J-WAFS Water and Food Seed Grant (Annual)

Seed Grant letters of interest were due 5:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 25, 2025. Please check back in the fall of 2026 for the next Seed Grant call.

J-WAFS seed grants support innovative MIT research that has the potential to have significant impact on water and food supply challenges for human need. 

J-WAFS welcomes proposals spanning fundamental science, engineering and technology, supply chains, big data, business models, development efforts, economics, climate interactions and impact, urban design and infrastructure, and more.  We invite proposals for projects that can effect meaningful, measurable, improvements to humankind’s need for sustainable supplies of water and food. 

Seed grant proposals should be for new, innovative projects that are sufficiently distinct from prior research. We look for early-stage projects that can benefit from one or two years of funding in order to: (1) establish proof of concept or gather critical data that will position the project to qualify for other future sources of funding; or (2) have a clear and significant outcome without subsequent awards. Projects that are intended to have real-world impact are favored. Multidisciplinary projects and projects that have well defined regional or international reach are welcome. New collaborations including team members in different schools of MIT are encouraged, as are proposals from junior faculty. Relevant interactions with industry are also encouraged.

Each year, J-WAFS typically supports up to eight seed grants of up to $150,000, comprising up to $75,000 per year for one to two years, free of overhead charges, to be spent at MIT.  Eligible proposals that further J-WAFS’ mission are encouraged from all MIT schools and departments.

MIT researchers submitting proposals can create an account on the proposal submission site  to begin the submission process.

Eligibility: Proposals are sought from MIT principal investigators from all departments, labs, and centers of MIT. The principal investigator submitting the proposal must be an MIT professor or a member of the research staff with principal investigator privileges (generally senior or principal research scientist, or senior or principal engineer). PIs may participate on up to two submissions per year.  Previous and current J-WAFS PIs are eligible. 

*** Note that our seed grant proposal process has changed.  We now require an initial letter of interest.  Full proposals will be welcome by invitation based on review of the LOIs. ***

This year's timeline is as follows:
Thursday, September 25, 2025:  J-WAFS RFP announced
Friday, October 17, 2025: WizeHive online submission portal open for letters of interest
Tuesday, November 25, 2025:  Letters of interest due (by 5 pm)
By December 19, 2025:  Invitations to submit full proposal 
Friday, January 30, 2026:  Full proposals (including budget template) due (by 5 pm)
Spring, 2026:  Announcement of funded projects
Tuesday, September 1, 2026:  Start of funded projects
 
Questions? Contact Carolyn Blais Pinter, J-WAFS senior communications and program manager, at cblais@mit.edu

 

Projects

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