Research Award Guides
Research Awards
Guides for prestigious research awards that fund large-scale, multi-year projects. These awards target established researchers and provide significant funding for innovative work.
Rising Explorer Grant 2027 - $2,000 Field Research
The Rising Explorer Grant is The Explorers Club programme that funds field research by high school students and college undergraduates, with awards averaging $2,000. The 2027 cycle is open now and closes on 31 August 2026 at 6:00 PM ET. Anyone can apply from anywhere: the Club states the programme is open to high school students and college undergraduates worldwide, plus independent researchers working at an equivalent level. Funded work spans the field sciences, including biology and ecology, wildlife conservation, environmental science, archaeology and anthropology, and marine and freshwater studies. One rule decides most applications: the project has to be true science designed to generate new knowledge, not an adventure, a travel experience or a school field trip. Grantees are also considered automatically for Explorers Club membership.
Tech Journalism Fund 2026 - $5,000 to $25,000 Grants
The Tech Journalism Fund 2026 is Omidyar Network's project grant for US-based journalists reporting on technology and society, paying $5,000 to $25,000 towards the cost of a single resource-intensive story. Freelancers, staff reporters, editors and whole teams are eligible across any medium. The money covers reporting costs rather than salary: travel, research and fact-checking support, multimedia work, data access such as LexisNexis searches and government record requests, and a stipend for the reporting time itself. Priority goes to pitches on AI regulation and tech policy, investigations into the companies and people shaping the AI industry, the effect of AI on children and families, and how workers and unions are dealing with AI at work. Applications run on a rolling basis with no deadline and are usually reviewed within 30 days. Every funded project stays editorially independent and discloses the support.