Block Center for Technology and Society

Call for Proposals: 2024-2025 Block Center Seed Fund

Advancing Public Policy Insights through CMU Research

The Block Center for Technology and Society invests in an annual portfolio of applied research projects focused on creating public policy insights through high-quality research. Our objective for the 2024-2025 Block Center seed fund is to award interdisciplinary projects that produce significant policy-relevant insights with the potential to expand into follow-on research after the period of performance.

We encourage those who have not previously been funded to apply.

About the Projects

The Block Center is interested in funding projects that are focused but cross-cutting. Common types of seed fund projects include:

• Research projects that are either new concepts or early-stage research or new departures or expansions to existing projects, with the intention that these projects will lead to a larger grant proposal
• Development of new tools & methods that address a social need
• Conferences, convenings, or other gatherings that will contribute valuable insights to a topic of interest
• Research application in policy and innovative partnerships that can produce meaningful action

Possible project themes include, but aren’t limited to, applications of technology and society as they relate to our three program pillars: 

Future of Work - The Block Center's Future of Work program at Carnegie Mellon University investigates the various ways emerging technologies are or will impact workers at all skill levels. The program supports projects that:

• Chart the impact of disruptive innovation on the U.S. labor market;
• Design effective Human-AI collaboration;
• Develop policy interventions that ensure the benefits of innovation are more widely shared; and 
• Leverage advanced technologies to address the social and economic needs of those left behind due to technological change.

Seeding Societal Futures - The Block Center's Seeding Societal Futures (SSF) program is dedicated to leveraging technology and policy to promote applied research in the community that makes the world more efficient, humane, and inclusive. SSF projects span across industries and strive to:

• Explore the intersections between technology and community issues, including organized labor, privacy, education, racial justice, environmental justice, transportation, and healthcare; and
• Center regional community partners and voices in their research applications to produce new policy innovations.

Responsible AI - The Block Center's Responsible AI (RAI) Initiative brings together researchers and educators spanning computer science, engineering, decision sciences, philosophy, arts, economics, psychology, public policy, statistics, and business to support projects that:

• Translate AI research insights into policy and positive social impact;
• Collaborate on and co-design AI tools that better serve our local communities and the public at large;
• Offer hands-on experiential training and research opportunities for the CMU community; and
• Build partnerships with stakeholders to develop and deploy best practices in AI.

Award Logistics

Applicants may request up to $80,000 for project-related expenses (permissible funds listed below). Average award amounts in past years for Block Center Seed Fund projects have been approximately $50,000. Block Center Seed Fund projects are meant to be completed in 12 months. Project teams who receive awards will be asked to produce brief updates to the Block Center staff after six (6) months and a final report at the project completion.

Block Center Seed Funds may not be used to cover faculty salary, including summer salary. Permissible expenditures include but are not limited to: 

• Undergraduate, graduate, Ph.D. student, and post-doc research support
• Attendee or organizing costs for convenings and gatherings 
• Data purchases related directly to the proposal
• Other expenses associated with conducting the research (e.g., travel to study sites or conferences)

Who Should Apply?

Individuals from any department at CMU, including cross-departmental teams, should apply. Junior faculty are encouraged to apply. PhD students may apply as co-PI alongside a faculty member. 

Proposal Submission Instructions

Proposals should include an abbreviated project abstract (under 200 words) and a 3-4 page proposal that addresses the following questions:

1. What is the scientific hypothesis or question your project will test or investigate?
2. Briefly, what is the state of research in this area, and how does your project advance scientific understanding?  What novel data, technologies, or methods will you use?
3. Please articulate the policy relevance of your work. How do you aim for social impact through your project? Is there a policy organization you think will be interested in your findings? Feel free to note whether you have any existing relationships with policymaking bodies. See our Block Method webpage for a framework on how our research projects can lead to real-world outcomes.
4. Provide a 12-month research timeline summarizing the main steps and the expected outcomes at 12 months.
5. How likely will this project attract additional funding, and from what source(s)?

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

1. Scientific quality and rigor of the proposal;
2. Alignment with Block Center research priorities;
3. The composition and quality of the research team;
   1. We will prioritize interdisciplinary teams and those that include or are led by junior faculty.
4. Feasibility of project plan and requested budget; and
5. Likelihood of attracting additional funding.

Applications will be reviewed by Block Center faculty leadership and staff.