Funding Opportunities
The following list can direct investigators to external & internal funding sources relevant to neurobiological research. Please go to the websites for up-to-date information about deadlines and application instructions.
This list is constantly changing; therefore, please let the Neurobiology office know if you are aware of funding databases and sources not listed here. In addition, investigators can visit the Funding webpage at the Office for Research Development for more information and resources.
Jump to:
- Funding Databases
- Graduate Student Funding Opportunities
- Post-Doctoral Funding Opportunities
- Junior Faculty Funding Opportunities
- All Faculty Funding Opportunities
Funding Databases
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Northwestern Libraries have licensed the Professional version of this directory that includes over 120,000+ foundations, corporate donors, and grant-making public charities. The directory website will recognize your Northwestern-based computer IP address when signing in from a work computer. |
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Use the Explore NIH Opportunities search to discover potential funding opportunities. Go to Grants.gov to search and apply for the opportunities you found above. |
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This webpage allows individuals to search for projects throughout the nation which have already been funded by the NIH. A useful tool for discovering what sorts of projects get funded by which institutes, funding trends, and other statistics. |
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Comprehensive and highly customizable search. Page also includes a link to a search tool for funded awards. |
Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students, Post-Docs, and Faculty
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Supports outstanding international predoctoral students studying in the United States. |
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Provides funding for PhD students pursing a research degree in health-related sciences. |
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Recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. |
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TGS Fellowships and Grants (Internal) |
The Graduate School sponsors a number of internal fellowships and grants for students at all stages of their graduate experience. |
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The Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS) is a highly competitive program that provides $700,000 awards over five years for physician-scientists, who are committed to an academic career, to bridge advanced postdoctoral/fellowship training and the early years of faculty service. |
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Early career development of researchers who have transitioned or are transitioning from undergraduate and/or graduate work in the physical/mathematical/computational sciences or engineering into postdoctoral work in the biological sciences. |
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Supports the career development activities and success of minority/underrepresented postdoctoral fellows in a degree-granting institution or affiliate in the United States or Canada whose training and professional development are guided by mentors committed to helping them advance to stellar careers in biomedical or medical research. |
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Chicago Biomedical Consortium (Internal) |
Funds innovative research conducted by postdoctoral fellows under the supervision of their faculty advisor/mentor in core research facilities at the CBC universities. |
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Provides awards for a period of up to two years to support post-doctoral research visits to laboratories throughout Europe and the world. |
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Provides grants in order to accelerate research aimed at finding a cure for Fragile X syndrome. |
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Supports early postdoctoral research training in all basic biomedical sciences. |
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The HFSP fellowship program supports proposals for frontier, potentially transformative research in the life sciences. Applications for high-risk projects are particularly encouraged. The projects should be interdisciplinary in nature and should challenge existing paradigms by using novel approaches and techniques. Scientifically, they should address an important problem or a barrier to progress in the field. |
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The JCC Fund provides three years of salary support to the best and brightest postdoctoral fellows pursuing fundamental biomedical research to advance human health |
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LSRF provides grants with 3 years of support for postdoctoral and early career researchers, to help them make discoveries that impact public health, biotechnology, and our understanding of life, addressing our most pressing challenges. |
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The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fund excellent research and innovation and equip researchers at all stages of their career with new knowledge and skills, through mobility across borders and exposure to different sectors and disciplines. |
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Career development (K) awards are intended for investigators at earlier phases of their research career to enhance skills development and provide time for research and training activities in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences. These awards typically provide three to five years of salary, mentored research support, and protected time under the guidance of an experienced mentor. |
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The purpose of the Kirschstein-NRSA postdoctoral fellowship is to enhance the research training of promising postdoctoral candidates who have the potential to become productive, independent investigators in scientific health-related research fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers. |
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To provide research support specifically limited in time and amount for studies in categorical program areas. Small grants provide flexibility for initiating studies which are generally for preliminary short-term projects and are non-renewable. |
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The Parkinson’s Foundation offers a range of early-career awards — from postdoctoral and clinical research programs to student fellowships — to help train the next generation of Parkinson’s researchers. |
| Junior Faculty Funding Opportunities | Additional Information |
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The two-year $75,000 fellowships are awarded annually to early-career researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders. |
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Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant |
The BBRF Young Investigator Grant provides support for the most promising young scientists conducting neurobiological research. Basic and/or clinical investigators are supported, but research must be relevant to serious brain and behavior disorders such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders or child and adolescent mental illnesses. |
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The McKnight Scholar Awards are given to exceptional young scientists who are in the early stages of establishing an independent laboratory and research career. The program seeks to support scientists committed to mentoring neuroscientists from underrepresented groups at all levels of training. |
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This award seeks clinical, pre-clinical, or basic research proposals from promising early-career scientists that will directly impact the understanding of Parkinson's Disease. Successful projects should include novel Parkinson's research hypotheses and be inventive in methodology or approach. |
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The Whitehall Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation which is focused exclusively on assisting basic research in vertebrate (excluding clinical) and invertebrate neurobiology in the United States. Investigations should specifically concern neural mechanisms involved in sensory, motor, and other complex functions of the whole organism as these relate to behavior. The overall goal should be to better understand behavioral output or brain mechanisms of behavior. |