Opportunity Information: Apply for PD 21 128Y
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Law and Science (LS) program funds research that examines how law and legal-like rule systems work, how they shape human behavior, and how science and technology are used within legal settings. The program is designed for projects that genuinely blend disciplines and methods, so proposals tend to be strongest when they connect legal institutions or processes with social science theory, empirical research, and, where relevant, the natural and technical sciences. In practice, this means LS is interested both in social scientific studies of law (for example, how rules are made, enforced, and experienced) and in studies that focus on the interface between law and scientific or technological domains (for example, how courts interpret technical evidence or how regulation responds to emerging technologies).
A central theme of the opportunity is advancing scientific understanding, not simply describing legal issues. NSF is looking for work that contributes to theory and evidence about the relationships among law, legal actors and institutions, and human behavior. Another major emphasis is the idea of law as dynamic: law does not operate in isolation, but interacts with multiple arenas (like politics, markets, technology, and culture) and involves multiple participants (such as judges, police, regulators, scientists, engineers, firms, communities, and the public). Competitive projects typically treat legal systems as evolving and interconnected, and they use appropriate research designs to study those interactions in a rigorous way.
The scope of topics is broad and explicitly interdisciplinary. The program lists many example areas, including crime, violence, and policing; cyberspace and information technology; economic issues; environmental science and environmental governance; evidentiary and forensic science; governance and courts; human rights and comparative law; legal decision making; legal mobilization and public conceptions of justice; litigation and the legal profession; punishment and corrections; and the legal and ethical issues that arise from scientific advances. There is also a clear interest in regulation and governance related to biotechnology and other emerging sciences and technologies, with specific examples such as gene editing, gene testing, and synthetic biology. On the applied side, LS also supports work on the use of science in legal processes, which can include how scientific methods are translated into courtroom evidence, how standards for expertise are developed, or how technical tools are evaluated and deployed in justice-related contexts.
Methodologically, LS signals that it welcomes multiple approaches rather than favoring a single style of research. That can include quantitative and qualitative social science, experimental and observational designs, computational and data-intensive work, comparative or historical analysis, and mixed-methods projects, so long as the methods fit the research question and produce generalizable knowledge. The program also highlights links to a wide range of basic sciences and STEM areas, including biology, computer and information sciences, STEM education, engineering, geosciences, and the mathematical and physical sciences, reflecting the expectation that strong proposals can emerge from collaborations that cross the usual boundaries between law-related scholarship and STEM research.
In terms of funding mechanisms, LS supports standard research grants, collaborative research grants, and conference awards. It also connects to several NSF-wide or cross-cutting funding pathways that applicants may use when appropriate, including the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program, Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI), Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID), and Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER). This matters because some projects may fit better as an exploratory effort (EAGER), a time-sensitive study responding to sudden events (RAPID), a career-stage development proposal (CAREER), or a project that intentionally centers undergraduate research training (REU/RUI).
Administratively, this is a discretionary NSF grant opportunity under Funding Opportunity Number PD 21 128Y, categorized under Science and Technology and other Research and Development, with CFDA number 47.075. Eligible applicants are listed as unrestricted, which generally indicates broad eligibility consistent with NSF policies (with the usual practical reality that proposals are commonly submitted by universities, research organizations, or other compliant institutions). The original closing date shown is 2024-08-01, and the source data does not specify an award ceiling or expected number of awards, suggesting that applicants should rely on the current NSF solicitation and program guidance for up-to-date budget expectations and submission windows.Apply for PD 21 128Y
- The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Law & Science" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.075.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2020-10-15.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-08-01. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.
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