Faculty Digital Scholarship Advancement Award

The Sony Research Award Program is Sony's principal channel for funding external academic research, and the Focused Research Award is its collaborative track: up to 150,000 dollars for focused joint research between a university or research institute and Sony. The 2026 research areas are unusually broad for a corporate program and cover most of the modern AI stack alongside Sony's hardware interests - AI and large language models, computer vision, machine learning, robotics, human-computer interaction, affective computing, speech and language technologies, audio technologies, RF sensing, wireless communications, cybersecurity, sports technology, digital humans, generative AI, content creation and neural rendering, plus device-level areas including MicroLED and optical metasurfaces. For AI and robotics groups this makes it one of the wider corporate calls available, though the breadth is deceptive: Sony funds work that connects to its own research agenda, and proposals are strongest when there is an identifiable Sony research counterpart for the collaboration. Eligibility is tightly drawn around the principal investigator rather than the institution. The PI must be a full-time faculty member or researcher at a recognized institution - Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor or equivalent researcher - and must be able to supervise PhD students. Co-PIs are permitted but must be from the same institution and meet the same requirements, which rules out the cross-institutional consortia common in public funding. The 2026 deadline is 15 September 2026 at 11:59pm Pacific, with a separate India-specific time given as 16 September 2026. Submission guidelines are on the Sony Research Award Program site.

Our world is at a pivotal moment where the boundaries dividing the physical and social worlds from the cyber world have become blurred. Cyberspace has evolved from an interconnected digital environment into a complex and interdependent cyber ecosystem that involves hardware, software, networks, data, people, organizations, countries, and the physical world. Critical functions of everyday life are deeply intertwined with computing, including health, government, commerce, the public sphere, education, critical infrastructure, interpersonal communication, and transportation. The complexity and inter-dependencies in cyberspace can be misused and exploited by malicious actors. These in turn can trigger adverse outcomes such as disruption of critical infrastructure and systems; theft of intellectual property and sensitive data; amplification of inequalities; disclosure of private information of individuals, organizations, and governments; and threats to lives, livelihoods, and reputations. Furthermore, constant attacks on the data and assets of corporations, governments, and individuals undermine people’s trust in decision-making and processes that depend critically on these cyber systems. The Security, Privacy, and Trust in Cyberspace (SaTC 2.0) program aims to build trust in global cyber ecosystems. Trust is the core tenet of this program and, for the purposes of this solicitation, is broadly defined to include our confidence in the security, privacy, and resilience of cyberspace, particularly in the face of malicious intent. Achieving this level of confidence in cyberspace requires not only understanding the vulnerabilities in a system that could be exploited and how they can be addressed, but also understanding the social and technical dimensions of trust in cyber systems, along with the educational efforts needed to increase public awareness of risks in cyberspace, and building a well-trained corps of privacy and security professionals. SaTC 2.0 spans the interests of NSF's Directorates for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), and STEM Education (EDU). Proposals must be submitted pursuant to one of the following designations, each of which may have additional requirements: RES: The Research (RES) designation is the focus of the multidisciplinary SaTC 2.0 research program. RES projects are limited to $1,200,000 in total budget, with durations of up to four years. Proposals with a total budget of more than $600,000 have additional requirements including Broadening Participation in Computing and collaboration plans. RES proposals may include an optional Transition to Education (TTE) plan with a budget up to $50,000 (within the RES total budget request) to co-evolve novel educational initiatives in the context of the proposed research. EDU: The Education (EDU) designation is used to identify proposals focusing on education and workforce training in building trust in security, privacy, and resilience of cyberspace. EDU proposals are limited to $500,000 in total budget, with durations of up to three years. EDU proposals that primarily focus on education research with demonstrated collaboration, as reflected in the PI team between cybersecurity subject matter experts and education researcher(s), may request an additional $100,000 beyond the $500,000 limit. SEED: The Seedling (SEED) category is intended for special topics defined by accompanying Dear Colleague Letters. SEED projects are limited to $300,000 in total budget, with durations of up to two years. Funding Opportunity Number: 25-515. Assistance Listing: 47.049,47.070,47.075,47.076. Funding Instrument: G. Category: ST. Award Amount: $50K – $1.2M per award.