Greetings,

 

We are excited to share this limited submission opportunity from the Brain Research Foundation. The objective of the Brain Research Foundation (BRF) Seed Grant Program is to support new and innovative projects from junior faculty within the field of neuroscience. Harvard may put forward one nomination for this funding opportunity. More information about the award and the internal selection process can be found in the synopsis and links below. For a full list of currently open opportunities that have been announced through our office, please visit our Current Opportunities web page. As a reminder, our Research Development team is available to provide proposal development support to FAS ladder faculty. 

 

Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant 2027

  • Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: September 22, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET
  • OSP Deadline, if nominated: October 29, 2026 at 9:00 AM ET
    Departments or areas may require additional time for proposal review and submission. Please discuss a timeline with your departmental or FORA grants administrator. 
  • Sponsor Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline, if nominated: November 3, 2026 at 5:00 PM ET
  • Award Amount: $100,000 over two years
    These awards do not include indirect costs; because these are early career awards, FAS/SEAS recognizes this indirect cost limit and does not require further action, such as a waiver or direct charge of other costs.
 

Program Overview

 

The purpose of the BRF Seed Grant program is to provide start-up monies for new research projects in the field of neuroscience that will likely lead to extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or other outside funding sources. Allowable costs include:

  • Purchase and care of laboratory animals.
  • Small pieces of laboratory equipment, totaling $7,500 or less.
  • Laboratory supplies.
  • Salary for scientific (including postdoctoral fellows) and technical staff (including laboratory technicians). 

Costs not permitted include salary recovery for the PI, domestic and foreign travel, conference or seminar fees, tuition reimbursement, and graduate student stipends or salaries.

 

Priority Areas

  • All areas of the brain, whether cognitive, neurodegenerative, related to learning and development or diseases. 
  • Scientific projects with a focus on brain health and disease, including cancer; this also includes molecular and clinical neuroscience as well as studies of neural, sensory, motor, cognitive, behavioral and emotional functioning in health and disease. 
 

Eligibility Criteria

  • Applicants must be a full-time Assistant or Associate Professor at an invited US academic institution who is working in the field of neuroscience, neurology, neurobiology, physiology, psychiatry, psychology, or related disciplines.
  • Assistant Professors – Junior faculty with a new research project to generate pilot data that will lead to R01 funding or a comparable outside grant will be first priority.
    • Must provide abstract and specific aims for current grants and indicate if there is any overlap.
  •  Associate Professors – Faculty who are pursuing new research directions.
    • Must explain how the project is a new research direction.
    • Must provide abstract and specific aims for current grant(s) and indicate if there is any overlap.
  • The grant proposal must detail a new research project that is not funded by other sources.
  • The BRF does not consider a new technique a new direction unless it pertains to a different area of study.
  • These grants are not to be used as bridge funding.
  • Investigators at institutions that are affiliated with a medical school or university are eligible to apply only through the institution where they hold a full-time faculty position.
 

Limited Submission Details

 
This is a limited submission opportunity and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research (OVPR) is facilitating an internal process for applicants who hold a primary appointment at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and schools located on Harvard's Cambridge Campus. Applicants holding a primary appointment at HMS Quad, or an affiliated hospital or institution must internally apply through Harvard Medical School's Foundation Funds Office. To be considered for the Harvard nomination, potential applicants from FAS and SEAS must first submit a pre-proposal by 11:59 PM on September 22, 2026, via the link above. If chosen as Harvard's nominee and if the LOI receives a favorable review, the PI will be invited to submit a full grant application, due March 4, 2027.
 

Additional Information and Resources

 

For more information, refer to the BRF Seed Grant Guidelines. Please scroll to view previous BRF Seed Grant awardees. 

 

Questions from FAS or SEAS faculty about this opportunity may be directed to FAS Research Development.

 

Requests for support related to the application portal may be directed to the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.

MAILING LISTS

Sign up to join the mailing list for FAS Funding Focus, a resource series tailored to help FAS faculty and staff navigate the ever-evolving landscape of grants and funding. Previous editions of FAS Funding Focus (FFF) are accessible in the FFF archive. To receive additional announcements from FORA, including the monthly On Your RADAR (Research Administration Developments & Announcements Rundown) newsletter and invitations to the FORA Forum, a monthly meeting for Harvard research administrators, please sign up for the FORA listserv here.
 

RESOURCES

Research Development maintains a Sample Proposal Library of successful proposals from recent award recipients that are available to FAS and SEAS faculty by request; please email Research Development to request to view a proposal. For more information on Research Development's resources—including lists of internal funding programs, early career funding programs, and sabbatical fellowships—please visit the Funding Opportunities web page. 
 

SEARCH FOR OPPORTUNITIES WITH PIVOT

All Harvard affiliates can search for opportunities and set up alerts using Pivot, a searchable database of federal and private funding opportunities. Information on Pivot, including a one-page user guide, and other funding opportunity databases available to the Harvard community can be found on the Funding Databases web page.
 

PIVOT CURATED SEARCHES

Curated funding opportunity lists are funding search topics of broad interest. The following curated lists can be further refined in Pivot based on your funding needs. To view the results you must be on a Harvard network or logged in to your Pivot account. Information on setting up a Pivot account can be found in our one-page user guide. 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional curated lists are available on the Funding Databases web page. We continue to add to and refine these lists based on feedback. Please feel free to reach out to us at research_development@fas.harvard.edu with any suggestions you may have.
 Research Development | FAS Office of Research Administration | research.fas.harvard.edu
Your Research, Our Mission
View this email in your browser
You are receiving this email because of your relationship with FAS Office of Research Administration. Please reconfirm your interest in receiving emails from us. If you do not wish to receive any more emails, you can unsubscribe here.

1414 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA, 02138

|