We are pleased to announce the expansion of the PL Research Grant Program (opens new window).

In April 2019 (opens new window), we announced the launch of a new grants program, focused primarily on Requests for Proposals (RFPs), which sought to fund specifically scoped problems defined by Protocol Labs. To date, we have launched ten RFPs (opens new window) and funded several more through our open RFP (opens new window).

Today, we are happy to announce that we have expanded this program to include a variety of new funding opportunities designed to support collaborative work on problems defined by the broader research community and critical to our work at Protocol Labs. To complement our current RFP program (opens new window), these grants focus on research problems proposed by the applicants rather than strictly on those pre-defined by Protocol Labs.

These funding opportunities include:

• PhD fellowships (opens new window) intended to support the development of an early-stage researcher conducting research in one of PL's fields of interest.
• Postdoctoral fellowships (opens new window) intended to support a postdoctoral researcher's contributions to PL-related research.
• Implementation grants (opens new window) designed to support PL's external academic collaborators in hiring short-term engineering consultants and contractors to develop and deploy critical software necessary to conduct PL-aligned research.
• Investigator awards (opens new window) intended to support experienced postdocs wishing to transition to running their own research project with the support of an appropriate host institution.
• Nucleation grants (opens new window) intended to support the development of a close collaboration between an early-stage researcher, their doctoral advisor, and a PL researcher on a project of relevance to PL's research interests.
• Research sabbatical awards (opens new window) intended to support faculty conducting research in PL's fields of interest during a 6-12 month sabbatical period, with a particular emphasis on supporting collaborative work with a PL researcher.
• Summer research grants (opens new window) designed to support faculty in conducting summer research in one of PL's fields of interest, with a particular emphasis on carrying out collaborative work with a PL researcher.
  The majority of these awards include funding not only for research, but also for conference travel and publication fees.

We are seeking proposals aligned with PL's mission to drive breakthroughs in computing to push humanity forward, and we encourage applicants from a diversity of backgrounds. Grant applications can be submitted at any time. Evaluation of applications for most grants will occur in two rounds: a first one for applications received on or before the second Thursday of April, and a second round for applications received on or before the second Thursday of September. Decisions will typically be made and communicated to applicants within four weeks of these submission deadlines. Some grants may have different deadlines and review timelines. Please read each grant description carefully. Where applicable, we will fund collaborative research across institutions.

We at PL Research believe that the future of decentralized systems research is open and distributed. We are excited about this new phase of research funding at Protocol Labs and the opportunities it creates to fund innovation and to build a community of researchers pushing the boundaries of what computing can do for humanity.

Visit grants.protocol.ai (opens new window) to learn more about this program and apply for funding. If you have questions, you can reach us directly at research-grants@protocol.ai.