WFI Research Grant Program

The Waterhouse Family Institute for the Study of Communication and Society (WFI) – housed within Villanova University’s Department of Communication – was founded on the principle that the study and practice of communication requires attention to values, ethics and social justice. One of the ways that we enact this mission is through the funding of research grants. These grants support the scholarly work of Communication scholars across the world, work examining communication, its impact on the world around us, and its ability to create social change and social justice.

Communication scholars across the nation, and across the world, are invited to apply for funds to support initial or ongoing phases of scholarly research aimed at presentation and publication. Although we do not limit our grants to a specific methodological orientation or subdisciplinary focus, all projects supported by the WFI have two things in common: they make communication the primary, and not secondary, focus, and they engage communication in terms of its impact on the world around us, its ability to create social change.