Defense Security Cooperation University - Research Grants
Open Posted
- Opportunity number
- HQ003423NFOEASD17
- Agency
-
Department of Defense
- Applications due
- Award size
- $2,500 to $800,000
Opportunity facts
- Assistance listings
- Funding instrument
- Grant, Cooperative Agreement
- Category
-
- Science and Technology and other Research and Development
- Eligible applicants
-
- Other
- Points of contact
Opportunity details come from Grants.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency is soliciting research grant applications to support evidence-, theory-, and data-building activities on security cooperation and irregular warfare, with a mandatory one-page white paper submission stage and an application due date of August 7, 2028. DSCU-sponsored research is generally open to a broad range of researchers with or without formal affiliation, U.S. and international academic institutions, professional military education entities, federally funded research and development centers, non-governmental research institutions, U.S. interagency security cooperation communities of interest, and the security cooperation workforce, although individual DSCU components may impose restrictions on eligibility.
Total estimated program funding is $21.6 million across five fiscal years. Awards are issued as grants or cooperative agreements, with project grant amounts up to $800,000 per year for Young Institute (Research and Lessons Learned Institute) projects and up to $800,000 total for Irregular Warfare Center projects, completed within 12–24 months. No cost share is specified as mandatory.
Research products must be unclassified and publicly accessible. Awardees are expected to participate in conferences, seminars, focus groups, and events and to make final research products and supporting data easily accessible to the public to enhance dissemination of findings and facilitate application of lessons learned in policy, practice, and workforce professionalization. Projects should align with the Department of Defense Learning and Evaluation Agenda for Partnerships framework and the DSCU Research Agenda.
Evaluation emphasizes three equally weighted principal criteria: technical merit of the proposed research approach; relevance to filling high-priority knowledge gaps in security cooperation or irregular warfare; and feasibility given applicant qualifications, time commitment, and available resources. Cost sharing is considered as an additional criterion of lower weight. The program operates under CFDA 12.024 and remains open with no anticipated end date subject to funding availability.
Synopsis
3 versions
Update #3 · Latest ·
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency's (DSCA) Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) promotes access to and production of knowledge on security cooperation. Security cooperation refers to "all Department of Defense (DoD) interactions with foreign security establishments that build and develop allied and partner security capabilities and capacity for self-defense and multinational operations, provide the Armed Forces of the United States with access to the foreign country during peacetime or a contingency operation, and build relationships that promote specific United States security interests" (Joint Publication 3-20, Security Cooperation, 1-2; see also 10 USC § 16, "Security Cooperation").
Evidence-, theory, and data-building activities that contribute to the body of knowledge on security cooperation or irregular warfare, and that result in lessons that can be applied to practice, are the primary focus of this notice of funding opportunity (NFO). Research products sponsored through this NFO must be unclassified and publicly accessible. DSCU expects awardees to participate in conferences, seminars, focus groups and events, and to make final research products and supporting data (if applicable) easily accessible to the public, in order to enhance dissemination of research findings and facilitate application of lessons learned in areas of policy, practice, and workforce professionalization.
The DSCU research grant program, conducted pursuant to 10 USC § 4001 and 10 USC § 384(g), is generally open to a broad range of researchers, although individual DSCU components may have restrictions on who may receive grants.
Please see the full NFO for complete details.
Update #2 ·
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency's (DSCA) Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) promotes access to and production of knowledge on security cooperation, or "all DOD interactions with foreign security establishments that build and develop allied and partner security capabilities and capacity for self-defense and multinational operations, provide the Armed Forces of the United States with access to the foreign country during peacetime or a contingency operation, and build relationships that promote specific United States security interests" (Joint Publication 3-20, Security Cooperation, 1-2). Evidence-building activities that contribute to the body of knowledge on security cooperation-hereafter "SC research"-are the primary focus of this NFO.
Research projects responding to this NFO ideally result in lessons that can be applied to the practice of security cooperation. In response to this NFO, applicants may be asked for a mandatory white paper submission, emailed to dsca.dscu.grants@mail.mil. Use of the one-page white paper is intended to determine which efforts are of merit preparatory to submission of a full technical application as described in Section IV. Applicants will be selected from the one-page white paper submissions to be invited by the Government to submit a full technical application on Grants.gov for evaluation and possible award consideration. One-page white papers that fail to address the areas listed in the Program Description of the NFO will not be evaluated and will not receive an invitation to submit a full technical application.
The DSCU mission is to improve the quality and professionalism of security cooperation through evidence-based research, analysis, and application of lessons learned. DSCU components sponsor and conclude research projects that align substantively with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Learning and Evaluation Agenda for Partnerships (LEAP) framework and the DSCU Research Agenda, in partnership with individual researchers, educational institutions, and policy-focused research organizations.
The DSCU research grant program, conducted pursuant to 10 USC § 4001, is generally open to a broad range of researchers, although individual DSCU components may have restrictions on who may receive grants. The following DSCU components currently offer research grants:
- Research and Lessons Learned Institute (RALLI): open to individual researchers (with or without an affiliation); professional military education (PME) and civilian academic institutions; U.S. and international research and think thank institutions; federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs); U.S. interagency security cooperation communities of interest; and the security cooperation workforce (as defined by 10 USC § 384(h)). DSCU partners may manage or evaluate RALLI grants.
- Irregular Warfare Center (IWC): open to individual researchers or research teams affiliated with an accredited college or university, as well as PME and civilian academic institutions. Management and evaluation of these grants is under IWC purview.
DSCU expects awardees to participate in conferences, seminars, focus groups, and events to enhance dissemination of research findings and facilitate application of lessons learned in areas of policy, practice, and workforce professionalization.
Further information is available in the attached Notice of Funding Opportunity (NFO).
Update #1 ·
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency's (DSCA) Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) promotes access to and production of knowledge on security cooperation, or "all DOD interactions with foreign security establishments that build and develop allied and partner security capabilities and capacity for self-defense and multinational operations, provide the Armed Forces of the United States with access to the foreign country during peacetime or a contingency operation, and build relationships that promote specific United States security interests" (Joint Publication 3-20, Security Cooperation, 1-2). Evidence-building activities that contribute to the body of knowledge on security cooperation-hereafter "SC research"-are the primary focus of this NFO.
Research projects responding to this NFO ideally result in lessons that can be applied to the practice of security cooperation. In response to this NFO, applicants may be asked for a mandatory white paper submission, emailed to dsca.dscu.grants@mail.mil. Use of the one-page white paper is intended to determine which efforts are of merit preparatory to submission of a full technical application as described in Section IV. Applicants will be selected from the one-page white paper submissions to be invited by the Government to submit a full technical application on Grants.gov for evaluation and possible award consideration. One-page white papers that fail to address the areas listed in the Program Description of the NFO will not be evaluated and will not receive an invitation to submit a full technical application.
The DSCU mission is to improve the quality and professionalism of security cooperation through evidence-based research, analysis, and application of lessons learned. DSCU components sponsor and conclude research projects that align substantively with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Learning and Evaluation Agenda for Partnerships (LEAP) framework and the DSCU Research Agenda, in partnership with individual researchers, educational institutions, and policy-focused research organizations.
The DSCU research grant program, conducted pursuant to 10 USC § 4001, is generally open to a broad range of researchers, although individual DSCU components may have restrictions on who may receive grants. The following DSCU components currently offer research grants:
- Research and Lessons Learned Institute (RALLI): open to individual researchers (with or without an affiliation); professional military education (PME) and civilian academic institutions; U.S. and international research and think thank institutions; federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs); U.S. interagency security cooperation communities of interest; and the security cooperation workforce (as defined by 10 USC § 384(h)). DSCU partners may manage or evaluate RALLI grants.
- Irregular Warfare Center (IWC): open to individual researchers or research teams affiliated with an accredited college or university, as well as PME and civilian academic institutions. Management and evaluation of these grants is under IWC purview.
DSCU expects awardees to participate in conferences, seminars, focus groups, and events to enhance dissemination of research findings and facilitate application of lessons learned in areas of policy, practice, and workforce professionalization.
Further information is available in the attached Notice of Funding Opportunity (NFO).
Eligibility
Young Institute: open to individual researchers or research teams with or without an affiliation; professional military education (PME) and civilian academic institutions; U.S. and international research and think thank institutions; federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs); U.S. interagency security cooperation communities of interest; and the security cooperation workforce (as defined by 10 USC § 384). IWC: open to individual researchers or research teams with or without an affiliation; professional military education (PME) and civilian academic institutions; U.S. and international research and think thank institutions; federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs); and the U.S. interagency irregular warfare communities of interest. Applicants (principal investigators) may submit only one proposal at a time. Proposed formal collaborators (co-principal investigators) or sub-recipients, however, may team on multiple proposals. Current and past awardees from this initiative, or previous versions of this initiative, are eligible to submit white papers/applications under this NFO. UARCs are eligible to submit white papers and applications under this NFO, unless precluded from doing so by their Department of Defense UARC contract.
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