Featured Opportunities

April 8, 2026

• Within the states and territories, the Cooperative Extension System (CES) has repeatedly served as the trusted community organization that has helped to enable families, communities, and small businesses to successfully prepare for, respond to and cope with disaster losses and critical incidents. The Department of Agricutlure, NIFA’s Smith-Lever Special Needs Competitive Grants Program (SLSNCGP) enables the CES to develop, implement, and support innovative, education-based approaches that address disaster preparedness and specific responses related to disasters or disaster threats. Through this grant program, NIFA funds projects that deliver applied Extension programs that serve public needs through a disaster context. The SLSNCGP has supported projects that develop educational programs, create resource materials, and hold demonstration activities in the areas for which CES is known: agriculture, natural resources, community and economic development, family and consumer sciences, and 4-H and youth development.
• The Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR) seeks input from the food and agriculture community to guide our program development and ensure our research benefits the U.S. food and agriculture system. The Submit a Research Idea portal offers a meaningful way for the community to share ideas for new programs and projects with FFAR. We invite you to share your research idea. Additionally, FFAR has limited funds available for programming in 2026. They remain interested in your research ideas and encourage you to continue sharing new research concepts with us; however, at this time, we cannot commit funds to new programs in 2026. FFAR may consider ideas submitted through this portal if we receive additional funding.
• Since the program’s launch in 2020, the Wenner-Gren Foundation has funded a small number of initiatives that meet a need not already addressed by our other programs. Global Initiatives Grants help support innovative projects that benefit the discipline as a whole by creating the conditions for anthropologists to do better work. Over the years we have awarded initiatives in which a small amount of money has had a wide and lasting impact, building capacity for the discipline to thrive. Applicants of any nationality or country of residence may apply. Applicants must have a PhD in anthropology at the time of application and be affiliated with a school or organization that can carry forward the lessons learned through the project. We are eager to receive applications from individuals based in countries, regions, and communities where anthropology is disadvantaged or under threat.
• The Spencer Foundation’s Large Research Grants on Education Program supports education research projects that will contribute to the improvement of education, broadly conceived, with budgets ranging from $125,000 to $500,000 for projects ranging from one to five years. We anticipate awarding grants with budgets across each of the following funding tiers: $125,000 to 250,000; $250,001 to $375,000; and $375,001 to $500,000. Within each of our funding tiers, we evaluate projects within tier and strongly encourage applicants to submit for funding that best fits their project rather than applying for the highest amount of funding. We accept preproposals once a year. This program is “field-initiated” in that proposal submissions are not in response to a specific request for a particular research topic, discipline, design, method, or location. Our goal for this program is to support rigorous, intellectually ambitious and technically sound research that is relevant to the most pressing questions and compelling opportunities in education.
• The Kansas NASA EPSCoR Program (KNEP) is seeking Proposals for eventual submission to the NASA EPSCoR Basic Research FY 2026 funding opportunity. This forecasted research opportunity includes up to $750,000 in funding for three years. Cost Share is required at a level of at least 50% of the requested NASA funds with non-federal funds. In-kind Cost Sharing is allowable, but NASA encourages proposers “to consider methods that would add value to the jurisdiction's existing research capabilities.” The NASA Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is expected to be released in April 2026.
• Science benefits from an exchange of ideas, knowledge and approaches across disciplines. Some of the most impactful work in history has come from individuals who studied across fields. In this spirit, the Simons Foundation invite applications for the Pivot Fellowship program that will support researchers with a strong track record of success and achievement in their current field, and a deep interest, curiosity and drive to make contributions to a new discipline. The fellowship will enable today’s brightest minds to apply their talents and expertise to a new field and will consist of one training year where the fellow will be embedded in a lab of a mentor to learn the new discipline and its culture. Mentorship and support are essential for learning a new discipline and culture. In addition to the qualifications and potential of the applicant, the suitability of the mentor and the environment for mentorship will be strongly considered in the application process.
• The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Mind, Machine, and Motor Nexus (M3X) program supports fundamental research that enables intelligent engineered systems and humans to engage in bidirectional interaction in a physics-based environment, to enhance and ensure safety, productivity, and well-being. Proposals submitted to the M3X program must clearly articulate how the proposed work advances knowledge of bidirectional interactions between humans and intelligent engineered systems. Examples include robots assisting in disaster response, smart environments that learn user preferences, and virtual reality-based rehabilitation technologies that simulate plausible physics. Areas of interest include: Conceptual Frameworks and Theoretical Modeling, Dynamic Interaction Analysis and Simulation, and Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Interaction,
• The Department of Energy, Office of Science (SC) announces its continuing interest in receiving applications for support of work in the following program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, and Isotope R&D and Production. This NOFO is their annual open solicitation that covers all research areas in SC and is open throughout the Fiscal Year. Any research within SC’s Congressionally authorized mission may be proposed under this NOFO. This NOFO will remain open until September 30, 2026, 11:59 PM Eastern Time, or until it is succeeded by another issuance, whichever occurs first. This NOFO succeeds DE-FOA0003432, which was published September 30, 2024. In a recent announcement related to this NOFO, the Office of Science program in Biological and Environmental Research (BER) announced it was interested in receiving applications from universities and/or National Laboratories for multi-disciplinary research centers that focus on regional studies of severe weather-related hazards that impact energy and other critical infrastructures. This funding opportunity aligns with DOE’s Genesis Mission, and projects are strongly encouraged to incorporate artificial intelligence methods and partnerships.
• NSF’s Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering program supports fundamental engineering research that will improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities through the development of new theories, methodologies, technologies, or devices. Disabilities could be developmental, cognitive, hearing, mobility, visual, selfcare, independent living, or other. Proposed projects must advance knowledge regarding a specific human disability or pathological motion or understanding of injury mechanisms. Research may be supported that is directed toward the characterization, restoration, rehabilitation, and/or substitution of human functional ability or cognition, or to the interaction between persons with disabilities and their environment. Areas of particular interest are neuroengineering, rehabilitation robotics, brain-inspired assistive or rehabilitative systems, theoretical or computational methods, and novel models of functional recovery including the development and application of artificial physiological systems. Emphasis is placed on significant advancement of fundamental engineering knowledge that facilitates transformative outcomes. The DARE Program encourages high-risk/high-reward proposals that surpass incremental technological improvements. The DARE Program also encourages participatory design and the inclusion of trainees with disabilities as part of the proposed research or broader impacts.
• The Department of Health and Human Service’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), today announced STOMP: Systematic Targeting Of MicroPlastics, a nationwide $144 million program to create the definitive toolbox for measuring, researching, and affordably removing microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) in the human body. During the first phase, STOMP performers will design experiments to understand microplastics within the human body. They will also develop gold-standard microplastics measurement methods, including a clinical test that will quantify individual microplastic burden, thus making monitoring and intervention possible at scale. While microplastics accumulation in the human body is a generally shared concern, the extent of accumulation is not agreed upon. This happens mainly because measurement techniques are not good enough, producing inconsistent results across labs. The CDC will serve as an independent validator of these methods, ensuring the field can trust what it's measuring.