Research funding
Early career
600+ open programsCatalog updated
Early career is the stage where private money does the most work. Federal programs that name the stage are few, and a foundation or society award between $25,000 and $75,000 is often what pays for the pilot study that makes a federal application credible.
The median award here is $45,000, about fifteen times the median for a graduate student grant, and research projects outnumber fellowships roughly two to one. The heaviest funders are disciplinary societies rather than the familiar names in philanthropy: the American Physiological Society, the AASLD Foundation, the American Chemical Society, the SIR Foundation. Society awards tend to be smaller and less contested, and they carry a membership requirement often enough to be worth checking first.
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About a third carry a dated deadline. The rest are rolling or undated at the source. Eligibility is looser than the label suggests, with a third of these programs also open to postdocs and a quarter to mid-career faculty, so read the eligibility line before you rule yourself out.
Open programs 600+
ASTR Mentorship Program
The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ASTR) offers a nine-month Mentorship Program to support members through dissertation completion, the academic job market, early career development, tenure preparation, and major career transitions.
- Deadline
- Amount
- Not listed
Sylvia Lane Mentor Fellowship
The AAEA Trust’s Sylvia Lane Mentor Fellowship supports early-career women scholars researching food, agricultural, or natural resource issues through collaboration with an established expert at another university, institution, or firm.
- Deadline
- Amount
- $2,500
Alzheimer’s Association Clinician Scientist Fellowship for All (AACSFA) Program
The Alzheimer’s Association Clinician Scientist Fellowship for All supports early-career clinician scientists conducting Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias research, including basic, translational, clinical, psychosocial, and health equity studies.
- Deadline
- Amount
- $200,000
These are the soonest deadlines of 600+ open programs. FundFit holds every one, screens it against the researchers at your institution, and names who should apply.
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