New Associate Professor Grant Competition
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
New Associate Professor Grant Competition
Fiscal Year 2026-2027
Due Date February 23, 2026
Coversheet
For a general understanding of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies' mission and funding goals, please review the overview of Mershon funding on our website.
Scope and eligibility
This new competition is intended for recently tenured Ohio State faculty from any department who seek to develop an interdisciplinary research program and would like to become core affiliates of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies. The expectation is that the recipient will be actively engaged in the life of the Mershon Center and will help to shape its direction.
The grant provides up to $50,000 across 2 or 3 years for research and professional development activities. Apart from immediate research funding, these might include participation in a conference in another discipline, inviting a speaker or organizing a symposium at Mershon, a post-publication book workshop, training activities, or anything else that will help the applicant develop their profile and contribute to Mershon's cumulative interdisciplinary understanding of security questions. Supplemental salary is not available.
For the 2026-2027 competition, faculty tenured in Spring 24 or later are invited to apply. Prospective applicants and/or their chairs are invited to discuss this opportunity with Mershon director Dorothy Noyes (noyes.10@osu.edu).
Submission Instructions
All application materials should be saved as one combined PDF and sent via email attachment to mershon.faculty@osu.edu. Please identify each electronic document with your last name, the grant competition, and the document type (i.e. smithNAPvita.doc or smithNAPproposal.doc).
For questions regarding the application process, please contact Kyle McCray, Business & Operations Manager at the Mershon Center, at mccray.44@osu.edu or at 614-292-3810.
Proposals must contain the following items:
Proposals must contain the following items:
1. Standard coversheet including a 100-word summary of the proposal.
2. A 3-5 page (double-spaced) proposal explaining the applicant's research trajectory to date, their projected next steps, the relevance of these to Mershon's mission, and the applicant's interest in helping to develop and advance that mission.
3. A sample publication (article or book chapter), with a note contextualizing it in relation to future plans.
4. A projection of activities and funding needs for the next 2-3 years. (A detailed budget is not necessary at this stage.)
5. A C.V.
6. A brief letter of endorsement from the applicant's chair affirming that the grant activities will be recognized by the department as relevant contributions to their profile for promotion, and that Mershon involvement will be taken into account in the applicant's service load. (An email to mershon.faculty@osu.edu will serve the purpose.)
Applications will be reviewed by a multidisciplinary faculty committee, and applicants will receive general feedback on both successful and unsuccessful applications. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by March 31.
Criteria for evaluation include
- the intellectual excellence and originality of the applicant's research
- the relevance of the applicant's research plans to the interdisciplinary understanding of international, national, and human security
- the applicant's degree of familiarity with the Mershon Center and the likelihood that they will become a valuable colleague over the long-term
- the distinctiveness of perspective and experience that the applicant contributes to the Mershon community
- the viability of Mershon involvement for the applicant in relation to departmental and other professional commitments
With limited funding available, the committee will also need to balance grants across departments and disciplines.
Funding will become available as soon as the grant is awarded, but individual expenditures must be reviewed and approved with appropriate advance notice. (For example, programming requests must be considered in relation to Mershon's larger scheduling process and calendar; fieldwork must have IRB approval.) Grantees are expected to remain in regular touch with Business & Operations Manager Kyle McCray regarding their plans. Ongoing funding, up to the limit of $50k, is conditional on annual review of the affiliate's activities.
Core affiliates have both informal and formal involvement in the life of Mershon. Collegiality and curiosity, objectified by a reasonable level of showing up, are essential to cross-disciplinary learning. Core affiliates are also called upon for specific, finite forms of service. For example, in a given year you might be called upon to serve as discussant to a postdoc presentation, sit on a grant review committee, and give the director advice on a new initiative. We will do our best to give you advance notice of these requests and of course bear your larger schedule in mind.
You are expected to consult with Mershon staff regarding external funding applications. Mershon must be acknowledged in the Office of Sponsored Programs ePA-005 form as an associated org. Mershon is available to administer external grants and will expect inclusion in the F&A distribution in reasonable proportion to its commitment, or other provisions for covering staff time.
Finally, we ask you to acknowledge your Mershon affiliation and credit project-specific Mershon funding in your professional communications. We also ask you to work with the Mershon Center communications specialist in promoting your professional activities.
We look forward to deepening our relationships with newly tenured colleagues!