Law & Science
NSF funds interdisciplinary social-scientific research on law, legal institutions, and legal processes, plus related conference awards and certain cross-cutting NSF opportunities.
⚑ Standard Research Grants and Collaborative Research plus Conference Awards; also participates in NSF cross-cutting opportunities such as CAREER, REU, RUI, RAPID, and EAGER. · No deadline stated; eligibility not specified in the notice, so general NSF grant eligibility applies.
This is adjacent rather than core: the team clearly works on public risk perception, trust, and communication around energy, security, and environmental hazards, which could support Law & Science work on regulation, legal decision making, or use of science in legal processes. But the program’s main emphasis on law, courts, policing, and legal institutions is not the team’s primary line, so it’s not a strong PI-level match unless framed tightly around regulation, siting, or legal use of hazard/technology evidence.
JUDGED AGAINST THE ROSTER'S PUBLICATION DOSSIER · GPT-5.4-MINI · 2026-07-07
Unit fits — one characterization, each unit's own rules
| IPPRA | 100 strong | portfolio topics: cybersecurity, public_health; signature methods: surveys longitudinal, policy analysis; social/behavioral work is central; funds basic research |
| Physical Sciences & Engineering (demo) | 80 strong | technical depth: substantial; funds basic research |
| Tom Love Innovation Hub | 10 none | deep-tech content; no commercialization signal |
Description
The Law & Science Program considers proposals that address social scientific studies of law and law-like systems of rules, as wellas studies of how science and technology are applied in legal contexts.The Program is inherently interdisciplinary and multi-methodological.Successful proposals describe research that advances scientific theory and understanding of the connections between human behavior and law, legal institutions, or legal processes; or the interactions of law and basic sciences, including biology, computer and information sciences, STEM education, engineering, geosciences, and math and physical sciences.Scientific studies of law often approach law as dynamic, interacting with multiple arenas, and with the participation of multiple actors.Fields of study include many disciplines, and often address problems including, though not limited, to:
Crime, Violence, and Policing
Cyberspace
Economic Issues
Environmental Science
Evidentiary Issues
Forensic Science
Governance and Courts
Human Rights and Comparative Law
Information Technology
Legal and Ethical Issues related to Science
Legal Decision Making
Legal Mobilization and Conceptions of Justice
Litigation and the Legal Profession
Punishment and Corrections
Regulation and Facilitation of Biotechnology (e.g., Gene Editing, Gene Testing, Synthetic Biology) and Other Emerging Sciences and Technologies
Use of Science in the Legal Processes
LS supports the following types of proposals:
Standard Research Grants and Grants for Collaborative Research
Conference Awards
LS also participates in a number of specialized funding opportunities through NSF’s cross-cutting and cross-directorate activities, including, for example:
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI)
Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID)
Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER)
For information about these and other programs, please visit the Cross-cutting and NSF-wide Active Funding Opportunities homepage.
Apply
View on Grants.gov → CONTACT: U.S. National Science Foundation <grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov>
Proposal brief SEE AN EXAMPLE →
A one-page internal memo: fit assessment, submission requirements, document scaffold, and next steps dated back from the deadline — tailored to your project idea if you add one.
Proposal shell · National Science Foundation conventions SEE AN NSF EXAMPLE →
Funder-faithful document skeletons — National Science Foundation's document set with section headings, page limits, reviewer guidance, and writing prompts; add a project idea to get [DRAFT] starter bullets. Download as .md for Word or Overleaf.