The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy Grants

The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy Grants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy
Amount: US $10,000
Last Updated: October 14, 2025

Summary

The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, established in 1997, aims to support PhD candidates working on their dissertations by providing small grants. Each grant amounts to $10,000, with an initial $7,500 and $2,500 upon project completion. The foundation promotes projects that address contemporary social issues and are evaluated based on merit. Additional awards recognize innovative approaches or outstanding projects. The foundation encourages diverse global applications, emphasizing the importance of social policy in research.

Overview

The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy was established in 1997 by Irving Louis Horowitz and Mary E. Curtis as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Its general purpose is to support the advancement of research and understanding in the major fields of the social sciences. Its specific purpose is to provide small grants to aspiring PhD students at the dissertation level to support the research they are undertaking for their project. The idea for the Foundation emerged from Irving Louis Horowitz’s experience working with doctoral students. He found that many faced financial barriers to completing their research. Dr. Horowitz initially provided assistance to these scholars personally, and later through Transaction Publishers’ Grants-in-Publication Program. After the termination of that program, the Foundation was established in 1997. The first grants were issued in 1998. Grants are awarded solely on the Trustees’ assessment of the merit of the project. All awards are to individuals, and not institutions. Aim and Mission To support emerging scholars through small grantsTo promote scholarship with a social policy applicationTo encourage projects that address contemporary issues in the social sciences Funding Each grant is worth a total of $10,000; $7,500 is awarded initially and $2,500 upon completion of the project. A Trustees’ Award of an additional $3,000 is given to the project judged as the project with the most innovative approach in theory and/or methodology, or. An additional $5,000 is given to the most outstanding overall project for the signature Irving Louis Horowitz award. For grant recipients to be entitled to their second installment, they must show evidence of one of the following:Acceptance and approval of their dissertation;Acceptance of an article based on the research by a peer-reviewed journal; orInvitation to write a book chapter based on the research. Grants are non-renewable and recipients have five years from announcement of the award to complete their project and claim their final payment. Criteria The foundation supports projects with a social policy application on either a global or local level. Applications are evaluated based on the Trustees’ assessment of criteria such as: feasibility, applicability, originality, methodology, theoretically informed or empirically rich research, and letters of recommendation. No specific weight is given to any one area. Proposals are evaluated based on overall merit of all aspects of the application. We encourage applicants to look at the kind of projects we have supported in previous years.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Applicants must be current PhD candidates who are working on their dissertation;Applicants must not have a PhD; those who do, are ineligible;​Applicants must have defended their dissertation proposal or had their topic approved by their department;​Applicants can be from any country and any university in the world. US citizenship or residency is not required.

Ineligibility

Applicants who have a PhD are ineligible.