The Center for Decision Research at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is pleased to announce a $750,000 research initiative, the New Paths to Purpose Request for Proposals (RFP), supported with funding from the John Templeton Foundation. The center is now accepting letters of intent proposing behavioral science research on purpose, with the expectation that up to ten 27-month projects (with budgets of at least $50,000, but not more than $250,000) will ultimately be funded starting in April 2013.

This RFP is part of a 3-year project led by Richard Thaler, Ralph and Dorothy Keller Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics, and Eugene Caruso, Associate Professor of Behavioral Science. The project is aimed at transforming the study, as well as the prevalent understandings and experiences, of purposeful living. The notion of purpose captures the desire and effort that individuals put forth to accomplish their goals, make significant contributions to society, and maintain a meaningful existence. Through rigorously-scientific observation, experimentation, and analysis, behavioral science has made it clear that the experience of purpose, like all facets of human experience, is likely to be highly context-dependent. The New Paths to Purpose RFP accordingly seeks to develop a new, broad, and actionable paradigm for understanding the experience and fulfillment of purpose in human life‹one that deeply explores the considerable benefits humans may access by wisely managing situational and contextual forces around them. To do this, the initiative is designed to bring together an expansive, vibrant, and multidisciplinary community of behavioral scientists to address the following core question: How might individuals actively shape‹rather than merely inhabit‹their environments, and thus become more purposeful, powerful creators of their destiny?

The full Request for Proposals for this grant competition, including details on submission guidelines, can be found at: http://www.newpathstopurpose.org/rfp. If, after reading the full instructions on the RFP website, you have any further questions, please email them to purpose@chicagobooth.edu.

The deadline for Letters of Intent (LOIs) is September 21, 2012, 5:00PM Central Standard Time.