2026 Exploration Competition

The New Frontiers in Research Fund  - Exploration stream 2026 call has now been launched. This call supports high-risk, high-reward interdisciplinary research. Applications from all disciplines are encouraged; projects proposed should push boundaries, defy current paradigms and bring disciplines together in new and unexpected ways with disruptive potential.
 
Exploration stream grants support projects that:
 
- bring disciplines together beyond traditional disciplinary or common interdisciplinary approaches;
- propose to explore something new, which might fail; and
- have the potential for significant impact.
 
Exploration grants support research with a range of impacts—economic, scientific, artistic, cultural, social, technological, environmental or health-related.  
 
This is a two-stage call with a mandatory Notice of Intent (NOI) followed by a full application. At the full application stage, assessment will include a pass/fail criterion for both interdisciplinarity and equity, diversity and inclusion in research practice.
 
 $250,000 over two years, including $50,000 in indirect costs (25% of the value of the direct costs request)