News J-WAFS announces RFP for seventh round of seed funding
Proposals from MIT PIs for innovative research that has the potential to have significant impact on issues and challenges related to the world’s water and food supply are eligible for $75,000 in research funding, overhead free, for up to two years.
Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab November 11, 2020
Image credit: iStock
Fueling water and food systems research is the core of J-WAFS’ mission, and is the foundation from which all of our programming and other activities emerge. At the root of this work is the J-WAFS seed grant program, which provides funding to support new research initiatives that have the potential to have significant impact on issues and challenges related to the world’s water and food supply. We have just launched our request for proposals for our seventh round of seed funding. Through this program, MIT principal investigators are eligible for funding of up to $75,000 per year for one to two years, overhead free.
Since J-WAFS’ launch in 2014, our seed grant program has been the major funding mechanism by which we stimulate and support new food and water research at MIT. To date, we have distributed nearly $8M in overhead-free funding to the MIT research community, engaging nearly two dozen MIT departments, labs and centers. J-WAFS seed grant projects have resulted in major discoveries in basic science, numerous papers in high-level journals and publications, commercialization efforts and spinout companies, and have collectively brought in over $12.5 million in follow-on funding to support future development of these water and food systems-related research projects.
Some notable projects have involved new cross-disciplinary collaborations, which demonstrate the creative thinking and problem solving that MIT researchers bring to their research. A few of the novel approaches we have funded include a machine learning expert collaborating with a plant biologist to tease out how a plant’s genes interact with environmental factors, an anthropologist partnering with a civil and environmental engineer to identify approaches for smallholder farmers to increase crop yield, and a mechanical engineer working with a researcher from Sloan to develop new methods and strategies for assessing water quality in rural water districts in India. Additionally, the grant program’s focus on funding new research initiatives opens the door to PIs interested in engaging in water and food topics for the first time. The grants can have a profound impact on the research trajectories and careers of funded principal investigators (PIs), students, and researchers.
Over the past six years, we have grown a remarkable and diverse portfolio of research, helped launch many new research directions, and supported small projects that have developed into substantial research programs. We have supported work applying MIT expertise to a wide range of the worlds’ food and water challenges, some of which focuses on specific geographical areas. Our support has also helped initiate a number of cross-institutional collaborations, some of which are international. Find out more about previously-funded projects
We welcome proposals from MIT principal investigators from all MIT departments, labs, and centers. PIs interested in finding out more about the J-WAFS seed grant program and submitting a proposal can view the full RFP here.