Discover Funding Opportunities

ANSO-CAS-TWAS/UNESCO PhD Scholarship

The ANSO-CAS-TWAS/UNESCO PhD Scholarship is a sub-category of the CAS-ANSO Scholarship program that supports doctoral education for students from developing countries. According to an agreement between the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS/UNESCO), up to 40 students from developing countries will be sponsored annually to pursue PhD degrees in China for up to 4 years. The scholarship was officially launched in 2022, with 10 scholarships prioritized for recipients engaged in climate-related research. Special consideration is extended to candidates from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and women researchers. Awardees will study at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) or the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), with access to CAS institutes across China. The program covers tuition, monthly stipend, health insurance, application fee waiver, and international travel allowance. All awardees must complete centralized training in Chinese language and culture, required coursework credits, practical research, and a doctoral thesis.

Perspectives africaines sur la régulation de l'innovation

Le Réseau Open AIR invite les chercheurs francophones dans le domaine de la régulation de l'innovation en Afrique à participer à une publication collective précédée d'un atelier international au cours duquel ils auront l'occasion de discuter de leur projet d'article avec des spécialistes du domaine. Grâce au soutien du Centre de recherches pour le développement international (CRDI), la publication et l'atelier visent à mettre en avant les voies africaines francophones sur ce sujet et à favoriser la collaboration et l'échange de connaissances entre les chercheurs dans le domaine de la régulation de l'innovation. Les personnes retenues pourront bénéficier d'aides documentaires et financières afin de leur permettre de finaliser leur contribution. Un prix pourra être décerné à la meilleure contribution rédigée par un chercheur ou une chercheuse émergente. L'atelier se tiendra en mai 2026 et la publication collective sera publiée en accès ouvert à l'automne 2026.

Distinguished Innovator Grant

The Distinguished Innovator Grant (Sustainability & Health) is designed to accelerate commercialization of research findings and development of novel technologies within sustainability or health. The grant is aimed at senior faculty members or researchers with a proven track record within innovation, including previous experience of academic innovation projects and experience with establishing patents and spinouts from academia. The Sustainability area seeks to support innovative research within agriculture, food, industrial and environmental biotech, carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies, nitrous oxide and methane emissions, and quantum technologies. The Health area seeks to support innovative research within med-tech, industrial biotech, pharma, and quantum technologies, with particular focus on cardiometabolic diseases as well as infectious diseases and preventive solutions. The projects must have a clear outlook to scaling potentials and later commercialization possibilities. The grant is pre-CVR, meaning it is intended to support projects before company establishment.

Pioneer Innovator Grant

The Pioneer Innovator Grant supports innovative research within two areas: Health and Sustainability. The Health track focuses on med-tech, industrial biotech, pharma, and quantum technologies, with particular emphasis on cardiometabolic diseases, infectious diseases, and preventive solutions. The Sustainability track supports agriculture, food, industrial and environmental biotech, carbon capture and storage, emissions reduction, and quantum technologies, with focus on sustainable agriculture, food for healthy diets, and climate change mitigation. Both tracks aim to accelerate the commercialization of research findings and development of novel technologies. The grant seeks to support novel academic science-based discoveries with commercial potential, stimulating the evaluation of ideas and supporting experiments leading to proof-of-concept or beyond. Projects must have clear outlook to scaling potentials and commercialization possibilities, and be directly linked to improving lives of patients and health of people or sustainability.

Start Package Grants – For faculty recruitment Q1 2026

The primary purpose of the Start Package grant is to make Danish universities or other research institutions more competitive when recruiting top researchers of any nationality. The aim is also to enhance researcher mobility across borders, among Danish universities and from industry to university. The 4-year grant is intended to provide leverage for the hiring Danish university/research institution during recruitment and contract negotiations. A Start Package Grant will provide the host institution with funding that must be used in connection with the candidate's establishment of an independent research group at the host institution. The grant supports recruitment of researchers within medical sciences, life sciences, sustainability, or natural and technical sciences in fields that are in alignment with the Foundation's 2030 Strategy. This includes areas such as preventing and managing cardiometabolic diseases, decreasing the burden of infectious diseases, advancing regenerative medicine, reducing health inequity, sustainable agriculture, sustainable food for healthy diets, high-impact climate change mitigation technologies, supporting society in the green transition, and fundamental research with potential application within health or sustainability.

The Nordic Ocean Programme 2025-2027

The Nordic Ocean Programme (2025-2027), initiated by the Nordic Council of Ministers, addresses the urgent triple planetary crisis—climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution—by promoting sustainable, ecosystem-based ocean management aligned with Our Vision 2030. This call for proposals invites research projects under two priority themes: Theme 3 focuses on Pollution and Ecosystem Impact, particularly plastic waste and microplastics, through monitoring, modelling, and governance solutions. Theme 4 emphasizes Sustainable Use and Marine Spatial Planning, with biodiversity and climate as a framework for ocean management. Projects must be policy-relevant, interdisciplinary, and foster Nordic collaboration, with consortia including at least three Nordic countries. The programme aims to reduce and control various types of pollution to improve the ecological state of Nordic seas, and promote sustainable, multi-functional use of marine resources while preserving ecosystem health.

2026 International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges

The International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges represents a collaboration among research funders from multiple countries including Canada, the Netherlands, Nordic countries, Brazil, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The initiative supports international, interdisciplinary and transformative research aimed at harnessing disruptive technology to address major global societal challenges and accelerate progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This call aims to harness the potential of disruptive technology to offer novel solutions to global challenges by their 2030 deadline. Disruptive technology is defined as an innovation whose application replaces or radically alters systems, processes and/or behaviours to have transformative economic or societal impacts. This may include cutting-edge and novel innovations, or the application of an existing innovation in a new context, bringing about substantial change or paradigm shifts. Research projects must be interdisciplinary, integrating expertise from at least two of three areas: natural sciences and engineering; social sciences and humanities; and health and life sciences. Projects are expected to include appropriate stakeholders and end users in the co-development and co-leadership, involving academic, research, economic, societal and/or community sectors as appropriate. Each project team must be eligible to receive funds from at least three participating funding organizations and include a minimum of three co-principal investigators, each eligible to receive funding from a different participating funding organization. Projects must directly address at least one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals or another recognized global challenge not captured by the SDGs, particularly those related to Indigenous communities. The call will officially launch in January 2026 with more detailed information to follow.

Defence and Sustainability in a New Geopolitical Era

Mistra (The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research) invites research groups to submit proposals for a new research program focusing on the environmental strategic dimension of security, defense, and preparedness issues in Sweden and Europe. The program aims to explore how strengthened national security and green transition can support each other, analyzing the environmental implications of defense investments (both military and civilian) and examining synergies between civil and military activities. Of particular interest is the analysis of monetary flows from investment decisions to implementation. The program is expected to have significant societal impact and requires interdisciplinary approaches with stakeholders closely involved in the research process. Applicants should focus on one or more of the overarching goals outlined in the call, including Sweden's new security environment, investments with sustainability synergies, industrial challenges and opportunities, economic parameters and monetary flows, Swedish companies in international markets, supply chains and circularity, and institutional risks and vulnerabilities. The program should have an international character and involve collaboration across disciplinary and faculty boundaries.