Research opportunities
Subscribe to updatesCompetitions, grants, fellowships, calls for papers, conferences and workshops for undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and early-career researchers. Every entry links to the official announcement — use “Team up” to find collaborators for it.
- Community submitted · NSF
Grant · NSF Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP)
Supports research on plant genomes and the genome-to-phenome connection, including tools, data and training that advance plant biology and crop improvement.
Eligible for: Faculty / Postdoc
- Community submitted · NSF America's Seed Fund
Grant · NSF SBIR/STTR (America's Seed Fund)
Non-dilutive funding for small businesses turning deep-tech and science-based ideas into products, with academic partnerships possible through STTR.
Eligible for: Independent researcher / Industry / Faculty
- Community submitted · NVIDIA
Grant · NVIDIA Academic Grant Program
Compute grants (GPU time or hardware) for academic researchers working on AI and accelerated-computing projects.
Eligible for: Faculty / Postdoc
- Community submitted · NVIDIA
Fellowship/position · NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program
Research funding and mentorship for PhD students working on topics relevant to accelerated computing, AI and scientific computing.
Eligible for: PhD student
- Official source · Kaggle
Competition · Predicting Soil Grain Size Distributions from Images
Predict cumulative soil grain-size distributions from photographs of soil surfaces.
Eligible for: Master's student / PhD student / Postdoc / Faculty / Independent researcher / Industry
- Community submitted · Schmidt Science Fellows
Fellowship/position · Schmidt Science Fellows
Postdoctoral fellowship for recent PhDs to move into a new field, with a global community and interdisciplinary training.
Eligible for: Postdoc
- Community submitted · Y Combinator
Grant · Y Combinator Accelerator
Startup accelerator providing funding, mentorship and a founder network; accepts technical and scientific founders, including solo applicants looking for co-founders.
Eligible for: Independent researcher / Industry
- Community submitted · HHMIClosed
Fellowship/position · 2027 HHMI Gilliam Fellows Program
PhD fellowship supporting second- and third-year biological/biomedical science students with their faculty thesis advisors. Award: $65,000/year for up to 3 years.
Eligible for: PhD student
- Community submitted · Kaggle / RSNAClosed
Competition · RSNA Knee Abnormality Detection
Multimodal ML for twelve knee MRI abnormalities using MRI studies and multilingual radiology reports. Award: $77,000 total prizes.
Eligible for: Master's student / PhD student / Postdoc / Faculty / Independent researcher / Industry
- Community submitted · American Society of Human GeneticsEnded · 10/20/2026 – 10/24/2026 · Montréal, Québec, Canada
Conference · ASHG 2026 Annual Meeting
Annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, with scientific sessions, posters and trainee programming in Montréal.
- Community submitted · National Science FoundationClosed
Fellowship/position · NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program — FY2027
Major fellowship for outstanding students in research-based STEM master's and doctoral programs. Deadlines by field: Life Sciences Oct 19; CISE, Materials, Psychology, Social Sciences Oct 20; Engineering Oct 22; Chemistry, Geosciences, Math, Physics Oct 23 (2026). Award: $37,000 annual stipend plus cost-of-education allowance.
Eligible for: Undergraduate / Master's student / PhD student
- Community submitted · USDA Agricultural Marketing ServiceClosed
Grant · Specialty Crop Multi-State Program
Funds collaborative multi-state projects addressing specialty-crop research, plant pests and disease, food safety, crop-specific problems, and competitiveness.
Eligible for: Faculty
- Community submitted · NIH / HHSClosed
Competition · TOPx HHS Tech Sprint for AI and Invisible Illness
Use U.S. open data and AI to build real-world tools for urgent health challenges involving invisible illness. Award: Up to $2,000,000 total cash prizes.
Eligible for: Independent researcher / Industry / Postdoc / Faculty
- Community submitted · USDA NIFAClosed
Grant · National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship
Institutional fellowship grants supporting graduate training in food, agriculture, natural resources and related disciplines. Award: $14M estimated program funding; $78K-$705K award range.
Eligible for: Master's student / PhD student
- Community submitted · USDA NIFAClosed
Grant · Higher Education Challenge Grants Program
Institutional grants for agricultural education, instrumentation, curricula, recruitment, retention and workforce development. Award: $5.7M estimated FY2026 funding; $150K-$750K awards.
Eligible for: Faculty
- Community submitted · U.S. Department of Homeland SecurityClosed
Competition · Ready, Set...ID the Biothreat Challenge
AI-assisted algorithms to detect known, novel, and unknown biological threats in environmental metagenomic datasets. Award: $999,990 total cash prizes.
Eligible for: Master's student / PhD student / Postdoc / Faculty / Independent researcher / Industry
- Community submitted · Kaggle / AI4S Open InnovationClosed
Competition · AI4S Open Innovation: AI for Life Science
AI applications in life science, especially organ-on-a-chip, microscopy, drug response and research workflows. Award: $22,200.
Eligible for: Master's student / PhD student / Postdoc / Faculty / Independent researcher / Industry
- Community submitted · American Chemical SocietyClosed
Grant · ACS Graduate Student Success Grant
Supports graduate students within one year of degree completion when unforeseen circumstances threaten completion. Award: $25,000.
Eligible for: Master's student / PhD student
- Community submitted · DREAM / CACHE / SGCClosed
Competition · DREAM x CACHE Target 2035 Drug Discovery Challenge
Use machine learning and molecular design to predict small molecules that bind PGK2, a target associated with sperm motility and non-hormonal contraception.
Eligible for: Master's student / PhD student / Industry
- Official source · KaggleClosed
Competition · Kaggriculture
Build an autonomous agent that plays a farming simulation and optimizes farm income, providing a reinforcement-learning/agentic AI problem directly connected to agriculture.
Eligible for: Master's student / PhD student