Social-Science Grants Fall Below 100 at NSF
The White House has proposed eliminating the NSF directorate that funds most academic social-science research.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Social Sciences
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The National Science Foundation funded fewer than 100 new social-science grants in fiscal year 2026, against a historical average of roughly 850 per year. The development is a policy-driven funding contraction already in effect, not a proposal: the NSF has allowed its Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences directorate to award new grants only in White House-approved areas.
Why it matters
The White House proposed eliminating the SBE directorate in an April budget request, and the agency's grant output has fallen sharply since. The shift matters for the research pipeline because the directorate supplied 63% of federal-to-academic funding for social and psychological sciences, and its large national surveys cost several million dollars a year each.
Agency award records show the SBE's new-grant spending fell from an average of $247 million per fiscal year in 2021-24 to $94 million in 2026, a drop of about 62%. The directorate's staff has shrunk from around 50 to fewer than a dozen, and the number of new social-science grants fell below 100 against a historical average near 850.
The players
National Science Foundation (NSF)
The U.S. federal agency that funds basic research across science and engineering, including the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences directorate.
Michael Woodford
A Columbia University economist and Nobel laureate whose work relies on the social-science research ecosystem the NSF supports.
Mark Solovey
A University of Toronto historian who has warned that NSF-funded long-running projects will wither without intervention.
Brian Schaffner
A Tufts University political scientist whose research field depends on the federally funded surveys at risk.
Pamela Herd
A University of Michigan sociologist whose work is affected by the potential loss of NSF-funded national surveys.
The details
The NSF's SBE directorate funds research in economics, psychology, sociology, archaeology and related fields, and its large surveys are long-running data collections used across many studies. The agency has limited new awards to areas the White House has approved, such as artificial intelligence and cognitive science, so most traditional social-science programs have received no new grants. Because the surveys run over many years and require sustained annual funding, a break in that funding can halt the data series that researchers depend on.
Timeline
April 2026: The White House budget proposal said it would eliminate the SBE directorate.
2021-24: The SBE averaged $247 million per year in new grant spending.
30 September 2026: Fiscal year 2026 ended with fewer than 100 new social-science grants funded.
October 2026: The NSF said the number of Nobel-winning economists it supported reached 75.
The Tech Race
The contraction places U.S. social-science research on a narrower footing, with federal awards concentrated in areas such as artificial intelligence and cognitive science. The SBE's stated scope now matters for how the U.S. competes in behavioral and economic research against better-funded national programs.
Researchers who depend on NSF-funded surveys face the risk of losing long-running data series that studies of economics, health and social behavior rely on. Because the SBE currently has no active funding calls or review panels, new projects in traditional social-science fields have no federal pathway for now.
The takeaway
Watch whether Congress acts on the FY2027 budget request for the SBE directorate, which will determine whether the directorate survives. Track whether the NSF issues new calls for social-science proposals in the coming fiscal year.
What happens next
Congress has not yet acted on the White House proposal to eliminate the SBE directorate, and the FY2027 budget request is the next formal checkpoint for the directorate's funding.
Further reading
For the broader research context, explore more Social Sciences coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Nature.
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