Early-Career
Reviewer Program
Overview
The early-career reviewer program recruits early-career researchers to serve as peer-reviewers of grant proposals submitted to the William T. Grant Foundation for studies on improving the use of research evidence. Apart from reading and evaluating grant proposals in their areas of expertise, early-career reviewers receive personalized feedback from Foundation staff and have access to redacted grant reviews from senior peer-reviewers. Altogether, this professional development program aims to build early-career researchers’ understanding of the proposal evaluation and peer-review process for use of research evidence grants to strengthen their own grant writing skills and ultimately advance their careers.
Program Activities
The Foundation anticipates assigning each reviewer between one and four proposals during a two-year period. Early-career reviewers, once selected, will receive training from the Foundation on criteria and skills for proposal review and familiarity with the Foundation’s priority area on improving the use of research evidence. Upon receiving a proposal that matches their area of expertise, early-career reviewers will be asked to submit a written review within 3-4 weeks. Following submission of the written review, Foundation staff will provide feedback and request that any necessary revisions be submitted for the final deadline within 1-2 weeks.
At the completion of the process, early-career reviewers will have the opportunity to review the full set of redacted peer reviews on the assigned proposal, which will serve as a resource for continued learning.
All early-career reviewers will be compensated $300 per review.
Eligibility
- Received doctoral degree within seven years of submitting an application. We calculate this by adding seven years to the date the doctoral degree was conferred. In medicine, the seven-year maximum is dated from the completion of the first residency.
- Currently working toward an independent research program aligned with the Foundation’s focus area on studying ways to improve the use of research evidence to improve the lives of young people (ages 5-25) within the United States. This focus area includes two lines of inquiry: 1) Building, identifying, or testing ways to improve the use of existing research evidence, and 2) Testing whether strategies that improve the use of research evidence in turn improve decision-making and youth outcomes.
- Successfully authored and engaged with the peer review process for at least one research publication related to research on the use of research evidence.
- In addition, it is valuable if you have been involved in the preparation of at least one grant proposal submitted to a funder in the past.
Across all our programs, we strive to support a diverse group of researchers in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and seniority, and we encourage applications from African American, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian American Pacific Islander researchers.
Application Materials and Selection Criteria
All application materials must be submitted by email to earlycareerreviewer@wtgrantfdn.org by July 9, 2025. Applicants must submit a CV and a two-page cover letter indicating:
- Motivation and rationale for applying for the early-career reviewer program.
- Area(s) of subject and methodological expertise
- Specific example(s) of authorship and role on at least one research publication related to research on the use of research evidence.
- Prior role in submitting at least one grant proposal in the past to any funder.
- If applicable, specific example of grant writing and responding to reviewer feedback.
- Evidence of how one’s independent research program is aligned with or working towards improving the use of research evidence.
- How participating in the early-career reviewer program would support developmental career aims.
The CV and cover letter must be submitted together as a single PDF, with the cover letter first and CV second.
Applications will be reviewed on the strength of the cover letter and the extent to which the applicant’s research aligns with the Foundation’s focus on improving the use of research evidence. We recommend reviewing the Foundation’s Resources for Applicants page for the use of research evidence to check your alignment with the focus area.
Should you have questions about the program or selection criteria, please reach out to Maddie Scavotto at earlycareerreviewer@wtgrantfdn.org.
