Competition Policy and Power Research Fund

Call for proposals

The monopoly power, or excessive market power, of the world’s largest corporations, has expanded rapidly over the last few decades, increasing in terms of revenue, market capitalisation, and asset ownership.

The Competition Policy and Power Research Fund aims to promote research that will help combat excessive market power by bridging gaps in current knowledge and supporting practical advances and innovations in the use of competition and anti-trust tools.

In this inaugural Call for Proposals, we seek applications from civil society and academic organisations for research grants on competition policy and concentrated corporate power. The proposed projects should show how the research can concretely advance the anti-monopoly agenda.

Applications from all countries and regions are welcome, and we will seek to award research grants to a broad diversity of applicants.

Grant awards will be up to a maximum of USD 60,000, although we do not expect all proposals to reach this amount. We encourage proposals that seek smaller amounts of funding for specific research initiatives.

All applications should be submitted by 30 April to competitionfund@somo.nl. The application form can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. We encourage applicants to follow word lengths for each section strictly. All successful applicants will be invited to present their research at an international conference to be held in 2025.

Selection criteria

We will prioritize proposals which meet the following criteria:

• Clarity on how the research will advance policy reform and/or regulatory enforcement and/or advance the anti-monopoly agenda.
• Innovative, novel approaches to addressing monopoly power.
• Interdisciplinary, multi-country research team.
• A clear plan for how the research will reach relevant stakeholders.
• Proposals that include roles for and build the capacity of early career researchers.

Steering Committee

The Competition Policy and Power Research Fund is hosted by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and overseen by a Steering Committee comprising:

Adjudicating panel members

Apply now!

Are you interested in applying? Please make sure to read the full call for proposals for the criteria and download the application form below to submit your application.

All applications should be submitted by 30 April to competitionfund@somo.nl.

• Download application Opens in a new window

This call for proposals is supported by the Open Society Foundations.

FAQs

We update the FAQs weekly, please see if your question(s) is already answered below.

If you have any further questions on the call, please send them to competitionfund@somo.nl.

Ethics and Conflicts of Interest

All applicants will be asked to complete a disclosure form notifying the Competition Policy and Power Research Fund about relationships with the Fund and/or individuals on the Adjudicating Panel.

French and Spanish applications

We accept applications in English, Spanish, and French. Call for proposals and application forms in Spanish and French are available to download below.

If you wish to submit the application in any other language, kindly get in touch with us.