At Hopelab, we have always believed that science is key to systems change. The 2025 Early Career Research Grant provides opportunities to access our data and $10,000 to five early-career researchers to accelerate more equitable research on technology and youth mental health and well-being. Proposals should include analyses focused on Black, Latinx, or LGBTQ+ young people. Applicants who already have access to a dataset that fits with Hopelab’s areas of emphasis may also propose using their existing dataset.

Awards in 2025 will be made for projects that use one of the following data sources:

1. Data from Hopelab and Born This Way Foundation’s survey on online support for LGBTQ+ young people. This data set contains responses from 1,267 LGBTQ+ young people and is focused on online and in-person community and friendship.
2. Data from the Hopelab’s survey for the report Parasocial Relationships, AI Chatbots, and Joyful Online Interactions. This data set contains responses from 1,526 LGBTQ+ young people and focuses on parasocial relationships with online content creators, use of AI chatbots, and positive online interactions.
3. Data from the Hopelab and Common Sense Media’s 2024 National Survey on Social Media and Mental Health. This data set contains responses from 1,231 young people and is focused on engagement with social media.
4. Data from Hopelab’s 2018, 2021, and 2024 National Surveys, for variables with identical or close matches across time waves (note that these are separate surveys and not longitudinal data of the same individuals).
5. Data that PI applicants have access to and that fits within Hopelab’s areas of emphasis in the mental health and well-being of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC young people. Please note that this award does not support original data collection; applicants must already have the relevant data collected if using option 5.

Advisory support from Hopelab is available for 12 months for this grant.

Hopelab welcomes proposals for the 2025 Early Career Research Grant. Applicants should complete the proposal application form, using the survey codebooks for award application options 1, 2, 3, or 4 (i.e., use of Hopelab data). The data codebooks include a complete list of all variables included in the data set and lists of summary demographics to assist with project planning. Applicants proposing to use their own existing dataset will be asked to provide additional information about their dataset and proposed study in the application form.

Please use the form linked below to submit your application. You will be asked to submit your CV. Please do not submit additional materials (e.g., biosketches, letters of support).

Teams of up to two early-career researchers are eligible to apply for the award. Both applicants must be early-career researchers (up to seven years from their terminal degrees). Funds for the award will be transferred to one of the awardees, who must be a U.S. citizen affiliated with a 501(c)3 research organization.

The application form will ask for:

• your contact information, collaborator information (if applicable),
• a proposed project title,
• project background (500-word max.),
• planned analyses (500-word max.),
• a list of variables from the codebook to be used in your proposed project (if using Hopelab data),
• planned outputs,
• and your experience in engaging young people in your work.

We strongly encourage you to view the form and create your application using a word processing application (e.g., MS Word or Google Docs), and then submit the proposal through the form.

Please note that analyses are underway by Hopelab partners on a number of projects related to these data sets. Please click here for a list of these currently active projects. Proposals that duplicate projects in this list will not be awarded funding for this award.

Project proposals are due by September 2, 2025.