Call for Research Proposals FY2026

The Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience offers seed funding to allow Caltech faculty to develop new directions of neuroscience research, leveraging the Institute's interdisciplinary and collaborative environment.

Eligibility

• Applications are open to Caltech research faculty, tenured faculty, and tenure track faculty.
• No faculty member may participate in more than one application or receive funding for more than one project in a given grant cycle.
• Collaborative proposals should be with other Caltech laboratories.
• Individual researchers will not receive Chen Institute funding for more than two consecutive years (e.g., a researcher who is supported for years 1 and 2 should not apply in year 3 but can apply again in a year).
  

Application Format

All applications must be submitted using the application form available in the link below. It can be downloaded as a fillable PDF. Additional documents must be appended to this form for final submission. Any application not submitted using this form will be returned.

To see full RFP descriptions for each award, click on the individual links below:

CHEN INSTITUTE DIRECTOR'S AWARD

CENTER FOR MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE

T&C CHEN BRAIN-MACHINE INTERFACE CENTER

T&C CHEN CENTER FOR SOCIAL AND DECISION NEUROSCIENCE

T&C CHEN CENTER FOR SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE AWARD

• Grants are for 1-year (six-month extensions permitted upon request, with justification). A progress report is required after one year.
• Any research involving human subjects, including human data, or animal vertebrate, including animal data, will require approval from IRB or IACUC before research can be funded.
• There is an IP obligation associated with these grants. For more details about this obligation, please contact Case Cortese, in the Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships.

The following criteria will be among the factors considered in the selection process. Note: we are especially interested in collaborative projects between Caltech labs that are high risk/high reward that are unlikely to receive funding from traditional sources.

1. The strength of the proposal and its significance for neuroscience.
   
2. How the project is different from "business-as-usual" science in the submitting lab(s).
   
3. How innovative the project is.
   
4. How the project engages other members from the Caltech community.
   
5. The successful outcome of the project and how that would enable future research.
   
6. Is the project unique to Caltech?