Funding opportunities
The below funding opportunities are regularly updated from the listing in CURIOSS funding site.
Information Controls Research Program (ICRP) — Open Technology Fund (OTF)
\$7,000/month stipend for 3–12 months, plus up to \$5,000 travel stipend and up to \$5,000 equipment stipend, depending on the project
Deadline: Concept note: 2026-09-07 · Full proposal (by invitation): 2026-11-01
Formerly the Information Controls Fellowship Program, ICRP funds applied research into how authoritarian governments restrict the free flow of information, cut access to the open internet, and implement censorship and surveillance — and the ways these threats to internet freedom can be countered. Projects should include a technical component or output and are reviewed in a two-stage concept-note-then-full-proposal process.CHARTED Fund 3: Tools and Frameworks — CHARTED (dRTP Skills)
£350,000 total across two rounds; each round funds one large project up to £150,000 and several small projects up to £15,000 (80% of Full Economic Costs)
Deadline: 30 September 2026, 11:59pm BST (first round)
Funds development of tools, frameworks, and approaches — such as self-assessment tools and skill-role-resource alignment frameworks — that make the digital Research Technical Professional training landscape more transparent and accessible. Outputs must be FAIR and Open.Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) — Phase 2 — National Science Foundation (NSF)
Up to \$1,500,000 for projects with durations up to 2 years
Deadline: Full proposal: 2026-09-01 · Full proposal: 2027-03-02
Supports transition of promising open-source research products with small existing user and contributor communities into sustainable, robust open-source ecosystems. A POSE Phase I award is not required to apply to Phase II.Astera Hidden Science Competition — Astera Institute
\$10,000 per award (minimum 5 awards; additional prizes possible at judges' discretion)
Deadline: 21 August 2026
Awards graduate students to publish data, methodologies, results, code, null results, or standardization work from their Master’s or Ph.D. research that would otherwise go unpublished. Winners receive a \$10,000 contract with a 6-week timeline to complete and publicly post the work.GitHub Secure Open Source Fund — GitHub
\$10,000 per project, paid in tranches (\$6,000 during the 3-week program, \$2,000 at the 6-month check-in, \$2,000 at the 12-month check-in), plus up to \$10,000 in Azure credits
Deadline: Session 5 applications open, reviewed on a rolling basis; due 2026-08-18
Funds maintainers of widely-depended-on open source projects to improve security practices, through a 3-week education program, GitHub Security Lab office hours, and direct funding tied to security milestones at 6- and 12-month check-ins. Session 5 applications are currently open and under rolling review.Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) — Phase 1 — National Science Foundation (NSF)
Up to \$300,000 for projects with durations up to 1 year
Deadline: Full proposal: 2026-09-01 · Full proposal: 2027-03-02
Funds scoping activities to help existing open-source research products with small user communities transition into sustainable, robust open-source ecosystems. Phase I supports early formation of managing organizations and training for teams building such ecosystems.NSF State and Regional Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Hubs — National Science Foundation (NSF)
\$4,000,000 – \$12,000,000 per award over 5 years; ~\$100,000,000 available, up to 10 awards anticipated
Deadline: Full proposal: 2026-11-04
Funds state and regional consortia (governments, institutions, industry, and philanthropy) to expand researcher access to the compute needed for AI-enabled scientific discovery. NSF supports consortium coordination, workforce development, and faculty training, while consortia arrange funding for the underlying computing resources.Open Science Meetings — Open Science NL
€15,000
Deadline: 10 December 2026 14:00 CET
Both researchers and research support staff may submit an application for financial support for organising an open science meeting.Open Science Infrastructure Programme (pre-announcement) — Open Science NL
€17,000,000 total; up to €1,700,000 per proposal
Deadline: Call expected to open October 2026 · Letter of intent due 2026-11-03 · Full proposal due 2027-04-13
Pre-announcement for the next round of the Open Science Infrastructure programme, supporting improvement and further development of existing digital infrastructures that enable open science, with a greater focus on collaboration and consortium formation. Full call details, including eligibility, will be published in the Staatscourant closer to opening.CHARTED Fund 4: Professional Development — CHARTED (dRTP Skills)
£150,000 total; up to £5,000 per award
Deadline: Rolling deadline, 15th of each month
Reimbursement-based fund supporting early-career digital Research Technical Professionals to attend conferences, training courses, and certificate programmes, or undertake inter-institutional knowledge-exchange visits. Staff time is ineligible; recipients commit to sharing outcomes via blog posts or webinars.NIH Research Software Engineer (RSE) Award — National Institutes of Health (NIH)
\$300,000 for up to three years; no more than \$200,000 for one year
Deadline: Letter of intent: 2026-11-04 · Full proposal: 2026-12-04
Salary support via the NIH Research Specialist (R50) mechanism for Research Software Engineers contributing to NIH-funded biomedical, clinical, behavioral, or health-related research software, tools, and algorithms. Targets RSEs outside a traditional independent-investigator career path.SSI Fellowship Programme — Software Sustainability Institute (SSI)
£4,000 per Fellow, to spend over a 15-month period
Deadline: Applications open 10 August 2026; close 5 October 2026
Funds individuals’ plans to advance research software practices over a 15-month fellowship period (1 January 2027 – 31 March 2028), selected via a proposal and six-minute screencast presentation, with an emphasis on collaboration, communication, and practical contributions to the research software community.FAIR Research Outputs Call (pre-announcement) — Open Science NL
€2,850,000 total; €1,400,000 available for first call; up to €50,000 per project
Deadline: Call expected to open September 2026 · Continuous, first-come-first-served until 2027-02-23
Pre-announcement for a new funding instrument supporting researchers in making non-traditional research outputs — such as datasets, software, and creative works — open and FAIR-compliant, including development of guidelines, standards, or tools that improve findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability. Full call details will be published in the Staatscourant closer to opening.CHARTED Fund 2: Community Activities — CHARTED (dRTP Skills)
£150,000 total; up to £5,000 per activity
Deadline: Rolling deadline, 15th of alternate months
Supports local networks, workshops, hackathons, mentoring programmes, and training that build skills and clarify career pathways for digital Research Technical Professionals. Covers room/venue hire and catering; excludes staff time and equipment purchases.CHARTED Fund 1: FAIRifying Training Resources — CHARTED (dRTP Skills)
£350,000 total across at least two rounds; individual projects up to £40,000 (80% of Full Economic Costs)
Deadline: 30 September 2026, 11:59pm BST
Supports trainers and training providers improving the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability of training resources in the digital research infrastructure space, e.g. metadata schemas, trainer documentation, skills-framework mapping, and delivery-mode adaptation. Projects run up to 12 months, with shorter projects preferred.
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