On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it had awarded more than $46 million in grants to support basic research in national security topics.
The DoD awarded 19 grants to university-based faculty teams under its Minerva Research Initiative. The grants are three- to five-year awards focused on research in social and behavioral sciences. The Minerva Research Initiative uses its network of faculty investigators to build strong connections to the social science community that helps the DoD understand and prepare for future challenges as outlined in the National Defense Strategy.
“In a rapidly changing world, social science is essential for making sense of human behavior, guiding informed decisions, and understanding societal progress,” Dr. David Montgomery, director of social science in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, said. “We need to explore and better understand the complex social dynamics that shape our world and provide insights useful to policymakers and others concerned with the social context of security.”
Among the recipients were Delia Baldassarri, of New York University, for research on social cohesion in action; Kate Brauman, of the University of Alabama, for research on evaluating Societal Resilience to Water and Climate Shock; and Jose Padilla, of Old Dominion University, for research on “Un”Resilience that will draw insights from societal collapse.
The R&E and the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy selected the recipients from over 150 applications in eight categories and used merit-based metrics to evaluate the proposals.