We welcome applications from researchers from around the globe, unless you or anyone in your team is linked to countries and/or entities currently under sanctions or embargoes by the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Citizens and residents of countries under (i) comprehensive OFAC sanctions/embargoes or (ii) non-comprehensive sanctions/embargoes that otherwise prohibit activities related to receiving a grant from a US-based institution (such as the transfer of funds), as well as entities and/or individuals (either directly or by association with an entity) who are subject to targeted OFAC sanctions/embargoes are ineligible to apply to a Mercury Project grant. Other than these exceptions, there are no citizenship requirements. 

OFAC does not keep a consolidated list of countries under sanction, so candidates must review the “Sanctions Programs and Country Information” page for information on specific OFAC sanctions and embargo programs as they might change over time. In addition, OFAC maintains a Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List and other sanctions lists that can be consulted by anyone. If, after reviewing these resources, you believe you’re a citizen/resident of a country under comprehensive sanctions/embargoes, or you or your institution is listed in one of the lists above, you should not apply to a Mercury Project grant – this is also the case if anyone in your research team is affected by these restrictions. Unfortunately, Mercury Project staff cannot preemptively guarantee that your application will be eligible, so you should review these resources carefully before applying to avoid working on an application that will be deemed ineligible.

Yes.

The primary investigator will be responsible for coordination and reporting across all team members.

No. We are interested in the ability to produce high-quality work rather than in specific degrees.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. There is no limit on the number of proposals that a single organization can submit.

By causal impact, we mean estimates of treatment effects that can be derived from experimental or quasi-experimental research designs.

We will give strong preference to studies that are able to capture causal impacts on observable online and offline behaviors, not just intentions or self-reports of behaviors.

We are following the World Bank’s 2021 classifications for low and lower-middle income countries.

The SSRC takes ethical research, including privacy-protection and dignity-promotion, seriously. It will be the researcher’s responsibility to obtain all necessary clearances for conducting research involving human subjects in a manner consistent with ethics and equity. Funded projects that include research involving human subjects will need to secure approval from human subjects committees of the sponsoring institutions before research commences. We encourage teams to think of IRB clearance and the protection of human subjects as a minimum of ethical, inclusive research practice.

Your grant can commence only when program staff have received the proper documentation, i.e., signed copies of the formal award letter, the payment schedule, and the taxability questionnaire. Once these documents have been signed, a Mercury Project grant’s budget and activity schedule are final. Any changes, including acceptance of additional sources of funding that would be concurrent with your grant, must be approved by the program director. The signed award letter serves as an official contract between your institution and the Social Science Research Council.

United States dollars.

Yes. We encourage teams to leverage additional funding in order to fully answer the research questions targeted by the Mercury Project, as well as related components that go beyond the scope of the Mercury Project.

There is no budget cap–we want teams to be ambitious and to fully answer the Mercury Project challenge. However, you may wish to demonstrate what can be achieved at different price points. For context, the average grant size in our first cohort is US$ 650k, with a wide spread around the average.

Proposed budgets should be appropriate to cover project costs, with indirect costs not exceeding 15% of direct costs. Projects with subawardees can distribute direct and indirect costs across institutional partners; the 15% cap on indirect costs applies to the overall budget.

Teams are encouraged to include money for technical editors in their budget and to plan to translate key products into the main languages (official or no) in the context in which the research was conducted.

No.

Yes.

The Mercury Project takes a stance of “expenditure responsibility,” whereby funds must be used exclusively for the research purposes stated in the submitted application and the approved budget. SSRC grants are subject to taxability. Grantees should refer to the IRS website (www.irs.gov) or analogous agency outside the United States for specifics on taxability of awards.

New York State jurisdiction will apply.

The Social Science Research Council is the prime sponsor.

The SSRC announced a new call for proposals for the Mercury Project on January 23, 2023. We will not review proposals received after May 1, 2023. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis; we encourage applicants to submit proposals earlier rather than later.

The total number of teams funded will be determined by the number and kinds of applications that are submitted.

Given the scope of projects required to answer the challenge posed by the Mercury Project, and our desire to support diverse teams of social and behavioral scientists and practitioners, we strongly encourage applications by teams rather than by individuals. Unfortunately, we are unable to assist with matchmaking.

Yes.

There are no formatting requirements.

No.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide this matchmaking function.

No. Applications sent by fax or email will not be accepted. Applicants must use the SSRC’s Online Application Portal to supply the necessary information.

No, but you may email mercury@ssrc.org with queries. In addition, we encourage you to consult the Mercury Project’s Research Framework.

Unfortunately, no, we do not have time to speak with all our enthusiastic potential applicants.