Mind & Life Institute PEACE Grants

Deadline Date: February 29, 2024

Donor Name: Mind & Life Institute

Grant Size: $10,000 to $100,000

The Mind & Life Institute is pleased to announce the PEACE Grants to support projects that advance the understanding of wholesome mental qualities and positive interpersonal and social action related to Prosociality, Empathy, Altruism, Compassion, and Ethics (PEACE).

Mind & Life PEACE grants will fund projects that advance the understanding of the mechanisms, implementation, and outcomes of contemplative approaches to promote well-being and prosocial behavior in individuals and communities. This grant program encourages the active collaboration of scientists with contemplative scholars/practitioners in all phases of research.

The use of the “PEACE” acronym is meant to encompass a range of wholesome characteristics, including gratitude, love, forgiveness, sympathetic joy, patience, and presence to others. With this program, they invite rigorous interdisciplinary research proposals that examine one or more of the following:

Practices, methods, or interventions that may cultivate PEACE qualities,

Basic mechanisms (psychological, physiological, social, developmental, etc.) underlying PEACE qualities and their growth, and

The development of measures to rigorously assess PEACE qualities in various contexts (both in the laboratory and in the real world).

Funding Information

• Two levels of funding are available through this program: up to $25,000 and up to $100,000 (USD). Proposed research should be completed within a 2-year period, and annual progress reports are required for grantees to remain in good standing.

Eligibility Criteria

• Mind & Life Grants are open to applicants of any country or citizenship. However, the Mind & Life Institute is a U.S.-based organization; please be aware of your country’s policies regarding acceptance of foreign funds.
• To be eligible to a PEACE Grant, the Principal Investigator (and Co-Principal Investigator, if there is one) must have completed a research doctorate (e.g., PhD, EdD) and have sufficient training, experience and institutional resources to accomplish the proposed work. Mind & Life is dedicated to supporting increased diversity and inclusion in the field of contemplative research. They warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds and identities; they are especially committed to supporting applicants from groups that are underrepresented in contemplative research.
• Applicants to a PEACE Grant may not be actively funded through any Mind & Life research grant. Current Mind & Life research grantees must submit a final report and budget reconciliation for existing grants before applying for a new grant. Note that they do not allow two separate proposals in a given cycle from the same applicant (whether as PI or co-PI), or from different applicants for two aspects of the same project.

Selection Criteria

• Applications are reviewed by an external committee of experienced contemplative researchers and selected based on the following criteria:
  • Significance and Impact: The project addresses an important issue related to mechanisms, cultivation, or assessment of PEACE qualities, and has potential to lead to advancement of contemplative research and positive action in the world;
  • Innovation: The project offers something new or challenges existing paradigms, either conceptually or methodologically, or both;
  • Methodological Approach/Design: Design, methods, and analyses are adequately developed, rigorous, well integrated, and appropriate to the aims of the project;
  • Investigator(s)/Grant applicant(s): The principal investigator(s) are appropriately trained and capable of coordinating and managing the proposed research, supported by a research team with complementary expertise, with high likelihood of success and future contribution to the field;
  • Research Environment: The team has documented access to sufficient resources to carry out the research, and the project is supported by the host institution and community.

For more information, visit Mind & Life Institute.