Featured Opportunities

January 7, 2026

• The Food Allergy Fund Microbiome Collective Grants will be awarded to research teams that propose innovative approaches to understanding the role that the microbiome plays in the development and persistence of food allergy. We would welcome proposals identifying investigations into the interaction between the mucosal surfaces and the immune system that result in the development of allergic responses to food. We also would be interested in approaches that would interrupt this process and could be useful for the prevention or treatment of food-induced allergy and anaphylaxis. Examples of relevant studies include those that define mechanisms of microbiome/immune interactions which produce food allergy and provide a scientific rationale use to understand this process. Also, we encourage work identifying methods of altering the microbiome environment to maintain food tolerance in previously allergic patients. Examples could involve specific organisms or small molecules which can be used therapeutically to alter intestinal, mucosal or immune function.
• The Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) is issuing a call for Research Proposals from institutions and organizations across the globe to investigate the health outcomes of pet ownership and/or animal-assisted interventions (AAI), both for the people and the animals involved. Proposals should have a strong theoretical framework and focus on innovative approaches to studying the positive effects of companion animals on human health. HABRI is interested in funding a wide range of studies focused on the human-animal bond.
• Since its inception in 2021, the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative (FCI) has distinguished itself as the foremost private national initiative in the United States dedicated to combating climate change specifically within the visual arts sector. Their grantees include collecting and non-collecting museums, art schools, nonprofit arts organizations, artist-run spaces, artist residency programs, arts divisions housed within universities, and indigenous arts collectives. To date, the FCI has awarded over $17.5 million in grants to over 300 museums and visual arts institutions nationwide. In 2025, the Frankenthaler Foundation announced the extension of the program for an additional five years, establishing a decade-long, data-driven commitment to supporting sustainable futures and resiliency in the visual arts sector. Their grant portal has opened for four different grant opportunities.
• The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Science and Technology Studies (STS) program research encompasses a wide range of methods and disciplines. Some researchers rely on primary data collected during fieldwork or on existing sources of secondary data. Others use data from historical or governmental archives, while others develop conceptual or social analyses to answer theoretical or ethical questions. STS researchers draw on the resources and methods of a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, communication studies, economics, history, philosophy, political science, psychology and sociology. STS research seeks to understand how scientific knowledge is produced and sanctioned, and how it is challenged and changes. It examines the theoretical foundations of science, brings to light underlying presuppositions and alternative interpretations, and assesses the reliability of research methods. It investigates how materials, devices and techniques are designed and developed; how and by whom they are diffused, used, adapted and rejected; how they are affected by social and cultural environments; and how they influence quality of life, culture and society. It also considers how socio-cultural values are embedded in science and technology, and how they evolve with the development and use of scientific knowledge and technological artifacts. In addition, it explores relationships between STEM and fundamental social categories.
• The McDowell Colony MacDowell accepts applications from artists working in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theatre, and visual arts. The sole criterion for acceptance is artistic excellence, which MacDowell defines in a pluralistic and inclusive way. MacDowell encourages applications from artists representing the widest possible range of perspectives and demographics, engaging in the broadest spectrum of artistic practice, and investigating an unlimited array of inquiries and concerns. To that end, MacDowell welcomes artists working in various stages of their artistic practice to apply. MacDowell provides time, space, and an inspiring residential environment to artists of exceptional talent. A MacDowell Fellowship, or residency, consists of exclusive use of a studio, accommodations, and three prepared meals a day for up to eight weeks. There are no residency fees, and MacDowell offers financial assistance to reimburse the costs of direct travel to and from the residency, as well as expenses that artists expect to incur while in residence, including rent, lost income, and childcare.
• The Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Idaho Field Office’s Distinguished Early Career Program (DECP) is DOE-NE’s most prestigious award for the most innovative distinguished faculty members beginning their independent careers. The intent of the program is to provide stable support to those faculty to form the impactful research groups, innovative lines of inquiry, educational approaches, and critical new research directions that will drive the next generation of nuclear energy innovation. The intent of this NOFO is to award approximately four awards, for up to five (5) years, to distinguished early career applications that provide a clear research and education plan that highlights the applicant’s research and educational strengths; the research and education vision to support the development of the faculty member; and research infrastructure, curriculum, and outcomes that will advance the applicant’s research focus while training the next generation of nuclear energy professionals.
• The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s NRC Research Associateship Programs (RAP) are prestigious postdoctoral and senior research awards designed to provide promising scientists and engineers with high-quality research opportunities at federal laboratories and affiliated institutions. These programs offer a comprehensive experience, including mentorship and access to state-of-the-art facilities, all geared toward enhancing the research career development of the Research Associates. NRC Research Associateships are awarded to exceptionally talented postdoctoral and senior scientists and engineers through a rigorous selection process. These selected individuals are granted tenure as guest researchers at participating laboratories, highlighting their outstanding contributions and potential in their respective fields.
• The NSF’s Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences (CAIG) program seeks to advance the development and adoption of innovative artificial intelligence (AI) methods to increase scientific understanding of the Earth system. The program supports projects that advance AI techniques and/or innovative uses of sophisticated or novel AI methods to enable significant breakthroughs in addressing geoscience research question(s) by building partnerships between experts in AI and Geosciences. The key characteristic of a CAIG project is its potential to both answer important geoscience questions and improve AI techniques while also bringing together experts from both the AI and geoscience fields.
• The Department of Health and Human Services, National Library of Medicine (NLM) supports innovative research and development in biomedical informatics and data science. Its Research Grants in Biomedical Informatics and Data Science (R01) funding opportunity focuses on biomedical discovery and data-powered health, integrating streams of complex and interconnected research outputs that can be translated into scientific insights, clinical care, public health practices, and personal wellness. The scope of NLM's interest in these research domains is broad, with emphasis on new and innovative methods and approaches to foster data driven discovery in the biomedical and clinical health sciences as well as domain-independent, scalable, and reusable/reproducible approaches to discovery, curation, analysis, organization, and management of health-related digital objects.
• NSF’s Artificial Intelligence, Formal Methods, and Mathematical Reasoning (AIMing) program seeks to support research at the interface of innovative computational and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and new strategies/technologies in mathematical reasoning to automate knowledge discovery. Mathematical reasoning is a central ability of human intelligence that plays an important role in knowledge discovery. In the last decades, both the mathematics and computer science communities have contributed to research in machine-assisted mathematical reasoning, encompassing conjecture, proof, and verification. This has been in the form of both formal methods and interactive theorem provers, as well as using techniques from artificial intelligence. Recent technological advances have led to a surge of interest in machine-assisted mathematical reasoning from the mathematical sciences, formal methods, and AI communities. In turn, advances in this field have potential impact on research in AI.
• The Renaissance Philanthropy has developed a part-time accelerator (Big if True Science Accelerator (BiTS)) for scientists and technologists to design and pitch ambitious R&D programs. Applications for Americas and Japan cohorts are live. BiTS is a 15-week, mostly virtual, part-time program designed and overseen by former DARPA program managers (PMs) Joshua Elliott and JP Chretien. It teaches participants how to turn an ambitious idea into a concrete and fundable program—via field exploration and idea refinement, program design and development, practical program execution, and tech translation.
• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Cutting-Edge Basic Research Award (CEBRA) is designed to foster highly innovative or conceptually creative research related to the etiology, pathophysiology, prevention, or treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs). It supports high-risk and potentially high-impact research that is underrepresented or not included in NIDA's current portfolio that has the potential to transform SUD research. The proposed research should: 1. develop, and/or adapt, revolutionary techniques or methods for addiction research or that show promising future applicability to SUD research; and /or 2. test an innovative and significant hypothesis for which there are scant precedent or preliminary data and which, if confirmed, would transform current thinking.
• The Department of Defense, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative proposals, for its Mechanisms for Amplification of Fusion Reaction Rates in Solids (MARRS), in exploring and implementing mechanisms that amplify and increase the rates of nuclear fusion reactions in solids at and near Room Temperature (RT).1 Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research primarily resulting in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice. MARRS performers will analyze and optimize factors for fusion rate amplification including, but not limited to, materials, fuel loading techniques, and methods for the efficient excitation of fusion reactions (triggers). Performers must implement State-of-the-Art (SOA) particle detection technologies and data acquisition systems to accurately and reliably detect fusion reaction products such as protons, neutrons, and gammas. Detection of heat (calorimetry) and other signatures of nuclear processes can complement particle detection; calorimetry alone is not sufficient. DARPA expects a wide range of approaches and combinations across proposers. Regardless of the methods, proposers must describe a series of well-defined hypotheses with quantitative estimates of rates they expect their approach will achieve. Proposers should include a clear plan for rate measurement experiments, in close connection with theory development and M&S of fusion reaction rate amplification processes in solids.
• NSF’s Biological Anthropology program seeks to advance scientific knowledge about the processes that have shaped biological diversity in living and fossil humans and their primate relatives through support of basic research on human and primate evolution, biological variation, and interactions between biology, behavior, and culture. The program supports a portfolio of research that demonstrates engagement with biological anthropological and evolutionary theory; includes diverse and interdisciplinary methods in field, laboratory and computational settings; encompasses multiple levels of analysis (e.g., molecular, organismal, population, ecosystem) and time scales from the short-term to evolutionary; and considers the ethical implications and societal impacts of the research. The program also supports a wide range of broader impact activities as part of research grants, including research outcomes with inherent benefit to society, efforts to broaden participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research, training and outreach activities and other evidence-based activities developed within the context of the mission, goals, and resources of the organizations and people involved.
• The purpose of HHS, NIH’s Enhancing Mechanistic Research on Precision Probiotic Therapies (R33) is to support highly innovative mechanistic research to accelerate the development of effective precision probiotic interventions. The NOFO aims to identify, understand, and develop strategies to address barriers in precision probiotic interventions' development to account for human heterogeneity resulting in inconsistent responses to probiotic treatments. Specifically, this NOFO solicits R33 applications that will assess the causality of person-specific features or patterns affecting probiotic responses and identify subgroups of probiotic responders in order to enhance therapeutic outcomes. This NOFO will support studies that assess whether host biological patterns (e.g., native microbiome, immune system, sex, diet, age, genetic background, lifestyle, or health history) that are correlated with clinical probiotic effects can modulate responsiveness to probiotic interventions. Well-suited applications must offer rigorously designed mechanistic studies using relevant/innovative animal models or human subjects. This NOFO is intended to support projects where potential host biological patterns that are correlated with probiotic usage or interventions have been identified, as demonstrated with supportive preliminary data, which require further mechanistic studies to test for causality. This NOFO will not support efficacy or effectiveness clinical trials.
• HHS, NIH’s Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) provides support for a program of research in an early stage investigator's laboratory that falls within the mission of NIGMS. For the purpose of this NOFO, a program of research is a collection of projects in the investigator's lab that are relevant to the mission of NIGMS. The goal of MIRA is to increase the efficiency and efficacy of NIGMS funding.
• The HHS, NIH’s New Investigator Gateway Award in T1D Research is designed to support a robust pipeline of innovative projects and talented new investigators in T1D research. In addition to providing support for preliminary research, the Gateway program provides an opportunity for new Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PIs) to pursue their studies within the intellectual environment of a select number of large, ongoing collaborative research programs. Embedding awardees within an established scientific framework in each of these consortia will provide unique opportunities for New and Early Stage Investigators to increase their understanding of key questions in the field, to network, and to establish unique and potentially long-lasting collaborations that will propel their careers forward. Bringing New and Early Stage Investigators into existing collaborative research networks will also benefit the networks by providing new ideas and perspectives. This NOFO is associated with the Special Diabetes Program which funds research on the prevention, treatment, and cure of type 1 diabetes and its complications, including unique, innovative, and collaborative research consortia and clinical trials networks.
• Science of Science Approach to Analyzing and Innovating the Biomedical Research Enterprise (SoS:BIO) is a joint program between the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Science of Science: Discovery, Communication, and Impact Program (SoS:DCI) of the National Science Foundation (NSF). SoS:BIO supports research that advances the scientific basis of science and innovation policy, with a focus on the biomedical sciences. Consistent with the SoS:DCI program, SoS:BIO will fund the development of models, analytical tools, data and metrics that can inform science policy and the development of the scientific enterprise. SoS:BIO welcomes individual and collaborative research projects and places a high priority on interdisciplinary research and on broadening participation.
• NSF’s Science of Science: Discovery, Communication and Impact (SoS:DCI) program is designed to advance theory and knowledge about increasing the public value of scientific activity. Science of Science draws from multiple disciplinary and field perspectives to advance theory and research about scientific discovery, communication and impact. SoS:DCI welcomes proposals applying rigorous empirical research methods to advance theory and knowledge on: 1) The social and structural mechanisms of scientific discovery; 2) Theories, frameworks, models and data that improve our understanding of scientific communication and outcomes; and 3) The societal benefits of scientific activity and how science advances evidence-based policy making and the creation of public value. The SoS:DCI program, which expands upon the former Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP) program, funds research that builds theoretical and empirical understanding of the social science of science. SoS:DCI welcomes proposals to conduct research at the individual, organizational and institutional levels or from micro, meso and macro scales and complex system levels. SoS:DCI encourages multiple disciplinary perspectives, interdisciplinary research and diverse methodological approaches in the pursuit of new knowledge to advance the science of science and evidence-based policy making.