2026 ELSI Supplement Research Grants
The Research, Ethics and Society Initiative (RESI) of Pitt Research seeks to increase awareness of the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of the wide range of research conducted at Pitt. These small grants will support attention to the ethics and social implications of ongoing research projects.
The RESI intends to award approximately 3 “ELSI Supplement” grants (of up to $10,000) to enable researchers or scholars to examine ELSI associated with their research. Examples to illustrate the sort of projects that might be pursued:
- A researcher developing a new technology wants to collaborate with a social scientist to conduct a pilot project collecting qualitative data regarding the public’s attitudes toward the technology, or the technology’s end users’ concerns about using the technology
- A scholar, writer, or artist wants to convene a group of colleagues to consider the ethical implications of pursuing work that incorporates the representation of others’ stories, culture, or history
- A researcher who is developing an intervention to address a pressing educational, social, or health-related challenge wants to explore barriers to adoption of the intervention, concerns about bias in its implementation, or perceptions that adopting the intervention would exacerbate stigma associated with the challenge the intervention seeks to address, either as an additional project herself, or in collaboration with others
- Collaboration between parent project researchers and social scientists or ethicists to assess research participants’ beliefs and concerns about the privacy of their research data, as well as attitudes toward researchers' data sharing and participants’ sharing in benefits or profits from research
- Application may be made for salary support; however, priority may be given to those applications that do not require it.
- Outcomes of these grant-supported activities should be submitted for publication and/or presentation at relevant academic meetings within six months of the grant's conclusion. Funds must be utilized within 18 months of the award date.
Eligibility:
Nominees MUST:
- Be employed as faculty or post-doctoral fellows/scholars by the University of Pittsburgh at the time of application, with the presumption of continued employment for the duration of project and at project completion.
- Direct all questions, including those regarding eligibility, to resi@pitt.edu
Review Criteria:
Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- their alignment with the mission of the solicitation;
- the ELSI research question(s) to be addressed;
- the methods to be employed;
- the project's feasibility, significance, and potential impact;
- whether the applicant and key collaborators, if any, have appropriate training and experience to accomplish the proposed ELSI supplement project (based on submission of their CVs)
To Apply:
Applicants must submit the following documentation to Pitt's InfoReady site by January 30, 2026 at 11:59pm:
- Collaborating individuals, their units, and contact information (email addresses)
- A brief description of the parent research project (<250 words)
- A description of the ELSI research question(s) to be addressed and proposed methods to be employed in the ELSI Supplement Project (<800 words)
- A plan for the dissemination/publication of outcomes resulting from the proposed ELSI Supplement Project (<200 words)
- A budget with justification/explanation for use of the ELSI Supplement grant funds, including any other funding and its sources, if any (<1 page)
- The CVs of the applicant and collaborators
- All supporting documentation must be uploaded as PDF files, including applicant’s (and key collaborators’) CVs
2026 ELSI Curriculum Grants
The Research, Ethics and Society Initiative (RESI) of Pitt Research seeks to increase awareness of the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of the wide range of research conducted at Pitt. These grants will support the integration of attention to the ethics and social implications of research into Pitt classes and curricula.
The RESI intends to award approximately 4 ELSI Curriculum grants (of up to $2500) to faculty to develop curricular materials to infuse attention to ELSI associated with subjects/topics taught in existing courses or to develop an ELSI-focused course to be offered within an existing academic program (e.g., a graduate or undergraduate degree, or a major). Examples include:
- Collaboration between faculty in basic sciences, communication studies, and writing to develop modules within a science course(s) to develop students’ capacity to advocate to the public and policy makers on behalf of basic science research
- Collaboration between faculty in scientific fields and the humanities to develop modules examining the history and ethics of employing nonhuman animal models in research, evaluating alternatives (e.g., computer modeling, synthetic data), and articulating criteria to evaluate the permissibility of particular use cases of nonhuman animals
- Collaboration of faculty with their students and faculty colleagues who have expertise in generative AI to develop policies governing the ethical use of generative AI in particular courses or programs
Application may be made for supplemental salary support; however, priority may be given to those applications that do not require it.
Materials developed with assistance from these grants must be submitted for publication or deposited in Pitt’s Open Education Repository (or other relevant curricular resource/repository) within six months of the grant’s conclusion. Funds must be utilized by the end of the 2026 calendar year.
Eligibility:
All applicants must:
- Be employed as faculty, post-doctoral fellows/scholars, and/or training grant faculty charged with curriculum development by the University of Pittsburgh at the time of application, with the presumption of continued employment for the duration of project and at project completion.
- Direct all questions, including those regarding eligibility, to resi@pitt.edu.
Review Criteria:
Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- their alignment with the mission of the solicitation;
- their approach (methodology);
- the significance of the project and its potential impact;
- how well the application articulates the ELSI question(s) to be addressed and plan to address it through the curriculum;
- whether the applicant and key collaborators, if any, have appropriate training and experience to accomplish the proposed curriculum development project (based on submission of their CVs)
To Apply:
Applicants must submit the following documentation to Pitt's InfoReady site by January 30, 2026 at 11:59pm:
- Collaborating individuals and their units, or Project Lead individual(s) and those to be consulted, their units, and contact information (email addresses)
- Information regarding the program, and/or course(s) in which materials developed will be integrated
- For new courses only: A letter of support from the individual or body having the authority to approve the course and a timeline for its being offered
- A project plan, including: questions to be addressed, description of materials (e.g., lesson plans, assignments, activities, events) to be developed, and project activities/methods to achieve their development (<800 words)
- A plan for the dissemination/publication of the materials developed (<200 words)
- A budget with justification/explanation for use of the grant funds, including any other funding and its sources, if any (<1 page)
- The CVs of the applicant and collaborators
- All supporting documentation must be uploaded as PDF files, including applicant’s (and key collaborators’) CVs