The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is inviting proposals for the latest round of Grand Challenges Explorations.
Relevant funding opportunities for researchers in synthetic biology
Research Funding
BBSRC and EPSRC have both invested in synthetic biology. There are no specific active calls but they continue to fund through responsive mode grants.
Translational Funding and Investment
UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (formerly the Rainbow Seed Fund) is a £27.1m early-stage venture capital fund building and growing technology companies stemming from the UK’s research base, with a specific programme for Synthetic Biology.
Latest Funding Opportunities
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation invites applications for its synthetic biology future science fellowships.
The University runs two sets of parallel awards to recognise achievements in the areas of Impact and Public Engagement with Research.
Applications for the 2017 Awards are currently open. Deadline: Friday 21 April 2017.
The EPSRC and BBSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Synthetic Biology (SynBioCDT) is a doctoral training programme that combines the fundamental understanding of biological systems with the principles of engineering, so as to create the next generation of industrial and academic leaders in the nascent field of Synthetic Biology.
This PhD project with Dr Frank Tietze at the Institute for Manufacturing will be focused on a recent phenomenon that can be labelled “OpenIP”, for instance where large IP owners strategically make IP freely available through patent pledges. These seem to be carefully designed by the companies for different reasons and with a number of restrictions on licensees, such as non-assertion clauses.
OpenPlant Fund offers £5000 to support open, interdisciplinary and innovative projects to engineer plant biology. Applications are now open until 1 Dec 2016 and for this round applications focused on cell-free synthetic biology are also welcome.
The aim of the co-funded call with an indicative budget of approximately €36.3M is to contribute to transforming the global economy from a dependence on fossil raw material to a sustainable bio-based economy.
The Fellowships enable the recipient to concentrate on developing the commercial potential of their research, whilst also receiving formal training in relevant business skills.
Tools and Resources Development Fund (TRDF) aims to pump prime the next generation of tools, technologies and resources that will be required by bioscience researchers. The 2016 TRDF call has a specific focus on bioimaging.
The APEX award (Academies Partnership in Supporting Excellence in Cross-disciplinary research award) scheme offers established independent researchers an exciting opportunity to pursue genuine interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven research to benefit wider society.
~£80k seed funding to foster UK-SA collaborations that will eventually lead to the development of innovations to address antimicrobial resistance.
A KTN/Innovate UK/BBSRC Webinar
12:30 - 13:30, Thursday 27 October 2016
SynbiCITE in partnership with Rainbow Seed Fund is running Bio-start, a competition to help promote the commercialisation the engineering of biology in the UK.
SynbiCITE is now accepting applications for the next Lean Launchpad for Synthetic Biology, which will be run from September to November 2016.
Deadline to submit expression of interest - 29 July 2016
Call closes - (5pm) 12 August 2016
Successful projects announced - October 2016
EPSRC has offered the University an institutional sponsorship grant to support development of a portfolio of research projects and Knowledge Exchange activities compliant with the Official Development Assistance (ODA) guidelines under the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). Synthetic Biology related suggestions and collaboration ideas are invited.
The first three calls for proposals to the Global Challenges Research Fund are now open. Deadline for outline applications: 4pm, 22 June 2016.
Opportunities for IB & SynBio in the new Innovate UK Delivery Plan
Friday, 20th May 2016 from 12:30 to 14:30 (BST), by webinar
Innovate UK has recently published its new Delivery Plan, outlining the main ways in which it will invest around £561M in helping businesses to innovate and grow in the financial year 2016 to 2017.
Register to webinar - held on 20th May 2016 from 12:30 to 14:30 (BST)
With support from the SynBio Fund, CUTEC is hosting the UK’s first ever bio-focused “hackathon” in the University of Cambridge. Interdisciplinary teams will take on some of the greatest challenges facing biology.
OpenPlant Fund offers £5000 to support open, interdisciplinary and innovative projects to engineer plant biology. Applications are now open until 4 March 2016.