Funding Opportunities & Awarded Projects

The National Sea Grant Law Center’s funding opportunities seek to promote the growth and development of Sea Grant legal programming and build the capacity of individual Sea Grant programs to address legal issues in their states.*

*Sea Grant champions diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by recruiting, retaining and preparing a diverse workforce, and proactively engaging and serving the diverse populations of coastal communities. Sea Grant is committed to building inclusive research programs that serve people with unique backgrounds, circumstances, needs, perspectives, and ways of thinking. We encourage applicants of all ages, races, ethnicities, national origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, disabilities, cultures, religions, citizenship types, marital statuses, education levels, job classifications, veteran status types, and income and socioeconomic status types to apply for this opportunity.

Coastal Resilience Program

2023 Coastal Resilience Program Competition Results

The National Sea Law Grant Center recently awarded three universities a one-year research grant through its 2023 Coastal Resilience Program competition. The Law Center received ten full proposals that went through a rigorous evaluation process involving written peer reviewers and technical review panelists. Out of the ten full proposals received, the following were awarded:

Institution: University of Louisville Research Foundation, Inc.

PI: Dr. Craig Anthony (Tony) Arnold

Project Title: Equitable Coastal Urban Adaptation to Climate Change: A Resilience Justice Assessment Assessment

Project Description: The project will study the extent to which 8 urban study areas are adopting and implementing strategies that are well-designed to improve the adaptive capacities and reduce the vulnerabilities of marginalized communities, especially low-income neighborhoods and populations of color.

Institution: University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program

PI: Dolan Eversole

Project Title: Assessing the Effectiveness of Coastal Adaptation Policies in Hawai‘i: A Comprehensive Framework for Evaluation and Best Practices Comprehensive Framework for Evaluation and Best Practices

Project Description: The project will evaluate and assess selected adaptation policies by examining their performance against specific criteria, such as the stated objectives of the policy, the ability to protect against coastal hazards and climate change, cost-effectiveness, social and environmental impacts, and long-term sustainability. The research aims to provide insights into which strategies are most effective in protecting coastal areas from the impacts of climate change, identify any trade-offs or synergies between different adaptation strategies, as well as potential barriers and challenges to their implementation.

Institution: The Pennsylvania State University

PI: Christine J. Kirchhoff, Ph.D., P.E.

Project Title: Learning climate resilience: Investigation of the Maine Climate Adaptation Planning policy for climate resilient wastewater infrastructure policy for climate resilient wastewater infrastructure

Project Description: The project will assess the efficacy of the Climate Adaptation Policy (CAP) program for achieving stated policy objectives among participating wastewater systems including improving awareness about climate risks and assessing wastewater managers’ intention to adapt or actual progress in implementing climate adaptation measures. In addition, this research will also provide This project will also we seek to understand how the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s iterative and collaborative collective planning process affected the quality and content of climate action plans and the ability of municipalities to implement wastewater climate adaptation actions including whether the policy promoted more inclusive, equitable climate adaptation in the wastewater sector.

Please be on the lookout for the 2024 Coastal Resilience Program RFP announcement coming soon!

Sea Grant Law and Policy Journal Symposium Competition

The National Sea Grant Law Center is accepting applications from Sea Grant Programs and accredited law schools with documented partnerships with Sea Grant Programs to organize and host academic symposiums addressing priority ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes law and policy topics. Applicants may seek funding support for an in-person, virtual, or hybrid conference. The symposia must result in the generation of a minimum of six, peer-reviewed articles for publication by the National Sea Grant Law Center in a special issue of the Sea Grant Law & Policy Journal (Journal). Funding is limited to $25,000 per symposium and the Law Center anticipates selecting up to four proposals for funding. Matching funds will not be required.

For more information on the Journal and previous symposium funded by the Law Center, see: http://nsglc.olemiss.edu/sglpj

Timetable: Letters of Intent are due by 5 p.m. Central Time on Friday, December, 8 2023.
Full proposals are due by 5 p.m. Central Time on Friday, February 2, 2024. Applicants may submit proposals for funding of symposia to be held in 2024 or 2025 with Sea Grant Law & Policy Journal issue publication in 2025 or 2026. The anticipated award start date is July 1, 2024.

Eligibility: The National Sea Grant Law Center is accepting applications from Sea Grant programs and accredited law schools with documented partnerships with Sea Grant Programs to organize and host academic symposiums and produce symposium proceedings addressing priority ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes law and policy topics.

Only those applicants who submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) by the required deadline are subsequently eligible to submit full proposals.

View Request for Proposals

Program Development Funds

The National Sea Grant Law Center accepts proposals for Program Development (PD) funds on a rolling basis. These funds are made available to support projects that align with National Sea Grant Law Center’s strategic goals and objectives. Preference is given to projects that will help build the legal capacity of the Sea Grant Network. Typical awards are under $10,000. Projects exceeding $10,000 should be discussed with the National Sea Grant Law Center director prior to submission.

View Guidelines and Instructions for Applicants

For More Information

General questions about NSGLC Competitions and the scope of projects considered should be directed to:

Stephanie Otts
Director of the National Sea Grant Law Center
sshowalt@olemiss.edu

General questions about the application process should be directed to:

Lauren Fremin
Project Coordinator for the National Sea Grant Law Center
lrfremin@olemiss.edu