September 27, 2021

Dear Colleagues:

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program aims to promote research on the fundamentals of security, privacy, and trustworthy cyberspace as a multidisciplinary subject that will lead to new knowledge and approaches to design, build, and operate cyber systems, protect persons, organizations, and existing infrastructure, and motivate and educate individuals about cybersecurity and privacy. With this DCL, NSF is announcing its intention to encourage the submission of EArly-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposals that will foster novel, excellent interdisciplinary research in the SaTC domain to be carried out in collaborations between one or more Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) researchers and one or more Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) researchers.

Many scientific and practical challenges of security, privacy, and trust have both social and technical dimensions, making it important to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations among researchers from the disciplines represented in NSF's CISE and SBE directorates on topics that draw on the strengths of their respective disciplines. Some of these topics are suggested in the most recent SaTC program solicitation (https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?WT.z_pims_id=504709&ods_key=nsf21500), but other topics relevant to the SaTC program are also welcome.

NSF anticipates funding up to 10 EAGER awards pursuant to this DCL, subject to the availability of funds and quality of proposals received. Proposals in response to this DCL are due December 10, 2021.