Novel Research Funding Opportunities

Abstract

It is a fortunate paradox that research motivated simply by a wish to better understand the natural world can later result in the most powerful applications imaginable. By definition, the outcome of any research is unknown until the research is finished. The outcomes are even less predictable at the frontiers of knowledge but the rewards can be commensurately greater. Internationally, there has been increased funding of more “mission-focused” and translational research during the last decade. This is to be applauded and is yielding strong dividends for the public funds invested. But frontier basic science, where the most creative and talented researchers work on the ideas and hypotheses that they believe are the most important, is a long-term investment in the future. It is still the major engine for progress in science, industry and society. Frontier basic life science research is the domain of the Human Frontier Science Program. The Program was created as the Cold War ended and was aimed at increasing collaborative science in the basic life sciences. Now supported by 14 countries and the EU, HFSPO research grants fund basic, interdisciplinary team-based research; research whose aim is to break through the known frontiers of science and foster collaboration across continents. Our postdoctoral Fellowships scheme offer top postdoctoral biologists and non-biologists the opportunity to change fields and research new ideas in a new laboratory in a new country. Thirty years on, 27 researchers funded by HFSPO have gone on to win a Nobel Prize.