Overview

This grant opportunity is no longer accepting applications and remains for reference purposes. The Social Science Research Council no longer administers the peer review and data ethics review process for data granted through the Social Science One process. For updates about the Social Data Initiative, please click here.

The Social Media and Democracy Research Grants support research that examines the impact of social media and related digital technologies on democracy and elections, in order to generate insights and advance new avenues for inquiry in an independent, transparent, and ethical way, according to the highest standards of data privacy and academic norms.

The first request for proposals was issued on the effects of social media on democracy and elections. In collaboration with Social Science One (SS1), an entity developed by Professors Gary King and Nate Persily, Facebook will make data available to social science researchers for the first time through an independent peer-reviewed process. Through the Social Media and Democracy Research Grants competition, the SSRC independently administers research funding, leads the peer review and data ethics review process, and works with SS1 to manage the research.

Researchers whose proposals are selected for support will receive research funding via the Social Science Research Council and access to Facebook data via Social Science One. Details about these data, including the codebook, can be found at the Social Science One Dataverse repository.

The research is funded by a group of charitable foundations including the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation, Omidyar Network, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 

Preparing Your Application

Detailed submission guidelines and requirements are outlined in the Request for Proposals (RFP). 

Submitting Your Application

All grant applications must be submitted through the SSRC Application Portal, located at apply.ssrc.org. 

In order to apply through the SSRC Application Portal, you must create a unique login ID and a secure password. You may begin filling out a proposal, save it, and return to complete it at a later time. 

Inquiries

This program does not provide pre-submission review of proposals. Please direct any questions to: socialdata@ssrc.org