How we work: Research and innovation grants

Research and Innovation Grants

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning grants funding to faculty, staff, and students to develop projects that will contribute to scientific knowledge and have a lasting impact on learners.

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning encourages and enables scholars and students to seize new opportunities in data, technology, and the brain to improve learning outcomes, and therefore life outcomes.  We focus on learning challenges most in need of new discoveries, evidence, and solutions, and where we believe Stanford can make the most difference.

To amplify the impact of Stanford research on learners, we support research and design projects through grant funding. Grant funding works in parallel with Accelerator Studio supports to enable the development and impact of research that substantively improves learning. Since 2020, we have distributed nearly $2 million to fund more than 40 promising projects.

The Accelerator distributes two types of funds:

  • Seed grants. These grants support research and design that demonstrate an early theory of impact. Grant funding, centered around a theme, is available for Stanford faculty, staff, and students.  Our past and upcoming rounds of seed grants are detailed below.
  • Learning Design Challenge awards. Students are eligible for funding in two stages ($1,500 Design Awards and $9,000 Research Awards) as part of the Learning Design Challenge course.

The Accelerator also partners with groups across Stanford to distribute funds, such as:

For information on how to support our grant-making, please visit the Giving page.

Open opportunities

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A young Latina girl does her homework kneeling at a table and looking at a cellphone, which is mounted on a stand.

Tequity in Learning

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning is seeking proposals for projects at the intersection of technology, equity, and learning.
Funding type: Seed grant
Initiative: Equity in Learning
Eligibility: Faculty, Staff, Students
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Closed opportunities

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Joyful Learning

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning has accepted 21 proposals for research or design projects that will explore the mechanisms and impact of joyful learning.
Funding type: Seed grant
Initiative: Digital Learning
Eligibility: Faculty, Staff, Students
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Learning through Creation with Generative AI

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) invited research proposals advancing learning through creation with generative AI.
Funding type: Seed grant
Initiative: Digital Learning
Eligibility: Faculty, Staff, Students
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People Who Help Other People Learn (PWHOPL)

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning has funded 11 research projects that foster new understandings of how to use technology for rapid capability development to support PWHOPL.
Funding type: Seed grant
Initiative: Adult and Workforce Learning
Eligibility: Faculty, Staff, Students
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Igniting Transformative Approaches to Ethnic Studies

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning is funding exploratory projects, developing partnerships, and preliminary scholarship that are poised to make substantial impacts on how ethnic studies is taught and integrated into K-12 schooling across California.
Funding type: Seed grant
Initiative: Equity in Learning
Eligibility: Faculty, Staff, Students
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Understanding Learning Differences in Context

Interdisciplinary research projects on learning differences and/or the future of special education, funded up to $80,000 for a one year project.
Funding type: Seed grant
Initiative: Learning Differences and the Future of Special Education
Eligibility: Faculty, Staff
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Digital Learning during COVID-19

Funded projects to support virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding type: Seed grant
Initiative: Digital Learning
Eligibility: Faculty
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The Science and Design of Virtual Field Trips

Funded concept-proving research and designs that advance learning in the area of virtual field trips.
Funding type: Seed grant
Initiative: Digital Learning
Eligibility: Faculty, Staff, Students
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Generative AI for the Future of Learning

In collaboration with the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, grants up to $100,000 for innovative designs and/or research on critical issues and applications of generative AI in learning contexts.
Funding type: Seed grant
Initiative: Digital Learning
Eligibility: Faculty, Staff, Students