Applications are now open
for the John Templeton Foundation Grant Program.
The John Templeton
Foundation serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the
deepest and most perplexing questions facing humankind. They support research
on subjects ranging from complexity, evolution, and emergence to creativity,
forgiveness, and free will.
The Foundation
encourages civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and
theologians, as well as between such experts and the public at large. In all
cases, the goal is the same: to spur curiosity and accelerate discovery.
Funding
Information
- Small Grants are defined as requests for $234,800 (USD) or less. The threshold for small grants was established by the Foundation’s Charter and is adjusted periodically for inflation.
- Large
Grants are defined as requests for more than $234,800 (USD). The threshold
for large grants was established by the Foundation’s Charter and is
adjusted periodically for inflation.
The
Foundation will accept applications only in the following six areas:
- Exceptional
Cognitive Talent and Genius: The Exceptional Cognitive Talent & Genius
Funding Area supports programs that aim to recognize and nurture
exceptional cognitive talent, especially for those at an early stage of
life. This Funding Area also supports research concerning the nature of
cognitive genius, including extraordinary creativity, curiosity, and
imagination.
- Genetics:
The Genetics Funding Area seeks to advance genetics research by supporting
novel approaches and contrarian projects, especially research that is
undervalued by traditional funding sources. In addition to basic and
translational research, this Funding Area supports educational programs
that increase public awareness concerning the ways in which
genetics-related research and its applications can advance human
flourishing at the individual, familial, and societal levels.
- Individual
Freedom and Free Markets: The Individual Freedom & Free Markets
Funding Area supports education, research, and grassroots efforts to
promote individual freedom, free markets, free competition, and
entrepreneurship. Grounded in the ideas of classical liberal political
economy, they seek and develop projects that focus on individuals and
their place in a free society. Whether by academic research, instruction,
public outreach, or supporting debate on public policy, they aim to
contribute toward making the nation and the world more just, more
prosperous, and more conducive to human flourishing.
- Math
and Physical Sciences: Mathematical and Physical Sciences program is
accepting Open Funding Inquiries regarding grants of less than $230,000
that would address the following goals (or a subset thereof) in creative
ways.
- Advancing
the conceptual frontiers of physics (currently they have a particular
interest in theoretical and experimental work on many-body quantum
systems);
- Situating
scientific research within a broader interdisciplinary inquiry into human
thought and culture;
- Cultivating
dynamic and demographically diverse collaborations involving multiple
teams, disciplines, or institutions;
- Providing
career continuity for young scholars (students, postdocs, and faculty
members) whose physics-related research has been disrupted by the
Covid-19 pandemic.
- Programs
in Islam: The Foundation invites Open Funding Inquiries from
interdisciplinary teams looking to investigate how Islamic beliefs and
cultural mindsets might frame current debates about science, technology,
and society. They particularly seek teams inclusive of scholars based in
the Muslim-majority world.
- Programs
in Latin America: How do the insights of scholars and religious leaders
beyond the Global North and West inform the understanding of profound
concerns at the intersection of science, philosophy, and spirituality? And
how can such voices be brought into the conversation? Over the next five
years they intend to focus grantmaking efforts on the following areas:
- Providing
Latin American scholars in philosophy, theology, and social science with
access to the latest scholarly resources in Science & the Big
Questions
- Supporting
visiting fellowship programs for LATAM-North Atlantic scholar exchanges
- Funding
training programs for scholars to gain exposure to the latest research in
philosophy, theology, and social science