Center for Sustainable Business | Research Grant Program

The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business (CSB) invites Stern faculty and PhD students across all departments to apply for grant funding to support rigorous, interdisciplinary, publishable research that advances scholarship on the role of business in addressing climate, social, and economic issues. CSB awards up to $10,000 per project to support data acquisition, fieldwork, and research assistance for projects aligned with its core research themes.

Since 2018, CSB has awarded a total of $277,000 across 38 projects led by researchers at Stern exploring topics ranging from climate risk mitigation and employee outcomes to investor behavior and social movements. Published papers supported by CSB grant funding include:

• The Effect of Rising Insurance Premiums on Mortgage Delinquency and Household Relocation by Shan Ge, Stephanie Johnson, Nitzan Tzur-Ilan
• The Effect of Insurance Premiums on the Housing Market and Climate Risk Pricing by Shan Ge, Ammon Lam, and Ryan Lewis
• ESG Favoritism in Mutual Fund Families by Anna Zsofia Csiky, Rainer Jankowitsch, Alex Pasler, and Marti Subrahmanyam
• Green Bonds: New Label, Same Projects by Pauline Lam, Jeffrey Wurgler
• Search Gaps and Consumer Fatigue by Raluca Ursu, Qianyun Poppy Zhang, Elisabeth Honka
• Corporate Reorganization and the Reallocation of Labor in Bankruptcyby 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
• The Role of Financial Conditions in Portfolio Choices: The Case of Insurers by Shan Ge and Michael S. Weisbach

2026 Grant Applications

Applications are open through February 13, 2026. The application can be found here and must include the following:

• Project title and co-authors
• Abstract (no more than 30 lines)
• Research strategy: Approach and significance
• Brief statement of project alignment with CSB’s mission and research themes
• Budget narrative and justification (including other funding sources, if applicable)
• Current CV(s)

Awardee Deliverables

• Annual progress report with budget documentation until project is completed
• Presentation to the CSB Faculty Advisory Council (one year post-award)
• To help translate research into practice, awardees will produce a short, accessible Q&A or lay abstract highlighting key findings for distribution through LinkedIn and other external communications.
• Published papers should include: “This research was funded in part by the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business Research Grant Program.”

Grant Guidelines

• Any full-time Stern faculty member or PhD student in any department may apply. Collaborative faculty–PhD proposals are especially welcomed.
• Funding requests can be up to $10,000.
• Funding is available for data acquisition and 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.
• Projects should align with one or more of CSB’s priority research areas, including:
  • Financial performance and the business case for sustainability
  • Sustainable finance
  • Long-term stakeholder value creation
  • Decarbonization and climate transition strategies
  • Sustainability-driven innovation
  • Sustainable supply chains
  • Consumer purchasing, engagement and behavioral change
  • Corporate strategies for environmental and social impact
• 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.
• Preference is given to new applicants and projects closely aligned with CSB’s mission; however, previous grantees who have completed reporting requirements are welcome to apply.
• Published papers or white papers will be shared with CSB for posting on our website.
   

*Travel and per-diems are not eligible expenses. However, under compelling circumstances, requests can be made for travel funding to work with co-authors. Funding is capped at $500 for domestic airfare; $1,000 for international airfare; plus $100 per diem up to 15 days.  

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