The Young Scholars Program supports scholarship for early-career researchers. The program funds implementation research that is policy- and practice-relevant and that examines the preparation, competency, compensation, well-being, and ongoing professional learning of the early care and education workforce.

The webinars below are applicable to the current 2024 application cycle.

Watch the 2024 Young Scholars Program LOI Webinar

The 2024 Young Scholars Program LOI Webinar provides information relevant to the 2024 Young Scholars Program Call for Proposals. It offers insights into the grant review process and the Foundation’s interests in implementation research and the early care and education workforce.

Watch the 2023 Young Scholars Program LOI Webinar: A Review of the Process

This webinar offers detailed information about the Foundation’s Young Scholars Program research focus on strengthening the early care and education workforce and about the Letter of Intent requirements and process.

Watch the Getting it Right Roundtable Discussion: Preparing Future Early Care and Education Implementation Researchers

This roundtable webinar is aimed at addressing issues related to the preparation of implementation researchers in the early care and education field. The discussion between faculty focuses on how to prepare researchers, particularly researchers of color, and the opportunities and challenges related to conducting ECE implementation research.

Learn more and download the resources mentioned in this webinar here.

Watch the Advancing Equity: Conducting Strengths-Based Research in Early Care

This webinar focuses on utilizing a strengths-based research approach to promote equity within the early care and education field. Presenters from the Researchers Investigating Sociocultural Equity and Race (RISER) Network share ways to incorporate a strengths-based approach in research design, from developing research questions, identifying methods and measures, through data analysis and interpretation. The fundamental principle of a strengths-based approach is that every individual, family, and community has their own set of assets that should be considered within all aspects of research design. Such an approach celebrates the racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity of young children, their families, and communities. It seeks to understand how policies and systems might, inadvertently or intentionally, function as contributors to disparities and focuses on how to improve systems and policies.

Watch the Developing Strong Full Applications Webinar

This 2023 Young Scholars Program Full Application webinar is designed to support applicants who are invited to submit a a full application for the Foundation for Child Development’s Young Scholars Program. It assists applicants in the development of a strong application. Topics discussed include:

• Preparing Your Full Application
• Developing a Strong Research Proposal
• Mentor and Mentee Expectations
• Insight on the Advisory Committee & Review Process