Seed Grants

Current Opportunities

Provost's Research Support Program

The Provost's Research Support Program is a co-investment initiative designed to support research continuity, foster innovation, and strengthen competitiveness in the face of a shifting funding landscape. 

These programs cannot fully replace federal funding for Duke University researchers; however, they can help research-intensive faculty with limited access to other financial resources bridge critical gaps—supporting exploration of new areas of inquiry or retaining essential personnel during delays in federal award notifications.

DST Seed Grants

Currently closed for applications

March 17, 2026 Information Session:

• Meeting Recording
  • Includes: seed grant overview | reviewer comments | past recipient presentations | Q&A
• Meeting Summary
  • Includes: key takeaways from the discussion | links to resources

DST Launch

These funds are directed toward supporting nascent collaborative, interdisciplinary projects, with a preference for projects that advance science and technology. The goals of this program are to enable faculty from multiple disciplines to initiate high-impact projects that could lead to additional external funding.

Launch RFP 

DST SPARK

The DST SPARK Seed Grants are directed towards enhancing the creativity and novel research and scholarship of Duke’s early/mid-career faculty and will help them pursue new directions and ideas that would otherwise be difficult to fund from other sources.

SPARK RFP 

OR&I Explore Grants

Currently closed for applications

Duke’s Office for Research & Innovation (OR&I) Explore grants are designed to foster scholarship that may not be well served by established funding mechanisms. In contrast to grants that target mostly larger-scale projects, OR&I Explore grants are designed to provide up to $15,000 of project funding for one-year projects in four categories:

• New Collaborations grants
• Planning grants
• Sustaining grants
• Completion grants