Featured Opportunities

July 8, 2026

• Small edits and gene knockouts are now routine in many plant systems, but targeted multi-kilobase cassette insertion is still technically challenging. It requires delivery of an intact donor sequence, accurate repair or integration at the intended site, recovery of full-length single-copy events, and regeneration of fertile plants across relevant genetic backgrounds. In practice, these steps are limited by low precise-integration efficiencies, event quality issues, and crop- and genotype-dependent transformation and regeneration performance. BASF, through its Developing Technologies for Targeted Large DNA Insertion in Crops HALO call, is seeking novel approaches, programmable solutions, enabling technologies, or platform components that can contribute to efficient and predictable targeted sequence insertion in crop genomes. Recognizing that this capability is not yet routine in commercially relevant crops, we are open to collaborating with a partner to (co)-develop or license-in technologies that could help achieve this goal in crops such as soybean (Glycine max) and oilseed rape (Brassica napus). The desired outcome is an editing technology capable of precise site-specific integration with predictable frequencies (preferably >5%) of large DNA sequences (at least 7-10 kb) across diverse genetic backgrounds at multiple pre-defined genomic loci. Solutions of interest include: 1) Programmable nuclease-mediated targeted insertion approaches (e.g., CRISPR-Cas, Cas12a), 2) Strategies that increase precise donor-mediated insertion (e.g., donor template optimization, repair pathway modulation, donor amplification systems); 3) Engineered transposase or transposon-based systems adapted for targeted or semi-targeted DNA insertion in plant genomes; and 4) Integrated platform approaches that combine editing machinery, donor delivery
• The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Research is accepting applications for the Scholarly Editions and Translations program. This program supports collaborative teams who edit, annotate, and translate foundational humanities texts that are vital to generating new scholarship but are not available in adequate editions or translations. This year's competition is limited to projects on American history and culture or Western civilization. Applications must focus on topics in the history and culture of the United States in any period from the Colonial Era to the present, or topics in Western civilization from antiquity to the present. The program supports continuous full-time or part-time activities during a period of performance of one to three years. At least two scholars must work collaboratively on the project. Typical project expenses include salary for editorial and research activities, travel to collections to verify source material, and consultant fees for translation, editorial work, and the implementation of a digital edition. Editions and translations may be print, digital, or a combination of both, but all editions and translations must contain additional and new scholarly material such as introductions, annotations, and critical apparatus.
• The Society of Architectural Historians’ prestigious Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship will be offered for 2027 and will allow a recent graduate or emerging scholar to study by travel for a continuous period of three to twelve months. In response to the uncertainty of travel and to broaden accessibility to applicants who may not be able to take a full year of travel, for whatever reason, the Society is amending the proposal requirements to include partial-year itineraries. The fellowship is not for the purpose of doing research for an advanced academic degree or publication. Instead, Professor Brooks intended the recipient to study by travel and contemplation while observing, reading, writing, photographing, or sketching. The goal of the fellowship is to provide an opportunity for a recent graduate with an advanced degree or an emerging scholar to: 1) see and experience architecture and landscapes firsthand: 2) think about their profession deeply; and 4) acquire knowledge useful for the recipient’s future work, contribution to their profession, and contribution to society. The fellowship recipient may travel to any country or countries during the three-months to one-year period.
• The National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the National Science Foundation. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program. This solicitation features two mechanisms for supporting student research: REU Sites are based on independent proposals to initiate and conduct projects that engage a number of students in research. REU Sites may be based in a single discipline or academic department or may offer interdisciplinary or multi-department research opportunities with a coherent intellectual theme; or REU Supplements may be included as a component of proposals for new or renewal NSF grants or cooperative agreements or may be requested for ongoing NSF-funded research projects. REU projects with an international dimension are welcome.
• With support from NASA and the Kansas Board of Regents, the Kansas NASA EPSCoR Program (KNEP) is preparing to award three Partnership Development Grants (PDG) to Kansas investigators, under the KNEP Research Infrastructure Development (RID) program. These grants are intended to facilitate the development of beneficial and promising NASA collaborations. The PDG recipient is expected to initiate, develop, and formalize a meaningful professional relationship with a NASA researcher. Given this expectation, it is vital that investigators and students travel to a NASA center if selected for an award. Ideally, the faculty member, student(s), and research host become co-participants in a promising research effort. Indeed, the PDG award should lead to sustained collaborations, joint publications, and, most importantly, future grant proposals. Note there is a match requirement of at least $2,000 (non-federal, cash or in-kind). If you are interested in applying to this program, you must contact the Office Research Development via ord@ksu.edu to discuss this match before you prepare your proposal.
• With support from NASA and the Kansas Board of Regents, the Kansas NASA EPSCoR Program (KNEP) anticipates awarding two Seed Research Initiation (SRI) grants under the KNEP Research Infrastructure Development (RID) program. SRI grants are designed to assist investigators in starting research projects having a high probability for sustained growth and value to NASA and Kansas. A successful SRI grant leads to productive collaborations, joint publications, and additional grant awards. A direct impact on state economic development is also extremely desirable. Ultimately, the goal is to form long-term self-sustaining nationally competitive capabilities that meet both NASA and Kansas’ research infrastructure development goals. Note there is a match requirement of at least $2,800 (non-federal, cash or in-kind). If you are interested in applying to this program, you must contact the Office Research Development via ord@ksu.edu to discuss this match before you prepare your proposal.
• The National Science Foundation’s 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. For the purpose of this program an intelligent engineered system is a human-designed system — physical, virtual, or a combination of both — that interacts with its environment to achieve specific goals. These systems collect data, analyze it to make informed decisions, and take actions that enhance safety, efficiency, and well-being. They may operate autonomously or collaboratively with humans, adapting their actions based on the data they collect. A key requirement for the M3X program is that these systems must function within a physics-based environment, whether physical or virtual, where interactions exhibit recognizable physical behaviors, such as those associated with gravity, friction, force, and inertia. 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.
• The National Science Foundation’s Infrastructure Systems and People (ISP) program particularly encourages interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary exploration that will open new research frontiers and significantly expand and transform relevant research communities. The program welcomes research that addresses novel system integration, user-inspired system and service design, data analytics, and socio-technical studies focused on engineering and system innovation during normal and extreme conditions. The program also values innovative research efforts focused on collecting, standardizing, and sharing large-scale databases of real-world infrastructure systems and people-infrastructure interactions during normal and extreme operating conditions, which can be instrumental in providing benchmarks for model verification and validation and for advancing future research innovation in ISP. The ISP program supports research on lifeline systems and communities that contributes to the National Science Foundation’s role in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) and the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP). Principal Investigators are encouraged to leverage NSF’s investments in the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) experimental, computational modeling and simulation, and data resources (https://www.designsafe-ci.org/) in their research to accelerate advances needed for reducing the impacts of natural hazards on infrastructures and people.
• The CO2 Foundation provides support for grantee organizations offering scientifically sound, potentially game-changing responses to the global climate emergency. We fund projects whose results are to become publicly available and contribute to broad awareness and preparedness within their target audiences. We do not fund projects whose goal is private gain. The Foundation generally has one open funding opportunity at a time; we do consider Letters of Inquiry outside of our funding opportunities, but encourage applicants to match their proposals with our most current focus area.
• The Department of Health and Human Services, NIH’s Nutrition Obesity Research Centers (NORCs) (P30) seeks applications from institutions/organizations that propose to establish core centers that are part of an integrated and existing program of nutrition and/or obesity research. The Nutrition Obesity Research Centers (NORC) program is designed to support and enhance the national research effort in nutrition and obesity. NORCs support three primary research-related activities: Research Core services, a Pilot and Feasibility (P and F) program, and a Scientific Catalyst program. All activities pursued by Nutrition Obesity Research Centers are designed to enhance the efficiency, productivity, effectiveness, and multidisciplinary nature of research in nutrition and obesity.
• The National Science Foundation’s Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) Core supports research and training on evolutionary and ecological processes acting at the level of populations, species, communities, ecosystems, macrosystems, and biogeographic extents. DEB encourages research that elucidates fundamental principles that identify and explain the unity and diversity of life and its interactions with the environment over space and time. Research may incorporate field, laboratory, or collection-based approaches; observational or manipulative studies; synthesis activities; phylogenetic discovery projects; or theoretical approaches involving analytical, statistical, or computational modeling. Proposals should be submitted to the core clusters (Ecosystem Science, Evolutionary Processes, Population and Community Ecology, and Systematics and Biodiversity Science). DEB also encourages interdisciplinary proposals that cross conceptual boundaries and integrate over levels of biological organization or across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Research addressing ecology and ecosystem science in the marine biome should be directed to the Biological Oceanography Programin the Division of Ocean Sciences; research addressing evolution and systematics in the marine biome should be directed to the Evolutionary Processes or Systematics and Biodiversity Science programs in DEB.
• The Hinrich Foundation supports Trade Research Projects that advance the understanding of global trade issues and support policy development. The Foundation’s international trade research program promotes research across trade-related sectors, with priority areas listed in order: trade governance, the geopolitics of trade, foreign direct investment, global supply chain resilience and security, digital trade, innovation, and technology, trade and environmental sustainability, trade workforce and education, industrial competitiveness and economic development, natural resources in trade, and trade logistics and services. Researchers and research organizations are invited to submit proposals for such projects.