Resources Explained: Navigating US federal funding for participatory sciences with the NASA Cit Sci Leaders Series

Originally published on the Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences blog, on May 20, 2025

Note: 2025 has brought unprecedented changes to the US federal funding landscape for scientific research, including participatory sciences. While the information below was accurate at the time, funding to support the named programs is uncertain.

Seeking grant funding for participatory science work presents both challenges and opportunities. Some challenges stem from misunderstanding or underestimation of how rigorous citizen science research methods can be. Opportunities arise from the fact that citizen science rarely delivers just one set of outcomes; successful projects invariably deliver positive outcomes for participants as well as scientific results. Our series has featured several talks over the years that include advice related to these challenges and opportunities. 

Seeking funding from grant programs dedicated to citizen science methods is one way to circumvent misapprehensions of what citizen science is. The first step, of course, is to verify what a funder means by “citizen science.” In the case of NASA, a review of the Science Mission DIrectorate Policy on Citizen Science, SMD Policy Document SPD-33, provides a succinct answer. Next, a grant seeker needs to understand how to navigate the funding opportunities to find those most relevant. Two speakers addressed this topic for NASA’s Research Opportunities for Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) the omnibus annual announcement from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Max Bernstein, the chief architect of the ROSES document, first unwrapped ROSES for us in 2023. In 2025, Dr. Josh Pepper from the Astrophysics Division, gave us his take on ROSES and the new dual anonymous peer review process. Each of these recordings provides very useful advice, particularly to those seeking grants from NASA for the first time. NASA grant seekers interested in learning more about the requirements of Open Science Data Management Plans will find these details in a presentation by Dr. Steve Crawford, the Science Data Officer of the NASA Science Mission Directorate.

Planning a project budget is often the first place proposers begin. If you are new to citizen science and wondering what activities should be planned, two short videos offer guidance. The NASA Cit Sci Leaders team offered a compare-and-contrast take on how budgeting for citizen science differs from budgeting for non-participatory research methods. In a companion video,  Marc Kuchner, NASA’s Citizen Science Officer, offers specific guidance regarding what NASA funding may and may not be used for. Marc was joined by Lin Chambers from the NASA Science Activation Program and Sydney Neugebaur from NASA’s Capacity Building program who shared details on the funding opportunities within their portfolios (note that NASA’s Capacity Building program was reorganized in early 2025; opportunities described by Sydney may no longer be available). 

NASA, of course, is not the only federal agency that supports participatory science. In 2023, the AAPS and the NASA Citizen Science Leaders Series co-hosted A Conversation on the Federal Funding Landscape for Citizen Science, featuring Alison Parker, then at the Wilson Center; John McLaughlin from NOAA; Ellen McCallie from the National Science Foundation; Heather Drumm from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development; Marc Kuchner, NASA; Sophia B. Liu from the US Geological Survey, and Liam O’Fallon of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. While specific funding programs of each agency change through time, their overall focus as shared by these speakers remains relevant.