Leading Culture Change Through Professional Societies of Biology | 22 542

Opportunity Information: Apply for 22 542

The National Science Foundation Directorate for Biological Sciences (NSF BIO) grant opportunity called Leading Culture Change Through Professional Societies of Biology (BIO-LEAPS) is designed to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across the biological sciences by using professional societies as the main engines for large-scale culture change. The program is built on the idea that many of the barriers to participation and advancement in biology are not only individual or institutional, but cultural: the shared values, norms, traditions, and everyday practices that shape who feels welcome, who is recognized as a "real scientist," and who has access to opportunities. NSF BIO frames culture as something that develops over long periods through interactions among scientists, their workplaces, their professional networks, and especially their societies. Because those cultural experiences can differ widely between individuals, the same discipline can feel supportive to some and hostile or exclusionary to others, particularly for people historically excluded from science based on race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability status, sexual orientation, and intersecting identities.

BIO-LEAPS focuses on professional societies because they have unusual leverage points that can influence an entire field at once. Societies publish journals and set expectations around authorship, peer review, and editorial representation; they convene major conferences that shape networking, visibility, and professional development; they create awards and honors that define prestige; they maintain broad memberships that span academia, government, and industry; and they elect leaders whose decisions and public signals often set the tone for acceptable behavior and professional norms. The NSF is essentially asking societies to use these mechanisms intentionally and persistently to reshape the culture of biology so that it becomes more equitable and inclusive and better reflects the demographic composition of the United States.

The types of projects envisioned are evidence-based efforts that do more than deliver one-off trainings or statements. The program emphasizes sustained, innovative approaches that can create meaningful, lasting change, including work that establishes transparent norms and practices that strengthen belonging and scientific identity for people from diverse backgrounds. It also supports initiatives aimed at reducing systemic drivers of inequity, such as narrow or biased perceptions of who a scientist is and structural features that discourage participation or advancement. Another major thrust is assessment: societies can be funded to examine their existing norms, policies, and practices, and to evaluate the broader disciplinary ecosystem they influence, using data to identify where inequities arise and how they persist. Finally, BIO-LEAPS supports the planning, implementation, and evaluation of society-sponsored culture-change activities, with examples including safer conference practices, approaches to mitigate implicit bias in selection or promotion processes for society leadership, and diversification of journal editorial boards and related gatekeeping structures.

From an administrative standpoint, this is an NSF discretionary grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 22-542) in the science and technology research and development category (CFDA 47.074). The opportunity listed an award ceiling of up to $2,000,000, with an anticipated 14 awards. The original closing date shown in the source information was July 1, 2022, and the opportunity was created on December 23, 2021. Eligibility is described broadly as "Others," with additional clarification referenced in the full eligibility text, which typically means the program expects applications from professional societies and related organizations positioned to influence disciplinary culture at scale.

Overall, BIO-LEAPS is less about funding biological research directly and more about funding the infrastructure of fairness and inclusion that determines who gets to participate in that research community, who thrives in it, and who is recognized and retained over time. The central expectation is that professional societies will partner with or engage experts in DEI-focused organizational change, use data and evaluation to guide decisions, and implement reforms that can shift norms across the life sciences in ways that persist beyond the grant period.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Leading Culture Change Through Professional Societies of Biology" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.074.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 23, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 01, 2022. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 14 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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