Crowdfunded Grants

Research Challenges

Prizes and competitions to help science funding go further.

A new initiative to stir the pot for research ideas.

Make more science happen

Crowdfunded Grants

Answer The Challenge

Anyone can create a project in response to a challenge. Projects must be submitted before the launch deadline to be eligible. Winners will be chosen when all of the eligible campaigns end.

Crowdfunded Grants

Peer-Reviewed Proposals

Each project will be reviewed and approved by a panel of science and topic experts. All review comments are transparent and open to the public.

Crowdfunded Grants

Crowd Leverage

Three is a party, but three hundred is a crowd. By backing a project, backers will receive lab note updates and scientific results from project researchers. This is science by the people, for the people.

Current Challenge Grant

SCIENCE ENGINE

View 25 Projects

Requests for Experiments

View upcoming grants and submit a project.

Hot Science Summer

$50,000
Jun 28, 2021

The SeRCH Foundation, Inc. hosted by VanguardSTEM is giving away $50,000 to seed research projects launched by our #VSVillage: Black, Indigenous, women of color, non-binary people of color, and marginalized communities of all gender identities who are interested in STEM. Do YOUR science during Hot Science Summer!

Biotech for Conservation

$50,000
May 18, 2022

Conservation biologists are increasingly turning to new biotechnologies to understand and restore the natural world. The tools are changing as fast as the ecosystems, and we need all the help we can get. 
Science Leads: Bridget Baumgartner and Ryan Phelan

Indigenous Futures

$50,000
Apr 30, 2022

Indigenous knowledge holds the keys to rebuilding humanity's relationship with the natural world. The Indigenous Futures fund seeks to empower the Indigenous researchers and innovators who are asking the most pressing questions and bringing that knowledge into action.
Science Lead: Keolu Fox

Augmented Discovery

$50,000
Jan 29, 2022

Science and technology advancements are critical to navigating our way to a healthier planet. Artificial intelligence could help us find the next big breakthrough faster than we could on our own. It's certainly an idea worth testing.
Science Lead: James Weis

Community Science & Environmental Justice

$50,000
May 28, 2022

Air, water, and soil pollution issues fall disproportionately on low-wealth Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations and communities. Community-based participatory research provides a model and tools for communities to take science and research into their own hands.
Science Lead: Dr. Sacoby Wilson

Cellular Agriculture

$50,000
May 01, 2022

Cellular agriculture is moving from science fiction to reality. Important progress has been made over the past decade, but there is still more to learn, study, and invent.
Science Lead: Isha Datar

Ocean Solutions

$250,000
May 28, 2022

The Ocean Solutions Fund supports experiments that seek to better understand and/or improve the health of our world's ocean.
Science Leads: Katy Croff Bell, David Lang, Eric Stackpole

Wildlife Health and Disease

$2,500
May 06, 2022

After living through two years of a global pandemic, the need for infectious disease and health research is more apparent than ever. This is doubly true for wildlife diseases. Healthy and biodiverse populations of wildlife promote stable ecosystems, prevent species extinction, and protect against zoonotic disease transmission.

Want to create your own sponsored research grant?

Submit Your Grant Idea

Past Challenges

These challenge grants have ended and the grant prizes awarded.

GrantProjectsLaunched
Hot Science Summer8 projectsJuly 2021
Wildlife Health and Disease Challenge Grant9 projectsMay 2021
Biosurveillance2 projectsApril 2021
Kelp10 projectsApril 2021
Conservation Technology13 projectsJanuary 2021
Environmental Citizen Science10 projectsNovember 2020
Wildlife Health and Disease Challenge Grant13 projectsAugust 2020
Wildlife Health and Disease Challenge Grant15 projectsJune 2019
iGEM 2019 Challenge8 projectsApril 2019
BBPI Paleontology Grant Challenge4 projectsMarch 2019
Association of Zoos and Aquariums Grant Challenge7 projectsFebruary 2019
Entomological Society of America Grant Challenge6 projectsFebruary 2019
2018 iGEM Research Challenge5 projectsOctober 2018
Wildlife Disease Association Challenge Grant36 projectsAugust 2018
Horse Nation Equine Research Challenge8 projectsMay 2018
Cartography and Mapping13 projectsJanuary 2017
Trash, Sustainability, and the Environment8 projectsJanuary 2017
Poverty and Development7 projectsJanuary 2017
Mental Health15 projectsJanuary 2017
Political Science6 projectsJanuary 2017
Public Health18 projectsJanuary 2017
Evolution8 projectsJanuary 2017
Cities & Transportation13 projectsDecember 2016
Benthic Ecology6 projectsDecember 2016
Exercise Research7 projectsNovember 2016
Adolescence13 projectsNovember 2016
Bees13 projectsNovember 2016
Groundwater and Caves12 projectsNovember 2016
Zoos13 projectsNovember 2016
Ornithology27 projectsOctober 2016
Freshwater Science10 projectsOctober 2016
Archaeology11 projectsOctober 2016
Fungi8 projectsOctober 2016
Arachnids9 projectsOctober 2016
Botany9 projectsSeptember 2016
Herpetology11 projectsSeptember 2016
Wildlife Diseases12 projectsSeptember 2016
Coral Reefs13 projectsAugust 2016
Weather and Atmospheric Science6 projectsAugust 2016
iGEM Synthetic Biology14 projectsJuly 2016
Seabirds16 projectsJuly 2016
Sharks, Skates, and Rays16 projectsJune 2016
Sleep10 projectsMay 2016
Cats21 projectsMay 2016
Paleontology Challenge12 projectsApril 2016
Fish Challenge11 projectsApril 2016
Animal Superpower Challenge20 projectsMarch 2016
Zika Virus13 projectsMarch 2016
Insects Challenge15 projectsMarch 2016
Liberal Arts College18 projectsMarch 2016
Marine Mammals14 projectsFebruary 2016

What will you look for?

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