Guide: How to "Seed Fund"

Call for Proposals: 2026 Interdisciplinary Seed Funds for Early-Career Researchers in CARE

Overview

We are pleased to announce the call for applications for our 2026 Seed Funding programme.

This initiative is specifically designed to empower early-career researchers (ECRs) to explore high-risk, high-reward ideas in an interdisciplinary setting.

Incremental extensions to ongoing projects are not encouraged.

The goal is to provide the resources necessary to transform novel concepts into preliminary results, leading to the success of CARE and facilitating future external grant success.

Objectives and benefits

• Strengthen the scientific independence and visibility of ECRs within CARE.
• Support ECRs in spearheading original research topics.
• Foster collaboration across different departments and disciplines.
• Enable the production of initial publications or pilot data.
• Serve as a foundation for the next CARE Funding Stage and acquiring substantial external funding (e.g., ERC, national research councils).
• Approved SF-Project Leaders will get the Junior-PI status in CARE

Funding Details

• Project start: 1 July 2026
• Project Duration: 6 months (Longer projects, up to a maximum of 12 months, could be funded upon proper justification).
• Budget per project: €10,000 - €20,000
• Number of Awards: up to 5 excellent research projects.

Eligibility

• Lead applicants must be early-career researchers (including Associate Members) within CARE (preferably a joint proposal from 2+ applicants).
• Projects must be interdisciplinary, involving at least two distinct fields/disciplines. The seed project must constitute and address a clearly identifiable and independent research question.
• The proposal must demonstrate an excellent research idea aligned with CARE scope.

Application Requirements

Proposals should be submitted as a single PDF (max 2 pages) using the template available for download.

Early-career researchers are strongly encouraged to submit their proposal via email to CARE Executive Board () by Tuesday 31 March 2026 (23:59 CET).

The filled-in template should include:

• Project Title, Acronym & description of the scientific idea (Description of the novel idea and interdisciplinary approach).
• Research Plan and subdivision in achievable Work Packages (WPs) with clear temporal planning.
• Budget Justification: A breakdown of how the funds will be utilised. If your project extends into 2027, please clearly specify the funds required for each calendar year (i.e. 2026 and 2027)
• Future Funding Strategy: A brief statement on how this seed funding will lead to external grant applications (desirable).

Proposals will be evaluated based on scientific originality, degree of interdisciplinarity, feasibility within the given timeframe and budget, and the potential for follow-up funding.

Timeline

• Application Deadline: 31.03.2026 (23:59 CET)
• Selection Announcement: 07.05.2026
• Project Start Date: 01.07.2026

Presentation of the preliminary results: CARE Spring or Autumn meeting in 2027.