Research Grant Program
CSB supports projects by Stern faculty and PhD students on a broad variety of topics related to sustainability and business.
The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business (CSB) is eager to support research initiatives at the nexus of business and sustainability across disciplines at Stern.
Annual grant awards of up to $15,000 are available to doctoral students and faculty to advance original research into the role of business in addressing social and environmental issues.
Since 2018, CSB has funded 32 projects led by researchers in the Stern community on topics related to sustainable finance and the role of business in addressing social and environmental issues. Topics have ranged from examining how the #MeToo movement changes investors' valuation and risk attitudes to how agricultural supply and land use change in Brazil responds to market conditions.
Recently published papers from research grant recipients include:
- Opening the Black Box: Understanding the Mechanisms Linking Organizational Sustainability Practices to Employee Outcomes by Frances Milliken
- Search Gaps and Consumer Fatigue by Raluca Ursu, Qianyun Poppy Zhang, Elisabeth Honka
- Corporate Reorganization as Labor Insurance in Bankruptcy by Diana Bonfim; Gil Nogueira
- Investors’ Response to the #MeToo Movement: Does Corporate Culture Matter? by Mary Brooke Billings, April Klein, Yanting Crystal Shi
- A Quantity-Based Approach to Constructing Climate Risk Hedge Portfolios by Johannes Stroebel, Georgij Alekseev, Stefano Giglio, Quinn Maingi, Julia Selgrad
- Alleviating Risk Aversion to Uncertain Impact Donations by Joshua Lewis and Shoshana Segal
- The Role of Financial Conditions in Portfolio Choices: The Case of Insurers by Shan Ge and Michael S. Weisbach
My colleague Kelly See and I are very grateful to have received a grant from CSB for our research on the effects of an organization’s sustainability initiatives on employee engagement. The grant enabled us to complete our initial survey and to have valuable conversations with business leaders in sustainability focused positions about their initiatives and about our research.
- Frances Milliken, NYU Stern Professor of Management and Organizations
Congratulations to our 2024 Research Grant Awardees.
Please check back in early 2025 for the next application cycle.
For additional details on the CSB Research Grant Program and guidelines, see below:
Grant Guidelines
- Projects should align with CSB’s thematic research areas: Tracking the financial case for sustainability; Sustainable finance; Shifting focus from short-term, shareholder value to long-term, stakeholder value; Engaging consumers around sustainability; Exploring sustainability-driven innovation; Business strategies related to decarbonization; Sustainable Supply Chain Management; etc
- Any full-time Stern faculty member or PhD student may apply. Collaborations with PhD students are encouraged.
- Funding requests can be up to $15,000.
- Funding is available for data acquisition and for fieldwork travel. Data acquisition costs should be documented in the budget.
- Funding is available for research assistance and support. RA support will be capped ($7,500). Higher requests require much more detailed justification and documentation.
- Travel funding to work with co-authors is capped ($500 for domestic airfare; $1,000 for international airfare; plus $100 per diem up to 15 days).
- CSB will not fund travel to conferences, equipment investment, or research assistance outside of NYU. CSB does not reimburse outlays made prior to the award of a grant.
- CSB will give preference to new applicants and to projects that align with our mission. CSB is unlikely to fund more than one project per applicant per cycle.
- Research Grant Program awardees will present their research to the NYU Stern CSB Faculty Advisory Council one year after issuance of the grant, providing updates on their work to date.
- Within six months, all Research Grant Program awardees will submit a progress report that documents research progress on their topic. Evidence of how the funds have been spent will be submitted to the Center at this time.
- Evidence (e.g. receipts) of how the funds have been spent will be submitted to CSB as soon as possible, but no later than six months following the grant.
- If the research is published, a statement should be included as follows: “This research was funded in part by the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business Research Grant Program.”
- Published papers or white papers will be shared with CSB for posting on our website.
The application form includes the following:
- Project title
- Project participants
- Abstract
- Research design and methods
- Expected outcomes, including publication strategy
- Statement on how the project addresses CSB’s mission and thematic areas
- A short budget narrative and budget justification, including any complementary sources of funds (e.g. STAR funds, NSF, or other sources)
- Current CV