What we Fund

We fund research on the meaning and significance of the built environment. The LJMRF is intended as seed funding to support long-term scholarly agendas. We encourage applicants and proposals from a range of built environment disciplines (e.g., architecture, landscape architecture, sacred arts, urbanism, interior design, environmental psychology, material culture, phenomenology, etc.). Project proposals should identify one of the four principal areas of the fund: scholarly research, practice, service, or teaching. Successful applications might propose projects in a range of venues and media including, but not limited to, scholarly writing, film or other broadcast media, built works or projects, community engagement programs, or educational innovation.

We are especially interested in projects that advance the ACSF Mission and its vision that the design and experience of the built environment can assist in the spiritual development of humanity in service of addressing the world’s most pressing problems. We welcome applicants from anywhere in the world. We only fund individuals, not institutions or organizations. Funds may not be used for overhead or operating costs, academic coursework or tuition, or attending the ACSF symposium for presenting final results

Application and Grant Period

Grants are awarded every year and should be completed within a two-year period. After one year grantees submit a written report on progress to the LJMRF Awards Committee. At the conclusion of their research project grantees submit a final report and present at the next annual ACSF symposium, which become part of the ACSF open source research archive.

Award amounts

Grants typically range from $2,000 USD – $5,000 USD

Evaluation Criteria

Project proposals are judged according to the following:

• their alignment with the Mission and vision of ACSF and the goals of the LJMRF,
• potential to make unique, influential contributions to the field,
• capacity to reach broad audiences though publication and other dissemination means,
• clarity of topic, workplan, budget, and intended outcomes, and
• how the grant will support long-term scholarly goals.

Review Committee

The LJMRF Review Committee comprises ACSF board members and ACSF members. Committee decisions are final.

Application

Applications for the LJMRF are submitted on-line and include the following:

• Title
• Name(s) of project leader(s)
• Contact information (physical and electronic addresses and phone number)
• Partnerships or collaborators (if any)
• One sentence description
• Abstract (150 words) that summarizes the project
• Project Statement (1000 words max, can be shorter) that outlines the project’s topic, subjects, principal sources, rationale, methodology, intended outcomes and role(s) of project leader(s)
• Short bibliography (NTE 15 sources)
• Plan for dissemination of outcomes (200 words)
• Budget, including amount requested and other funding sources (if appropriate)
• Work plan and project timeline (200 words)
• CV (2 pages max per individual)
• (2) references (to be contacted only for finalists).