Early Career Research Grant Program

The Strategy Research Foundation (SRF) of the Strategic Management Society (SMS) announces its 2025 Early Career Research Grant Program and calls for grant proposals that will support early career strategy scholars in advancing a research project in the field of strategic management.

Early Career Research Grant funds are intended to supplement other financial resources available to early career scholars to support elements of their research that enhance the quality, expand the scope, augment the research design, or in some other way enrich a research project.

2025 Call for Applications

Target Applicant: Strategy scholars who have received their Ph.D. degrees in Strategic Management or other relevant disciplines within 4 years of the start of the funding cycle.

Funding & Key Terms: Grants of up to US$15,000 to support direct research expenses such as data collection and research assistance. No institutional overhead will be paid.

Submission Deadline: October 1, 2025

Grant Period: January 1, 2026 — December 31, 2027

Eligibility

This program provides competitive research grants to strategy scholars who have received their Ph.D. degrees in Strategic Management or other relevant disciplines within 4 years of the start of the funding cycle. All applicants must be a full-time research faculty member or post-doctoral researcher affiliated with a university and a member of the Strategic Management Society at the time of submission and throughout the grant period.

At any time, a single individual is permitted to serve as a principal investigator or co-investigator on only one proposal across all SRF programs. Thus, individuals named in a previously funded SRF proposal may not submit a new grant application until expiration of the prior grant and submission of all deliverables for their prior grant. Early career scholars who have been any of SRF grant recipients in the past are eligible to apply for this grant, conditional on demonstrating that the project in the current proposal is distinct from their previously funded research and on having submitted all deliverables for their prior grant.

All SRF grants aim to support research that has not been undertaken. Thus, completed work is not eligible for funding.

Funding 

The SRF plans to award multiple ECRG grants of up to $15,000 each during the 2025 funding cycle. Applicants are expected to request only the amount of funding necessary to support their proposed activities. Proposals requesting less than the maximum will not be disadvantaged in the review process.

The SRF program provides financial support to cover direct research expenses for data collection, research assistance, and other activities that enable the conduct of the research project. Examples of ineligible expenses include conference travel and registration fees, compensation for PI or CI time, teaching buyouts, purchases of software or equipment, and university overhead. As the program aims to foster future research, reimbursement for previous expenditures is not permitted. Determination of eligible and ineligible expenses rests with the SRF.

When a proposal is accepted for funding, the SRF will prepare a written agreement that details the responsibilities of both the Scholar and the SRF. Grant funds awarded will be disbursed at the start of the two-year grant period beginning January 1, 2026. Recipients are expected to use the awarded funds within the grant period.

Deliverables & Activities

The SRF requires regular progress reports as well as a final report on the project. Recipients of the Early Career Research Grants are expected to submit a progress report every six months of the grant and a final report within three months of the end of the grant. The final report will include an executive summary of the research findings, and documentation of the expenses incurred.

Submission Guidelines

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Applications (in English) are to be submitted by the PI through the online submission system. Submissions will include the following:

  • Submission title
  • Amount requested in US Dollars
  • Name and academic affiliation of PI
  • Names of any other CIs and their affiliations
  • Three keywords that characterize the proposed research
  • Summary (500 words) of the proposed research project
  • Research Proposal of up to 10 pages, single spaced, with the following structure:
    1. Specific research question(s) to be addressed, review of the relevant literature
    2. Expected contributions to strategic management research
    3. Research design, including descriptions of proposed data and analysis techniques
    4. Cited references
  • Expected impact of SRF funding on the quality of the research
  • Timetable/schedule (including a description of any work completed to date)
    1. A description of tasks related to the research project that have been completed by the time of grant application, especially if the research project extends or overlaps with the completed work in an applicant’s dissertation research.
    2. A list and timetable for the remaining tasks for the two-year grant period
  • Detailed and itemized budget in US Dollars, including specific items proposed for SRF funding and sources of support other than SRF. The detailed budget must include, where applicable:
    1. For any data purchases, documentation from the vendor confirming the pricing and coverage details
    2. For research assistants, a description of their specific tasks, estimated hours, hourly rate, and expected level of expertise
    3. For travel, an explanation of its purpose, estimated time window, itemized costs (e.g., airfare, lodging, per diem), and how it supports the proposed research
    4. A rank ordering of budget items from highest to lowest priority, indicating which budget items are most essential to the success of the project.
    5. An explanation of other funding sources that have been secured or applied for, beyond SRF support, to enable completion of the research project.
  • CVs for the PI and any CI(s), including the title of the PI doctoral dissertation
  • A letter from a tenured strategy scholar and a member of the Strategic Management Society, either from the same academic institution as the grant applicant or from another institution, who can confirm support for the application and acknowledge any institutional financial resources provided to the project.
  • Disclosure of any personal or business relationship between researchers and organizations providing data, field access, or other assistance that could potentially create a conflict of interest
  • Disclosure of any relationship with SRF Co-Chairs or the ECRG Program Director, which may create the perception of a conflict of interest: potential conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to, advising, co-authoring, or consulting relationships

Proprietary Right & Acknowledgements

Grant recipients will retain copyright to all materials prepared in connection with the funded project. However, the SRF will retain an irrevocable, royalty-free license in perpetuity to use such materials for non-commercial purposes furthering the mission of the SRF. The SRF requires that any publication of the resulting research in articles or other forms includes an acknowledgement that the research was funded in part by the SRF of the Strategic Management Society.

Timetable & Evaluation Process

The SRF submission deadline is October 1, 2025. Notification of Early Career Research Grants will be made by January 1, 2026. Submissions will be reviewed using the following criteria:

  • Contribution to strategic management research: Are the frameworks employed, the data to be used, and/or the potential results to be obtained likely to make a new and substantial theoretical or empirical contribution to the academic field of strategic management?
  • Research design and methodological rigor: Is the data appropriate for the theory being built or tested? Are the procedures appropriate for the research questions? Is there adequate description of the methods used? Is validity properly justified?
  • Expected impact of the funding: Is SRF funding likely to make a significant difference to the quality, scope, or other characteristics of the research project that will enhance its conceptual and/or empirical contribution to strategic management research?

Important ECRG Dates

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JULY 1, 2025 – Submission System Opens
OCTOBER 1, 2025 – Submission Deadline
LATE DECEMBER 2025 – Notification of Review Committee Decisions
JANUARY 1, 2026 – Grant Period Begins
DECEMBER 31, 2027 – Grant Period Ends