grants offer Harvard faculty funding support for research on or in Latin America and the Caribbean. This cycle, Faculty Grants will support collaborative research projects, individual research projects, exploratory research funds, and research conferences.
Priority will be given to:
- Proposals with clear and innovative research goals.
- Proposals that have a public dissemination component, such as a public lecture, workshop or public-oriented article to discuss the impact of the proposed research.
- Interdisciplinary proposals engaging faculty from more than one department or school.
- Proposals that foster research collaborations with scholars from the region and/or institutional support from their respective universities.
- Faculty members who have not received DRCLAS Faculty Grants in the past five years.
- Projects with meaningful Harvard student participation.
Projects with budgets detailing and justifying the activities to be funded by the Faculty Grant, in alignment with our guidelines on appropriate use of funds (see below).
QUESTIONS?
Please review the eligibility criteria, application requirements and guidelines on the use of funds below before you apply. For any additional questions, please email Maria López Portillo, Program Director, Academic Appointments, Fellowships and Grants, at drclas_facultygrants@fas.harvard.edu.
- Proposals must present research activities directly carried out by the faculty who submits the application.
- The program will accept only one proposal per faculty applicant per year.
- The program will not fund multiple or repeat applications for the same project from faculty members, except for prior Exploratory Travel Fund awardees, who are encouraged to reapply for more substantial funding opportunities in the future.
- The faculty applicant must be an Assistant, Associate or full Professor employed full-time by Harvard University in any Harvard Department or School. Applicants from the Harvard Medical School must be an Assistant, Associate or full Professor actively teaching Harvard students at the time of application (undergraduates, GSAS-enrolled PhD students or students enrolled in the two HMS MD programs) and employed by Harvard University. Applicants from the Harvard Graduate School of Education who are senior full-time Professors of Practice are eligible to apply.
- Final decisions about eligibility will be determined during the review process.
| Type of Research Categories | Maximum Award |
|---|---|
Collaborative Research
| $20,000 |
Individual Research
| $12,000 |
Exploratory Travel Funds
| $5,000 |
Research Conferences
| $20,000 |
The performance period of the grant will be from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. At the end of the grant period, awardees will be expected to present a short written report detailing the activities and main outcomes of the grant.
Faculty applicants must submit the application form and all supporting documents before the deadline. The next deadline will be announced in early Fall 2026.
In preparing a proposal, the applicant should remember that DRCLAS is a University-wide center and therefore reviewers will need brief background information to fully appreciate the proposed research questions and proposed impact of the research.
- Fill out an application survey (currently closed).
The application form will ask you to upload the following documents:
- Abstract. Up to 350 words succinctly describing the justification, research goals, intended impact and activities of the project.
- Proposal. Up to 1,000 words that succinctly describe the research questions, significance of the project, expected impact and the activities that it entails. The proposal should also explain any proposed collaboration with academics and researchers in Latin America and the Caribbean. Up to two pages of additional materials may be included, if necessary.
- Detailed Budget. The budget must be detailed to reflect activities and their associated costs. It must also reflect other sources of funding, either secured or requested, that will contribute to the feasibility of the project.
- Curriculum Vitae. 5 pages max. for each PI, co-investigator, and collaborators.
- Letter of support. Letter verifying collaboration from collaborating institutions, when applicable.
- IRB-Approved Work Plan. For proposals involving human subjects or work with vertebrate animals, the applicants should obtain institutional review board approval prior to submission.
- Extensions to the performance period of awarded grants are not allowed. If the totality of the funds awarded is not used by the end of the performance period, the unspent funds will go back to DRCLAS.
- Awards may not be used for salary support, research staff salary, student tuition or stipends, administrative and indirect costs, speaker honoraria, computer hardware, or office-related equipment, and cannot be used to replace existing sources of funding.
- Applicants are strongly discouraged from allocating disproportionately large portions of their budgets for expenses with equipment, third party services, or research assistants.
- Requests for hardware purchases for data collection are discouraged but may be taken into consideration with adequate justification.
- Funds may be applied to travel-related expenses to conduct research in the field, including airfare, lodging, meals, transportation, visa fees, and vaccines; research materials, including data, images, or software to which the awardee does not have free access; monthly fees for electronic devices required for data collection; stipends and fees for research-related support services such as translation and interpretation services.
- In exceptional circumstances, funds may be used to hire Harvard undergraduates or postgraduate students as research assistants.
- Proposed research conferences may take place in Cambridge or Latin America and the Caribbean but must include robust participation of Harvard faculty and students regardless of event location. Applicants are responsible for identifying, contacting, and coordinating with potential speakers (dates, travel, accommodations, etc.). Funds may be applied to travel-related expenses for participating speakers, including airfare, lodging, meals, transportation, visa fees, and vaccines; fees for catering, recording, livestreaming, translation/interpretation, and other services essential to the research conference or workshop.
- Additional restrictions may apply at the discretion of the Faculty Grants Committee.