Faculty Scholars Program Request for Proposals 2026-2027

Introduction

The Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program in Bioethics is a career development award to enable early-career faculty members to carry out innovative bioethics research. The program is designed to support projects that address a significant bioethics problem and extend beyond current work in bioethics, while fostering a community of Scholars and Alums committed to advancing the field.

Each year, the Foundation selects approximately three Greenwall Faculty Scholars to receive 50 percent salary support for three years to pursue a defined research project and further develop their research program.

Scholars and Alums attend twice-yearly meetings, where they present their works in progress, receive feedback and mentoring from the Faculty Scholars Program Committee and other Scholars and Alums, and have an opportunity to cultivate collaborative relationships across institutions and disciplines. Third-year Scholars are expected to help plan these meetings. Program Alums remain actively engaged, providing mentorship to newer Scholars and creating a sustained network for professional development, collaboration, and scholarly exchange. In addition, all first-year Scholars participate in a philosophical bioethics seminar series, and other professional development opportunities may be offered through the Program.

The Program Committee oversees the Faculty Scholars Program, selects Scholars and recommends them for funding, and plays an active role in mentorship and professional development activities.

Who May Apply?

Applicants must be early-career faculty members at a university or non-profit research institute that has tax-exempt status in the United States. Applicants must hold a faculty appointment (or a comparable long-term research position outside a university) that permits at least 50 percent of their effort to be devoted to research. Priority will be given to applicants who have not yet been considered for tenure or an equivalent promotion; whose research has the potential to influence clinical, biomedical, and/or public health decision-making, policy, and practice; and who demonstrate the potential to make significant contributions to the field of bioethics throughout their careers.

Faculty Scholars are selected based on the quality and originality of their proposed research project, their commitment to the field of bioethics, their record of achievement, their potential for continued growth as a bioethics scholar, and the strength of support from their home institution, including after the end of this award. While a demonstrated record of bioethics scholarship is advantageous, exceptional candidates with less direct experience in bioethics will also be considered when their proposed work has the potential to advance the field of bioethics. Particular consideration will be given to applicants pursuing innovative ideas and/or addressing emerging topics.

The Greenwall Foundation values and supports diverse perspectives and encourages applications from individuals whose backgrounds and experiences are underrepresented in bioethics and academia. The Foundation is committed to building a broad and inclusive bioethics that welcomes everyone, elevates many perspectives, asks a wide range of questions, and learns from diverse voices. For more information on how the Foundation incorporates these values into our grantmaking, read more here.

Please note: Only one applicant from a university or non-profit research institute will be considered in each application cycle. Institutions are expected to conduct an internal review and selection process, as the Foundation will not consider multiple letters of intent from a single institution. For purposes of this policy, the Foundation considers the parent university to be the relevant institution. Accordingly, a university with a law school, medical school, several teaching hospitals, and a faculty of arts and sciences may only submit one letter of intent in total. If a university system, such as a state-wide university system, comprises several universities, each university within the system may nominate one applicant.

Funding for Greenwall Faculty Scholars

The award provides support for 50 percent of a Scholar’s salary (up to the NIH salary cap) and benefits for three years. This funding is intended to ensure that Scholars can devote at least 50 percent of their professional effort to their Faculty Scholars project. In addition, the Foundation provides $5,000 annually for project-related expenses and travel. Indirect costs of 10 percent are allowable on salary and benefits but are not permitted on research-related expenses or travel.

What does the Faculty Scholars Program Committee look for in letters of intent?

1. Quality of the proposed project. Does the proposed project address an important bioethics issue in an innovative way? Does the letter of intent demonstrate how the project will make a significant advance beyond what has already been published on the topic? Is the applicant thinking about the conceptual and normative ethical issues regarding the topic in a rigorous and creative way?

For projects that include empirical research, applicants should clearly articulate the conceptual and normative bioethics questions that motivate the work and explain how the empirical components will inform those questions. Applicants should include a concise description of the empirical methods, as well as a plan for data collection and analysis. Because the Faculty Scholars award is intended to ensure that at least 50 percent of the Scholar's effort is devoted to the proposed project, applicants must also demonstrate that sufficient resources are available to support any additional research expenses associated with empirical data collection and analysis. Empirical projects that lack a strong conceptual framework, rigorous normative analysis, and sound methodology are unlikely to be successful. Similarly, projects that primarily extend prior empirical work to a new population or clinical condition are unlikely to be successful unless they clearly demonstrate how the proposed research offers a meaningful and innovative contribution.

The Program welcomes a wide range of approaches to bioethics scholarship, including historical, theological, psychological, sociological, normative, legal, comparative, and policy research, among others. Regardless of methodology, projects should be closely connected to bioethics questions and concerns. Pure advocacy projects are not supported.

2. Importance of the topic. The Faculty Scholars Program supports research that addresses pressing ethical issues in clinical, biomedical, and/or public health decision-making, policy, and practice. The topic of the proposed research should be timely and relevant, and the proposed project should seek to meaningfully contribute to its understanding. Successful applicants often demonstrate a sustained commitment to their area of inquiry through prior scholarship, professional experience, or a clearly articulated professional trajectory.

3. Potential of the applicant to further the field of bioethics and contribute to and benefit from the Program. The Program Committee seeks applicants with exceptional potential to advance the field of bioethics and to contribute to, and benefit from the Faculty Scholars community. At the letter of intent stage, reviewers carefully consider the applicant’s personal statement and career goals. For invited full applications, additional consideration is given to institutional support, the candidate’s plans for professional development and mentorship, and the applicant’s broader trajectory as a bioethics scholar.

The Program Committee also evaluates an applicant’s demonstrated ability to conduct innovative bioethics research. As part of the full application, applicants submit a first- or sole-authored book chapter or peer-reviewed bioethics article that has been published or is in press. This work is reviewed carefully as evidence of the applicant’s potential for future creativity, productivity, and prospect of becoming a leader in the field. Because prior bioethics scholarship is a significant component of the evaluation process, applicants who have not yet published an innovative bioethics article are unlikely to be successful.

What bioethics activities does the Foundation not fund?

The Foundation does not fund:  

• Projects focused primarily on bioethics education, institutional change initiatives, or quality improvement activities. The Foundation recognizes the importance of these activities and expects that Faculty Scholars and their trainees will engage in them throughout their careers, but they are not the focus of this award.  

• Theoretical ethics research that lacks a clear connection to pressing, real-world challenges in clinical, biomedical, and/or public health decision-making, policy, and practice.  

• Survey-based or qualitative research that merely touches on a bioethics issue without a strong conceptual component or thoughtful analysis of the bioethics implications of the empirical findings. However, the Foundation welcomes conceptual or normative inquiry linked to empirical findings.  

• Basic science research, even when the work has potential bioethics implications.  

• Projects designed to support predetermined conclusions rather than open and rigorous scholarly inquiry.  

Individuals may not receive funding simultaneously through both the Faculty Scholars Program and the Foundation’s Making a Difference program. An individual also may not serve as a principal investigator on active applications under consideration by the Foundation in both programs at the same time.

Please e-mail inquiries about this program to Kyle Ruempler, [email protected]. Please also review the Frequently Asked Questions.

Application Timeline