Defense Security Cooperation University - Research Grants

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s (DSCA) Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) promotes access to and production of knowledge on security cooperation. Security cooperation refers to “all Department of Defense (DoD) interactions with foreign security establishments that build and develop allied and partner security capabilities and capacity for self-defense and multinational operations, provide the Armed Forces of the United States with access to the foreign country during peacetime or a contingency operation, and build relationships that promote specific United States security interests” (Joint Publication 3-20, Security Cooperation, 1-2; see also 10 USC § 16, “Security Cooperation”).

Evidence-, theory, and data-building activities that contribute to the body of knowledge on security cooperation or irregular warfare, and that result in lessons that can be applied to practice, are the primary focus of this notice of funding opportunity (NFO). Research products sponsored through this NFO must be unclassified and publicly accessible. DSCU expects awardees to participate in conferences, seminars, focus groups and events, and to make final research products and supporting data (if applicable) easily accessible to the public, in order to enhance dissemination of research findings and facilitate application of lessons learned in areas of policy, practice, and workforce professionalization.

The DSCU research grant program, conducted pursuant to 10 USC § 4001 and 10 USC § 384(g), is generally open to a broad range of researchers, although individual DSCU components may have restrictions on who may receive grants.

Please see the full NFO for complete details.

Young Institute: open to individual researchers or research teams with or without an affiliation; professional military education (PME) and civilian academic institutions; U.S. and international research and think thank institutions; federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs); U.S. interagency security cooperation communities of interest; and the security cooperation workforce (as defined by 10 USC § 384).

IWC: open to individual researchers or research teams with or without an affiliation; professional military education (PME) and civilian academic institutions; U.S. and international research and think thank institutions; federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs); and the U.S. interagency irregular warfare communities of interest.

Applicants (principal investigators) may submit only one proposal at a time. Proposed formal collaborators (co-principal investigators) or sub-recipients, however, may team on multiple proposals. Current and past awardees from this initiative, or previous versions of this initiative, are eligible to submit white papers/applications under this NFO. UARCs are eligible to submit white papers and applications under this NFO, unless precluded from doing so by their Department of Defense UARC contract.