Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program

Summary

AI-generated

NSF 25-507: Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program (HEGS)

Research Focus

The Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program (HEGS) supports fundamental research on the spatial dimensions of human behaviors, activities, and dynamics and their interactions with environmental and social processes across multiple scales. The program seeks empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, and methodologically rigorous work that advances geographical and geospatial sciences. Research must be generalizable and reproducible; proposals applying geographical or geospatial methods to a problem without proposing a theory-testing or theory-expanding contribution to geographical science will be returned without review. Successful projects should enhance fundamental geographical theory and geospatial methods while demonstrating broader societal benefits. The program emphasizes human dimensions relevant to people and societies and welcomes quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods approaches that address confounding variables and selection or confirmatory biases.

At a Glance

Who can apply: U.S. institutions of higher education (2- and 4-year), non-profit research organizations, for-profit companies, state/local governments, and federally recognized tribal nations. No restrictions on PI/co-PI submissions or proposals per organization.
Funding & project length: Typically $100,000–$500,000 (inclusive of indirect costs); up to 48 months for senior research proposals.
Award mechanism: Standard Grant or Continuing Grant; 15–25 senior awards anticipated from $7,000,000 total.
Key dates: Full proposals due February 3, 2025 and August 1, 2025; thereafter first Friday in August and third Friday in January annually.
Best fit for: Geography, environmental science, human-environment interaction, geospatial analysis, and related social/behavioral sciences using rigorous empirical methods to test or expand theory.

Key Facts

Deadline

Wed, March 4, 2026

Posted

Sat, November 2, 2024

Expected Awards

47.075

Grants.gov

Agency

Research Areas

NSF

Social, Behavioral & Economic SciencesSBE

No gotchas detected. Always read the full FOA/NOFO.

Synopsis

The objective of the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program is to support basic scientific research about the nature, causes, consequences, or evolution of the spatial dimensions of human behaviors, activities, and dynamics as well as their interactions with environmental and social processes across a range of scales. Contemporary geographical research encompasses diverse research traditions and methodologies. Recognizing the breadth of the field’s contributions to science, the HEGS Program welcomes proposals for empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, methodologically rigorous, and generalizable research that advances geographical and geospatial sciences.Because the National Science Foundation's mandate is to support fundamental scientific research, the HEGS program cannot fund research that takes as its primary goal humanistic interpretations or findings that are not generalizable or reproducible. HEGS welcomes proposals that utilize quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods in novel ways. However, a proposal that applies geographical or geospatial methods to a geographic problem without proposing how that problem provides an opportunity to make a theory-testing or theory-expanding contribution to geographical science, broadly defined, will be returned without review. HEGS supported projects are expected to yield results that will enhance, expand, and transform fundamental geographical theory and geospatial methods and that will have broader impacts that benefit society.

Generally, successful HEGS proposals should describe clear and detailed plans for data collection (including sample selection if appropriate), justification for proposed methods, plans for data analysis, attention to confounding variables, and efforts to address biases (e.g., confirmatory biases, selection biases, etc.). Competitive HEGS proposals should substantiate the validity of findings and generalizability to broader contexts.

It should be noted that HEGS is situated in the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate at NSF. Therefore, it is critical that research projects submitted to the HEGS program illustrate how the proposed research questions engage human dimensions that are relevant and important to people and societies.

A proposal that fails to be responsive to these program expectations will be returned without review.

Source: Simpler.grants.gov