The Communication Elevation Grant (CEG) supports NCA’s mission to “foster professional success in research.”  The specific goal of the CEG is to support research projects addressing urgent challenges related to academic freedom, censorship, and sociopolitical constraints on scholarship. The grant aims to advance communication research that aligns with NCA’s strategic priorities by fostering scholarly excellence, protecting intellectual inquiry, and enhancing member engagement and public relevance of the discipline.

To be eligible, grants should pertain to one or more of the following issues: 

  1. How communication intersects with issues of identity, including race, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, citizenship, disability, class, religion, and other classes historically marginalized and targeted for censorship, persecution, intimidation, and/or exclusion
  2. The role of communication in the dehumanization and dehumanizing language in general 
  3. Threats to academic freedom as they pertain to communication practices and processes
  4. Communication as a source of authoritarianism and democratic backsliding, or as resistance to authoritarianism and democratic backsliding
  5. Issues pertaining to freedom of speech and threats to freedom of speech 
  6. Communication scholarship pertaining to so-called “taboo topics,” broadly conceived and open to definition by the submitter, but subject to evaluation by the grant committee 
  7. Research on censorship and the silencing of dissenting voices 
  8. Research on protest and activism
  9. Research seeking to globalize the study of Communication 

Applicants may seek support of up to $12,500. Applications are due September 15 for awards given in the following year.

Apply for CEG

Applicants must indicate at the top of the application in bold letters that they are applying for a Communication Evaluation Grant (CEG). For example, COMMUNICATION EVALUATION GRANT (CEG): [Title of Project]  

  1. Detailed description of the proposed project written for a diverse audience of Communication scholars, no longer than 10 pages, double-spaced, which includes answers to the following questions: 
    • What do you propose to investigate? 
    • How does this project align with one or more of the issues outlined in the previous section? 
    • How will this grant advance your program of research? 
    • How clearly does the proposal articulate the goals of the project to a diverse audience of Communication scholars? 
    • How does this project align with NCA’s strategic plan? 
    • Which methods, models, theories, or frameworks inform the proposed project? 
    • What deliverables will result from this project? 
  2. Detailed budget, no more than two pages, including rationale for each expense. 
  3. CVs for each Principal Investigator that are no longer than three pages and include full name, contact information, and institutional affiliation. 
  4. One-page funding history narrative  
  5. One-paragraph Generative AI Acknowledgment statement: If generative AI is used in any of the materials listed above. Must include specifically which section, nature of use, platform, and prompt. 

  1. All investigators listed on the grant must be NCA members at the time of submission. 
  2. Must have a PhD in hand (or equivalent terminal degree). Graduate students are ineligible to apply for the grant. 
  3. Officers, directors, trustees (the Legislative Assembly and its Executive Committee), key employees, substantial contributors or employees thereof, or grant selection committee members are not eligible to be considered for or to receive grants from NCA. 
  4. Project investigators must have no prior research grant funding since completion of the terminal degree. 
  5. Applicants who have received external funding (excluding fellowship) are ineligible to apply for the grant. 
  6. Internal funding and awards received while in graduate school and/or as post doc is not counted as prior funding. 
  7. Applications with prior internal funding are eligible to apply. Startup packages and other internal funding must be explicitly disclosed and included in the Funding History Narrative. While eligible to apply, please note that the scoring rubric will prioritize applicants with no prior funding of any kind. 

For questions about NCA grant programs, please email the NCA Research Department.