Children and Screens’ Interdisciplinary Research Grants Program provides funding, on a competitive basis, to support cutting-edge scientific research projects that advance our knowledge and understanding of digital media and child development. These research grants are intended to deliver preliminary funds to interdisciplinary, interinstitutional research teams so that they may gain the results necessary to apply and compete for major funding from traditional funding sources.
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Open Calls
2025 Digital Media and Developing Minds Congress Grant
Children and Screens is offering a seed grant funding opportunity in conjunction with the 2025 Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress. This funding aims to support interdisciplinary scientific research that advances our understanding of critical issues discussed at the 2025 Congress.
Up to $150,000 of grant funding will be awarded on a competitive basis to Congress participants (and their collaborators), enabling them to pursue innovative research and initiatives inspired by the event.
Questions can be sent to grants@childrenandscreens.org.
Each grant team must consist of at least one primary member (PI, Co-PI, or Co-I) who attended the 2025 Digital Media and Developing Minds International Scientific Congress. Additional investigators who did not attend the Congress may be included on the grant. Please note, it is highly encouraged to include other investigators who also attended the Congress, and teams that can demonstrate how the event specifically led to or strengthened the partnerships among grant team members will be reviewed favorably. It is also encouraged to include at least one junior or early career member on the grant team.
Please see the full call for proposals for eligibility details.
Grantees will be asked to self-assess their project on a variety of dimensions including scientific originality, interdisciplinary scope, integrative quality, conceptual links to the grant program topics and themes, and the likely scientific impacts of products produced by the project.
Please see the full call for proposals for further details on reporting requirements.
All interested applicants must submit a three-to-five-page Letter of Intent (LOI) via email in order to be considered for invitation to submit a detailed proposal for a grant. This letter should be a google doc or a .docx file. The letter should be emailed to grants@childrenandscreens.org.
Following a review of the Letters of Intent, a selected number of candidates will be invited by Friday, December 5, 2025 to submit a detailed proposal.
Please see the full call for proposals for further letter of intent details.
This timeline is subject to change; applicants will be kept informed of any changes.
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- Grants Program Guidelines Published: Monday, August 4, 2025
- Letter of Intent Deadline: Friday, October 3, 2025, by 5pm ET
- Invitations to Apply Sent: Friday, December 5, 2025
- Full Proposal Deadline: Friday, February 6, 2026 by 5pm ET
- Questions from Reviewers Sent to Applicants: Week of March 30, 2026
- Answers from Applicants Due: Friday, May 1, 2026, by 5pm ET
- Proposal Status Notification: Friday, June 5, 2026
- Start Date: As soon as possible
Please see the full call for proposals for further timeline details.
Projects in Progress
Children and Screens Awards $300,000 Grant for Research on Impacts of Parental Phone Use on Social Emotional Development in Early Infancy
January 11, 2024 – Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development announced a $300,000 grant to a team of experts to address critical gaps in research examining the nuances of parent device use during early infancy and the potential impact of different types and amounts of use in the moment and over time on parents and infants.
The interdisciplinary team of investigators includes: Brandon T. McDaniel, PhD (Mirro Center for Research and Innovation, Parkview Health), Alison K. Ventura, PhD (California Polytechnic State University), Lara N. Wolfers, PhD (University of Amsterdam), Sarah M. Coyne, PhD (Brigham Young University), and Adam M. Galovan, PhD (University of Alberta).
The unique two-year study (called Project EMBRACE – Everyday Mother-Baby Relations and Cellphone Engagement) examines both the short and long term positive and negative effects of parent phone use on infant behavior and outcomes. The researchers plan to follow 150 mothers and infants using a longitudinal ecological momentary assessment design to investigate whether moment-to-moment disruptions in parenting due to phone use—especially if frequent—lead to long-term consequences for infant development. Read the full announcement.
Past Projects
| Project | Year | Amount | Investigator(s) |
| Use of Advanced Analytics to Understand Brain-Behavior SMA Relationships in ABCD Data | 2021-2022 | $100,000 | Marc Potenza (Yale University) and Yihong Zhao (Columbia University) |
| Characterizing the Impact of COVID-19 on Screen Media Use in the ABCD Cohort | 2020-2021 | $99,946 | Susan Tapert (University of California) and the National, Multi-Site Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study Team |
| Tweens, Screens, and Mental Health Pre- and Post-COVID-19: Are the Kids Alright | 2020-2021 | $53,764 | Sheri Madigan (University of Calgary), Dillon Browne (University of Waterloo), Brae McArthur (University of Calgary), Nicole Racine (University of Calgary), Suzanne Tough (University of Calgary), Sheila McDonald (University of Calgary) |
| Media Use and Young Children’s Development | 2020-2021 | $99,043 | Stephanie M. Reich (University of California, Irvine) and Natasha Cabrera (University of Maryland) |
| The New Norms of Adolescence: Examining Predictors and Consequences of Sexting | 2018-2019 | $100,000 | Jennifer Stevens Aubrey (University of Arizona), Hye Jeong Choi (University of Missouri), Elizabeth Daniels (Colorado State University – Colorado Springs), and Ashton Speno (Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville) |
| Development of a Comprehensive Assessment of Family Media Exposure | 2017-2019 | $99,993 | Rachel Barr (Georgetown University), Deborah Nichols (Purdue University), Sarah Coyne (Brigham Young University), Jenny Radesky (University of Michigan School of Medicine), and Heather Kirkorian (University of Wisconsin, Madison) |
| Parent and Peer Influences on Social Media Use in Early Adolescence: Implications for Psychosocial and Behavioral Health | 2017-2018 | $100,000 | Linda Charmaraman (Wellesley College), Megan Moreno (University of Wisconsin, Madison), and Jennifer Grossman (Wellesley College) |
