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MLSC Student & Postdoc Mini-Grants

Call for Proposals

The Maryland Language Science Center is committed to supporting graduate students and postdocs, especially now when state and federal funding has become more scarce. We are pleased to offer these mini-grants of up to $2,500 to cover research expenses. 

  • Total awards for 2025-2026: $30,000
  • Estimated number of awards: 12

Deadlines 

  • Fall 2025: submit proposal by October 3, notification by October 17
  • Spring 2026: submit proposal by January 30, notification by February 13

Eligibility

Any graduate student or postdoc in a language science field, who is a member of the Language Science Center, is eligible to apply.  

Eligible expenses include, but are not limited to:

  • Travel for conferences, data collection, or training
  • Participant payments or incentives
  • Research supplies
  • Software/service fees for research tools
  • Hourly pay for research assistants

Proposal

Proposals should be one page, with the following sections:

  1. Applicant information:
    1. Name
    2. UID
    3. Department
    4. Name of departmental administrative staff for coordinating payments
    5. IRB approval (if relevant): Provide the IRB protocol number and approval date for any research involving human subjects
  2. Background/justification: Explain why the research is important, both for the field and for your personal scholarly development.
  3. Project summary: Describe the methods and rationale.
  4. Travel information (if relevant):
    1. Destination
    2. Departure and return dates
  5. Budget:
    1. Costs (estimated or actual)
    2. Other funding

Other Requirements

Award recipients will be asked to submit a short summary (100-200 words) of the results or impact of the research activities afterwards. They will also be encouraged to present their work at LSC events such as Language Science Day or Language Science Lunch Talks.