HFG Distinguished Scholars

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The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards (formerly the Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Grants) recognize leading researchers proposing to make a significant contribution to illuminating an issue of violence.

The Foundation welcomes proposals from any of the natural and social sciences and aligned disciplines that promise to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence and aggression. Highest priority is given to research that addresses urgent, present-day problems of violence—what produces it, how it operates, and what prevents or reduces it.  

The Foundation is interested in violence related to many subjects, including, but not limited to, the following:

• War
• Crime
• Terrorism
• Family and intimate-partner relationships
• Climate instability and natural resource competition
• Racial, ethnic, and religious conflict
• Political extremism and nationalism

The Foundation supports research that investigates the basic mechanisms in the production of violence, but primacy is given to proposals that make a compelling case for the relevance of potential findings for policies intended to reduce these ills. Likewise, historical research is considered to the extent that it is relevant to a current situation of violence. Examinations of the effects of violence are welcome insofar as a strong case is made that these outcomes may serve, in turn, as causes of future violence. 

The Distinguished Scholar Awards 

Most awards fall within the range of $15,000 to $45,000 per year for periods of one or two years. Applications for larger amounts and longer durations will be considered but must be strongly justified. The awards are made to individuals (or sometimes two or, rarely, three principal investigators) for specific projects, not general research support. They are not awarded to institutions for institutional programs. Individuals who receive research grants may be subject to taxation on the funds awarded.

Timing

Applications must be submitted by August 1, for a decision in December. Final decisions are made by the Board of Directors at its meeting in December. Applicants will be informed promptly by email of the Board’s decision. Awards ordinarily commence on January 1, but later starting dates may be requested if the nature of the research deems this appropriate.

Eligibility

Applicants for an award may be citizens of any country. While almost all recipients of these awards possess a Ph.D., M.D., J.D., or equivalent degree, there are no formal degree requirements for the award. The award, however, may not be used to support research undertaken as part of the requirements for a graduate degree. Applicants need not be affiliated with an institution of higher learning, although most are college or university professors.

Application

Candidates for the Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award may apply online annually between May 1 and August 1. Applicants must create an account to access the application and guidelines. The guidelines are also available through the second link below.

Online Application (Login required)

Application Guidelines (PDF)

Advice for Applicants (PDF)

Recent Recipients

2024

Javier Auyero (The University of Texas at Austin). Police Collusion and Drug Violence: What is the Relationship?
Julie Chernov Hwang (Goucher College). How Terror Cells are Constructed: The Role of Social Networks
Melchesidek Chétima (University of Québec in Montréal) and Scott MacEachern (Duke Kunshan University). Slave-Raiders and Boko Haram on the Border
Rebecca Clift (University of Essex). Behind Closed Doors: Trajectories to Violence in Intimate Interaction
Mikkel Dack (Rowan University). Fighting Fascism: Eliminating and Preventing Violent Extremism Since WWII
Graham Denyer Willis (University of Cambridge) and Pedro Mendes Loureiro (University of Cambridge). More and Better Prisons, More and Worse Criminal Governance?: Exponential Prison Construction and Violence in Brazil
Alex Hinton (Rutgers University). “Never Again!” and the Problem of Prevention
Sami Miaari (Tel Aviv University) and Maha Sabbah-Karkabi (Ben Gurion University). Economic Opportunities, Criminal Activity, and Deterrence: Evidence from the Palestinian-Arab minority in Israel
Melanie-Angela Neuilly (Washington State University). At the Root of Lethal Violence: The French Death Investigation System and the Accuracy of Mortality Statistics in Violence Prevention
Jessica Stern (Boston University) and Megan McBride (Center for Naval Analyses Institute for Public Research). Assessing Mental Distress, Relative Loneness, Ideology, and Leakage in a Violent Extremism Intervention Dataset

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