Research Funding in November: Building Infrastructure and Evidence

November brings a strong month for research funding across multiple disciplines and geographies. These opportunities span life sciences infrastructure, health implementation science, education technology, and energy-water systems research. If you're leading a research institution or nonprofit, the funders below are actively looking to fund the work you're building.

Massachusetts Life Sciences Center: Capital Grant for Massachusetts Life Sciences Nonprofit Research Institutions

The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is offering up to $5 million for shared scientific equipment, infrastructure, and facilities at eligible Massachusetts nonprofit research institutions, including colleges, universities, academic medical centers, and nonprofit accelerators. The program supports three tracks: Shared Core Facility Resources, Incubator/Accelerator spaces, and Clinical Trial Resources. Funded infrastructure must be broadly accessible to both academic and industry researchers across Massachusetts. This is a significant opportunity if your institution is positioned to serve as a regional hub. Deadline: November 6. Apply here

Rainwater Charitable Foundation: Grant for Texas Brain Health and Dementia Research

The Rainwater Charitable Foundation is providing one-year seed grants of up to $100,000 to support early-stage brain health and dementia research projects at Texas-based academic institutions and nonprofit organizations. Funded projects may focus on implementation science, disease modeling, AI-driven risk stratification, drug repurposing, or precision prevention of cognitive decline. Awards are intended to help investigators generate preliminary data, establish collaborations, and demonstrate proof of concept. If you're in Texas and working on dementia or brain health, this is a direct fit for proof-of-concept work. Deadline: November 13. Apply here

Frick Initiatives at Washington University in St. Louis: Grant for Civil Discourse and Free Markets Projects

Frick Initiatives is funding ambitious projects connected to civil discourse, free speech, free and open markets, and personal responsibility. The program supports education, applied research, public engagement, and community partnerships that move ideas into practice with measurable outcomes. It's open to WashU faculty, students, staff, and academic units, as well as external organizations. If your research touches on these themes and you have a partnership with WashU or are an external organization with a strong collaborator there, this is worth exploring. Deadline: November 13. Apply here

Pathways for Health Research Collective: Grant for Health Research Nonprofits and Universities

Pathways for Health Research Collective (More than Medicine) supports bold, rigorous projects that apply evidence-based health solutions science in the United States at greater-than-pilot scale to measurably improve health outcomes. Projects must build on existing, sufficiently powered evidence and bring together knowledge producers and users to implement, evaluate, and sustain work that can inform policy, practice, or process innovation. A feasible three-year plan with clear milestones and leveraged partner commitments is required. This is for organizations ready to move beyond pilots into sustained implementation. Deadline: November 18. Apply here

Idaho EPSCoR and Idaho NSF EPSCoR (I-CREWS): Energy-Water Systems Research

Two related opportunities are available for researchers in Idaho studying Energy-Water systems. The Idaho EPSCoR program provides seed funding to catalyze preliminary research and education projects focused on Energy-Water systems, including physical infrastructure, governance, and community resilience. The Idaho NSF EPSCoR (I-CREWS) program supports basic research projects addressing the intersections of Energy-Water systems, with emphasis on community-engaged and collaborative work across institutions. Both programs welcome proposals that partner with Tribal Nations. If you're in Idaho and working at the intersection of energy and water, these are your primary funders this month. Deadline: November 18. Apply here and Apply here

Digital Promise: K12 AI Infrastructure Program

Digital Promise is funding the development of open-source tools, workflows, and documentation that integrate existing education-specific public goods into AI-enabled formative assessment applications for K-12 education. The work focuses on improving coordination between classroom teachers and AI-enabled technologies, with an emphasis on learning sciences-grounded approaches to formative assessment. Recipients will produce infrastructure-level outputs intended to serve multiple downstream developers of teacher-facing educational products. This is a significant opportunity if your organization works on education technology and formative assessment. Deadline: November 20. Apply here

If you're tracking a funder relationship that should be on our radar for future months, let us know. We're here to keep these opportunities in front of you so you can focus on the relationships that matter.

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