Funding Opportunities

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.

2025 Coastal Resilience Program Competition

The National Sea Grant Law Center (Law Center) is accepting applications from eligible applicants to conduct research on the effectiveness of laws and policies related to a wide range of coastal resilience issues including sea level rise, flooding, amplified storm surge, increased frequency and intensity of storms, land use, or other environmental factors, and whether those policies are achieving desired policy changes. The 2025 Coastal Resilience Program grants have a recommended two-year project period and funding level of $150,000, and the Law Center anticipates selecting up to two projects for funding. Matching funds will not be required.

Timetable: Letters of Intent must be received by 5 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. Full proposals must be received by 5 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. The anticipated award start date is February 1, 2026.

Eligibility: The following entities are eligible and encouraged to participate in this funding opportunity: Sea Grant Programs, institutions of higher education, government agencies, and non-profit organizations that have the ability and capacity to conduct rigorous, non-partisan law and policy research.

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

2024-2027 Program Development Funds

The National Sea Grant Law Center (Law Center) is accepting proposals for small-scale research projects that seek to address timely or pressing legal questions related to ocean, coastal, or Great Lakes law. This funding is intended to support emerging research needs or innovative pilot research projects that may eventually develop into larger, full scale research projects. They are also intended to help a Sea Grant program build legal capacity by generating legal research findings that can be incorporated into extension, education, and communication programming. Requests for Program Development (PD) funds are limited to a maximum request of $10,000 and a one-year project period. Matching funds are not required.

Timetable: LOIs for one-year projects will be accepted on a rolling basis through August 1, 2026. Full proposals for one-year projects will be accepted on a rolling basis through October 1, 2026. Currently, the latest possible end date for any proposed project is January 31, 2028. Applicants must take this into consideration in their proposal timelines and allow for at least two months for full proposal review and award prior to implementation. For example, the recommended project period for a full proposal submitted on July 1, 2024 would be September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025.

Eligibility: The Law Center is accepting applications from Sea Grant programs, institutes of higher education, or legal research organizations. Institutes of higher education and legal research organizations must have documented partnerships with Sea Grant Programs. Eligible applicants may request PD funds for small-scale research projects that seek to address timely or pressing legal questions related to ocean, coastal, or Great Lakes law, and have the potential to develop into larger research efforts or collaborations among institutes of higher education, legal research organizations, and Sea Grant partners.

If funding is available, Letters of Intent (LOI) that align with funding objectives will be encouraged to submit a full proposal. Applicants who submit LOIs for projects that are not aligned with funding objectives may not submit full proposals.

View Request for Proposals

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