The Science of Spiritual and Religious Exercises

Request for Proposals (NOW CLOSED)

Open May 8, 2023 through July 2, 2023

The Science of Religious and Spiritual Exercises (SoRSE) priority supports interdisciplinary scientific research to examine the causal impact of religious and spiritual exercises on human capacities and outcomes that are central to flourishing lives.

In this Request for Proposals (RFP), we seek to award a total of up to $3 million for additional research that will advance our knowledge of how religious and spiritual exercises contribute to flourishing-related outcomes.

Successful proposals will:

• Use robust research methods to empirically establish the presence or absence of a causal relationship between specific religious and spiritual exercises and flourishing-related outcomes, while controlling appropriately for potential confounding variables.
• Identify and test potential psychological mechanisms that link practices to their outcomes, as well as moderators that might influence those outcomes.
• Provide research data and evidence that can inform innovations in spiritual exercises so that more people can benefit from their practice.
• Address religious and spiritual exercises not represented in currently funded projects.
• Supplement self-report measures of subjective well-being with more objective measures such as physiological responses or biomarkers.

   

​​​​​​Application Process

This funding competition has a two-stage process.* The first stage involves submission of an Expression of Interest. The second stage is by invitation only, and involves submission of a Full Proposal form that includes several sections including a Project Description, budget and budget narrative, project outputs, and expected outcomes. Full Proposals will undergo formal internal and external reviews, and a final funding decision will be made by the foundation. Projects must have a start date between May 1 and October 31, 2024.

Key Dates

• RFP opens: May 8, 2023
• Webinar: May 23, 2023, 9-10am Eastern, 1-2pm UTC. Recording available here.
• Expression of Interest submission deadline: July 2, 2023
• Notification of invitation to Full Proposal: July 31, 2023
• (By invitation only) Deadline for submitting Full Proposal: September 24, 2023
• Notification of awards: March 1, 2024
• Earliest start date: May 1, 2024

•  
• * For ALL application details and instructions, please consult the Guidance for Applicants document. To apply, download and complete the Expression of Interest Template. Once completed, register your Expression of Interest using the form at our Fluxx Portal.

Current Projects

Priority will be given to research on religious and spiritual exercises that are not represented in this list.

• From the Heart: Testing the Efficacy of Heart-Centered Contemplation

• Centering and Flourishing: A Smartphone-Based Intervention Experiment

• Fasting and Flourishing: A Comparative Analysis

• Extending the Table: Does Shabbat Dinner as a Spiritual Practice Increase Social Connectedness?

• Expanding the Exercise, Science, and Discourse of Spiritual Flourishing: Toward a Science and Practice of Indigenous Traditions

• Gratitude Blessings as a Key to Flourishing: The Translational Potential of the Jewish "Nisim B'chol Yom" (Miracles of the Every Day)

• The Christian Practice of Lament: Mechanisms of Change, Moderators, and Flourishing Outcomes

• The Paradoxical Effects of Religious Fasting on Prosociality and Flourishing

• Temporal Dynamics of Felt Security in Jewish Ritual and Experience

• Toward Evidence-Based Spiritual Therapeutics: Randomized Controlled Trial of Hesychastic Prayer

• Understanding the Psychological, Behavioral, and Social Outcomes of the Ramadan Fast

• Creating the Sacred from the Profane: The Psychological Mechanisms, Moderators, and Outcomes of Mass Singing Events Held By Koolulam