Stanford Leadership Institute Research Fund

The SLI Research Fund supports issue-focused research that addresses some of the most pressing challenges facing our global society. Funded projects explore real-world questions with academic rigor and societal relevance - from AI to tax policy to new business models for healthcare.

Over 60 GSB faculty members are engaged in active research on these issues, with more than a third collaborating across the university. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across Stanford and beyond, the fund stimulates new ideas and approaches.

Featured Research Projects

Featured Project

This study explores poverty minimization via direct transfers, framing this as a statistical learning problem while retaining the information constraints faced by real-world programs.

Featured Project

Small business owners play a central role in all advanced economies but are an understudied occupational group politically, particularly compared to groups that represent smaller portions of the population. This study offers new insight into the evolving role of education, class, and occupation in electoral politics.

—Amit Seru, Steven and Roberta Denning Professor of Finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business

Latest Publications

Publication Search
Journal Article

The Social-Class Gap in Negotiation: Lower-Class Individuals Negotiate Less and Face More Backlash

Ying Lin, Jackson G. Lu, Michele J. Gelfand
PNAS July242026 Vol. 123 Issue 30
Journal Article

Tightening up Under Threat: Social Class Shapes the Strength of Norms

Ying Lin, Jesse R. Harrington, Michele J. Gelfand
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology July2026
Working Paper

Optimal Batching and Pricing for Power Grid Interconnection Queues

Yue Hu, Ömer Karaduman, Lin Zang
June292026

Funding Process

Grants are currently for tenure-line GSB faculty, and projects must address one of the institute’s issue areas. Faculty from other schools may jointly apply for project funding with a GSB faculty collaborator.

Applications and disbursements are made once annually.

Our events bring leaders together to promote dialogue, enhance understanding, and find solutions to complex challenges.