Internal Funding Opportunities

The Bertarelli Rare Cancers Fund supports advances in the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of rare cancers.

While all cancer diagnoses raise concerns and difficult questions for patients, their families, and their health care providers, rare cancers present additional challenges. Access to tumors and relevant samples for study is more limited, and commercial interest is lower because of decreased market size.

The Bertarelli Rare Cancers Fund, established in 2020 thanks to a generous gift from the Bertarelli Foundation, provides an important opportunity to develop a prominent role for rare cancer research in the Harvard community.

The Bisconti Fund for AI-Focused Research is a $50,000 Funding opportunity to advance innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions for biomedical research and healthcare in collaboration with the Center for Computational Biomedicine (CCB).

The Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator bridges the gap between innovative, early-stage life science research and successful development of high-impact biomedical products. Our integrated approach combines essential funding with development and business expertise, leading to commercial partnerships that bring forth new biomedical discoveries that create value and benefit society.

The HBI Collaborative Seed Grant Program stimulates and supports research projects linking laboratories at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and the Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). Such creative collaborations are central to HBI’s mission.  This program is possible through generous support from the Alice and Rodman W. Moorhead III Collaborative Grants Fund for HBI, the Andrew B. Suzman Research Fund for HBI, the Thomas H. Lee Fund, and an allocation from the President’s Discretionary Fund.   The grants make possible a broad range of fundamental neuroscience research that may yield fundamental insights into the mechanisms underlying brain disorders.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that afflicts nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord which control voluntary muscles. As these nerve cells, called motor neurons, begin to degenerate and die, people with ALS experience spasticity, muscle weakness, muscle atrophy, and movement difficulties, amongst other disabling symptoms. These symptoms worsen significantly with time, and there is currently no known cure. Very little is understood still about the causes of the disorder. Most cases are sporadic. Basic research into the pathology of this disorder and the development of novel therapeutic strategies is therefore crucial.

The Harvard Brain Science Initiative (HBI) Bipolar Disorder Seed Grant Program supports research relevant to the basic understanding and eventual treatment of bipolar disorder. Supported by a generous gift from the Dauten Family Foundation, this program funds innovative, visionary projects with new ideas and approaches that otherwise may not attract seed funding from conventional sources. To date the program has awarded 30 grants totaling $3M, to laboratories with diverse areas of expertise, spread out across different campuses of Harvard University and its affiliated hospitals.

Harvard University Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) provides scholar awards to prioritize the funding of investigators without prior R01-type funding. The Developmental Award provides both salary and research support for promising early-career investigators who are transitioning to independent funding.  Applications will be judged on the basis of the merit of the scientific proposal.

The HU CFAR is also offering a similar RFP for Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) Investigators that is exclusively for applicants at the post-doctoral fellow, research fellow, instructor, research associate, research scientist, or assistant professor level at AHRI and spend at least 9 months per year in South Africa.   Please see the AHRI RFP for further details on funding and eligibility.

The Harvard University Climate Change Solutions Fund supports research and policy initiatives intended to reduce the risks of climate change, hasten the transition from fossil fuel-based energy systems to those that rely on renewable energy sources, to develop methods for diminishing the impact of existing fossil fuel-based energy systems on the climate, to understand and prepare for the impacts of climate change, and to propel scientific, technological, legal, behavioral, policy and artistic innovations needed to accelerate progress toward cleaner energy, improved human health, and a greener world.

Applications should propose research that will advance solutions to climate change and its impact. Solutions may include both preparedness and mitigation and strong consideration will be given to projects that demonstrate a clear pathway to application, as well as riskier proposals with the potential to be transformative over time. Proposals that demonstrate imaginative and promising collaboration among faculty and students across different parts of the University will receive special consideration, as will projects that propose using the university campus as a “living laboratory”.

The Foundations of Human Behavior Initiative (FHB) supports transformative research in the social and behavioral sciences. These research funds provide seed grants. Successful proposals will be those that promise to advance understanding of the social, institutional and biological mechanisms shaping human beliefs and behavior.

The funds will be used to support interdisciplinary social science research projects based on innovative experimental or observational designs that make use of sophisticated quantitative methods. The Fund is especially interested in reviewing and supporting research on the foundations of human behavior of the following kinds: interdisciplinary projects, innovative projects, exploratory projects, projects with the potential to have an enormous impact on social science, policy, or human well-being, research conducted with the collaboration of new investigators (although investigators at all career stages are encouraged to apply), research requiring seed funding, possibly to explore the viability of ideas for larger-scale, externally funded efforts.

The Fund also supports seminars, conferences, and other research-related activities.

Harvard Catalyst is a pan-University collaborative effort committed to harnessing the human, technological, and fiscal resources of Harvard and its Academic Healthcare Centers (AHCs) to reduce the burden of human illness. To foster cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary collaboration, Harvard Catalyst offers pilot grants to Harvard investigators who need seed funds for early stage research anywhere along the translational spectrum, from basic/preclinical investigation to practice- or population-based research.

Launched in 2011 through a generous gift from Gustave and Rita Hauser, HILT’s mission is to catalyze innovation and excellence in learning and teaching at Harvard. As a University-wide initiative, HILT is overseen by the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning (VPAL). Under the VPAL umbrella, HILT is a sibling organization to HarvardX and VPAL Research.

Four sub-goals guide HILT’s work:

1. build on Harvard’s strengths in teaching and learning;
2. meet the educational needs of students (both technological and pedagogical);
3. strengthen the science of learning; and
4. develop a robust network at Harvard around teaching and learning innovation.

HILT also supports longer-term, school-based decanal priorities.

The HMS Foundry Award Program supports technology development and research infrastructure by providing central coordination, funding, and administrative resources for technology development projects, research core facilities, and technology platforms. An important goal of the Foundry is to support programs that will positively impact HMS Quad-based research and that have strategic importance to HMS programs.

Requests for applications for Foundry funding are anticipated to be issued at least annually. Four categories of proposals will be considered:

• To develop new technologies (that could potentially be placed in a core facility in the future)
• To renew or expand existing HMS or HMS-supported core facilities
• To establish new core facilities/technology platforms
• To fund short-term planning projects during which work will be done to develop detailed proposals that would be submitted to the Foundry in future application cycles.

The President’s Administrative Innovation Fund (PAIF) was created to catalyze administrative innovation and collaboration across Harvard by investing in staff-generated, creative solutions that support our faculty, students, and staff colleagues. Since 2016, the PAIF has invested $600,000 in 54 projects involving over 200 administrative innovators across the University.

The Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB) invites applications for Pilot Grant funding for 2020 under the NIH-funded P01 grant “Dissecting the establishment and regulation of human pluripotency” (PI Alexander Meissner). The purpose of this funding program is to provide resources for proof-of-concept studies. These pilot grants are intended to increase our understanding of the basic biology of human pluripotent cells and their utility for translational applications.

Harvard Medical School is requesting applications for innovative projects that utilize generative AI to advance our mission across education, research, and administration. As a leader in medical and scientific education and research, Harvard Medical School aims to support pioneering applications of AI that can enhance learning, improve health outcomes, increase productivity, and accelerate biomedical discoveries.

HMS Dean's Innovation Awards for the Use of AI

The goals of this request for applications are threefold:

• To sponsor innovative uses of generative AI that transform medical and graduate education, including new technologies for interactive simulation-based learning, adaptive tutoring systems, automated assessment, and other applications that enhance how we teach and learn in the classroom and beyond.
• To enable groundbreaking applications of generative AI that open new frontiers in medical and biological research across disciplines like medical imaging, drug discovery, genomics, structural analysis, public health informatics and more.
• To improve administrative efficiencies and productivity through generative AI automation of workflows, development of intelligent decision support systems, improvements in data analytics and reporting, and other administrative applications.

HSCI is pleased to announce a significant new annual award for innovation in the field of stem cell science and regenerative medicine.  We are soliciting applications from early career investigators for the annual Barry Family HSCI Innovation Award, to be used for exploring the basic biology and translational potential of stem cell-based science. The goal of this award is to enable bold innovation that has the potential to transform the field of stem cell research and advance the understanding and use of stem cells in the development of therapies (any modality) for human disease. 

The mission of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute is to find cures for human diseases. Through collaborative research in the fields of stem cell and regenerative biology, we seek to: 

• Stimulate healing in patients by harnessing the potential of stem cells 
• Create targeted treatments by combining new gene- and cell-based therapies with traditional medicines 
• Accelerate drug discovery by developing novel stem cell-based tools. 

To advance this mission, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) invites applications for collaborative seed grant funding for its 2020 cycle. The purpose of this program is to provide funding for innovative, collaborative projects with the overarching goal of helping discover new drugs/medicines. 

New this year is the requirement that two (or more) investigators from different programs/institutions within the Harvard system collaborate on the project. The HSCI intends to award up to five grants in response to this call for proposals, contingent upon the number and quality of the proposals received, as well as the availability of HSCI funds. 

Preference for Asia Center faculty grants is given to ladder faculty as defined by the different Schools. Potential applicants from Harvard Medical School must contact Elizabeth Liao, Executive Director of the Asia Center (ekliao@fas.harvard.edu) in advance to determine eligibility.

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Although the Center is not currently soliciting faculty seed grant proposals, faculty members may wish to consider applying to the Climate Change Solutions Fund. Sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, this fund supports research and policy initiatives intended to hasten the transition from carbon-based energy systems to those that rely on renewable energy sources, to develop methods for diminishing the impact of existing carbon-based energy systems on the climate, and to propel scientific, technological, legal, policy and artistic innovations needed to accelerate progress toward cleaner energy and a greener world. 

The Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) will award research grants to faculty teams and individual faculty members to seed innovative and exciting new projects on issues that address major problems related to energy and environment. The program is designed to facilitate new directions in research and catalyze new faculty collaborations across disciplines.

Hearst Fund invites Research Fellows, Clinical Fellows and Instructors appointed within the Harvard Faculty of Medicine doing research in the area of brain development with particular emphasis on factors important for the prevention of neuromotor disabilities and on the fundamental neurobiological mechanisms that underlie health and disease during the process of development.

The Lemann Brazil Research Fund is made possible by a generous gift from the Lemann Foundation and is administered by the Office of the Provost in collaboration with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the Brazil Studies Program. It supports Brazil-related research in all areas related to education, as well as research in any other disciplinary area undertaken in collaboration with a Brazilian colleague. Harvard faculty with principal investigator rights at any Harvard school are eligible to apply for an award.

Proposals are sought for research projects that address education management and administration; social science and its applications; public administration and policy; technological advances in education; and evidence-based research. Consideration will also be given to projects that propose collaboration between Harvard faculty and Brazilian academics in the life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and basic and applied sciences.

The Motsepe Presidential Research Accelerator Fund for Africa is made possible by a generous gift from the Motsepe Foundation and is administered by the Office of the Provost in collaboration with the Center for African Studies. This Fund supports faculty-led and student-driven research projects that focus on advancing key challenges and opportunities facing Africa – whether it be emerging technologies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution; climate change and its effect on health, agriculture, water, and/or sanitation; renewable energy and its benefit to infrastructure and/or society; health; aging; materials science; and the governance and policies needed for an entrepreneurial economy. Activities the Fund may support include but are not limited to research; associated travel costs; and the publication and dissemination of findings.

Special consideration will also be given to projects that propose multidisciplinary collaboration between Harvard faculty across more than one school and Africa-based academics. Please note that this fund is only open to Harvard faculty members.

PIFIE provides seed funding to faculty members at any Harvard school, to support the development of creative and significant academic experiences abroad for Harvard College students. Funded through the generosity of David Rockefeller as part of his commitment to support international experiences for students at the College, these grants seek to foster the participation of faculty at all Harvard schools (including graduate and professional), departments, centers, and other academic units in expanding international opportunities for Harvard undergraduates. This may mean developing experience-based courses for students overseas, including courses prior to and/or following their international experience; involving undergraduates in an ongoing overseas project sponsored by a Harvard graduate or professional school, department, center, or other academic unit; or other innovative projects.

The Provost's Fund for Interfaculty Collaboration (PFIC) was developed to promote engagement and collaboration on topics and activities of mutual intellectual interest that connect faculty with other faculty members and/or students across multiple Harvard Schools. The Provost has limited funds to support a variety of projects, including but not limited to cross-School interdisciplinary course support, working groups, and small-scale conferences.

Q-FASTR, the Quadrangle Fund for Advancing and Seeding Translational Research at Harvard Medical School, identifies, supports, and expedites early-stage research with eventual commercialization potential

The TnT Program funds upgrade and equipment purchases for existing cores, the purchase of shared equipment made available within departments, and the start-up costs for new core facilities. The TnT Faculty Advisory Committee works closely with departments and department leadership to identify future funding needs. Proposals for applying for TnT funds are considered on a rolling basis by the TnT Faculty Advisory Committee and can be submitted at any time. Proposals should be formatted and submitted following these guidelines:

Click HERE for the TnT Guidelines for Proposals.

The bequest of William F. Milton makes research funds available to faculty members of Harvard University. The William F. Milton Fund supports studies of a medical, geographical, historical, or scientific nature, which must be either in the interests of promoting the physical and material welfare of the human race, investigating and determining the value and importance of a discovery or invention, or assisting in the discovery and perfecting of any special means of alleviating or curing human disease.