Currently 74 active paid grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in Worldwide, across AI, arts, film, journalism, research, tech and cross-disciplinary practice. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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Travel voucher for Dutch-based professionals in design, architecture and/or digital culture who have been invited by a foreign party to give a presentation, lecture or workshop. To apply you must have submitted an application to the Fund in the past five years that was positively assessed (previous International Vouchers do not count). The inviting foreign party must cover a proportionate share of the costs. Covers hourly fees, travel and accommodation directly related to the activity. IMPORTANT TIMING RULE: applications are accepted from 5 months to a minimum of 7 weeks before the activity begins, and processing takes about 6 weeks. This lead time can rule out activities that fall shortly after a round opens. Round 2 (4 May to 22 June 2026) has closed. Round 3 runs 8 September 2026 15:00 CEST to 27 October 2026 16:00 CEST, with a budget of EUR 33,000; given the 7-week rule it effectively serves activities starting from late October 2026 onwards. IMPORTANT PREREQUISITE: you must already have had an application to the Fund positively assessed within the past five years, and a previous voucher does not satisfy this, so this is not a viable first approach to the Fund. The window runs 8 September 2026, 15:00 CEST to 27 October 2026, but closes early once 20 complete applications are received. Maximum one voucher per applicant per calendar year.
Scotland's leading short film festival marks its 20th edition in March 2027. International entries compete for the Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film; films must be completed after 30 September 2025 and run 40 minutes or less. Deadlines: earlybird 4 August 2026 (GBP 10), regular 22 September 2026 (GBP 14), late 27 October 2026 (GBP 18).
Umbrella request for proposals for ambitious AI-first projects that make the transition to capable AI go well and use it to unlock science. Three connected layers, each with its own detailed call: I. Local Compute (compute that individuals or communities physically own and control); II. Coordination and Accountability (supercollaboration and decentralized alignment, human empowerment, AI insurance and open governance); III. AI-First Science: Bio, Neuro, Nano (automated nanotechnology, whole-brain emulation, replacement, enhancement, biostasis). AI-first means AI is the primary engine of progress, not tapped onto an existing research program; strong proposals identify narrow bottlenecks and propose something that can be built, tested or measured. Selected projects receive grant funding, private local compute, workspace at the San Francisco or Berlin AI Nodes, travel-paid field-building events and access to Foresight's advisors and scientific network. ELIGIBILITY: individuals, teams, and nonprofit or for-profit organisations worldwide (for-profits must justify their need for grant funding); applicants who want to be active in-person contributors at the Nodes are strongly prioritised. Grants typically $30,000 to $100,000, smaller for the Human Empowerment and AI Insurance & Open Governance areas and higher for the rest. Review takes about three months after the deadline. Deadline 31 October 2026, 23:59 PDT.
The AI Philosophy Competition, organised by philosophers Zachary Goodsell and Elliott Thornley and funded by Forethought Research, aims to gauge the philosophical capabilities of AI in a way transparent to the philosophical community. Entrants submit up to three original essays on any philosophical topic; essays must be primarily AI-generated, with some human guidance allowed, and each entry must include a methodology report explaining how the essay was produced. Essays are capped at 6,000 words each and may not be previously published or under review elsewhere; entrants consent to online publication and may choose anonymity. Judging is blind to methodology and authorship and evaluates the quality and originality of the philosophical content (style is not graded); the judging committee includes David Chalmers, John Hawthorne, Herman Cappelen, Cian Dorr and other academic philosophers. PRIZES: USD 3,000 / 2,000 / 1,000 for the top three essays, plus a USD 5,000 creative methodology pool. Finalists announced early December 2026, results end of January 2027. DEADLINE: 31 October 2026.
A bias bounty from Zindi, Humane Intelligence, Radiant Earth, and the Heising-Simons Foundation: measure coverage gaps in Overture Maps across US Census tracts by comparing it against Census TIGER/Line Roads, Microsoft US Building Footprints, USGS National Map critical facilities, and Census County Business Patterns. Submissions are automatically evaluated with a Bias Score assessing equity metrics across demographic and climate-vulnerability strata, surfacing whose neighbourhoods open map data underserves. PRIZES: 1st USD 4,500, 2nd USD 2,500, 3rd USD 1,500, Best Bias Discovery USD 1,000, Best Documentation USD 500 (USD 10,000 total), plus 10,000 Zindi points. ELIGIBILITY: open to all, teams of up to 4. HOW TO ENTER: create a Zindi account, download the sample submission files, compute coverage-gap scores per tract GEOID, and upload a CSV; 10 submissions per day, 300 total. Free to enter. DEADLINE: 31 October 2026.
First Flights funds emerging filmmakers worldwide making live action and documentary shorts in any scripted genre (scripts up to 30 pages). The autumn 2026 round awards up to GBP 7,000 / USD 10,000 in cash toward production costs, plus two Kodak awards of five 400ft rolls of 16mm film stock with complete processing, and one USD 10,000 post-production package from Periscope. Selected filmmakers also receive festival submission assistance and distribution opportunities through partner organizations. APPLY with project details, logline, synopsis, director's vision statement, completed script, director biography, budget and lookbook (sizzle reel optional); independent judges score originality, creativity, plot, pacing, characters, entertainment and message, with interviews for long-listed candidates. Production must begin within six months of the deadline. ENTRY FEE: tiered, GBP 30 until 30 September or GBP 40 until the final 31 October 2026 deadline.
Track I of Foresight Institute's AI for Science & Safety Nodes RFP funds building and scaling local compute setups that individuals or communities physically own and control. With five companies holding 71 percent of the world's AI compute, researchers relying on APIs and rented compute face data exposure, steep price increases and the risk of losing access altogether; open models are ready for serious science and safety work, but the ecosystem lacks sovereign and secure compute infrastructure. LOOKING FOR: local compute clusters in different sizes and configurations that are easy to set up and run across varied connectivity and electricity environments; blueprints for easy yet secure cluster management; models for bringing down cost, like selling idle compute or connecting to community clusters; ideally a business case for building, selling and distributing such clusters at scale. EXAMPLE DELIVERABLES: a prototype AI cluster an average person can deploy at home, software that runs a node without expert knowledge, economic models showing how the hardware pays for itself, a pilot deployment for individuals or communities. Selected projects receive grant funding, private local compute, workspace at the San Francisco or Berlin AI Nodes, travel-paid field-building events and access to Foresight's advisors and network; in-person contributors at the Nodes are strongly prioritised. Individuals, teams, and nonprofit or for-profit organisations worldwide may apply (for-profits must justify their need for grant funding). Deadline 31 October 2026, 23:59 PDT.
Track II of Foresight Institute's AI for Science & Safety Nodes RFP funds ways for increasingly capable AI systems to coordinate with each other, the people using them, and the wider world, without handing power to a single model, lab or government. THREE FOCUS AREAS: (1) Supercollaboration and decentralized alignment: coordination and credit-assignment protocols, tooling for massive human-AI collectives, incentive designs robust to gaming, mutual monitoring and cross-checking among agents, scalable verification, and open coordination protocols built on boundaries as Schelling points for multi-agent coordination. (2) Human Empowerment: evidence, decision rules and working tools for when human control genuinely empowers people versus when AI delegation is preferable, including a 'when to defer control' framework and mechanisms to detect and fix hollow oversight. (3) AI Insurance and Open Governance: building a middle layer between lab self-governance and government regulation, such as ways for insurers to judge and price frontier-lab risk, independent incident reporting and assessment that does not leak lab secrets, and mechanisms like developer mutuals, catastrophe bonds or liability for near-misses. Selected projects receive grant funding, private local compute, workspace at the San Francisco or Berlin AI Nodes, travel-paid field-building events and access to Foresight's advisors and network; in-person contributors at the Nodes are strongly prioritised. Individuals, teams, and nonprofit or for-profit organisations worldwide may apply (for-profits must justify their need for grant funding). Deadline 31 October 2026, 23:59 PDT.
Track III of Foresight Institute's AI for Science & Safety Nodes RFP funds AI-first science in bio, neuro and nano: work that asks what important science is stuck, what it is actually stuck on, and whether we can build the thing that removes that constraint. THREE FOCUS AREAS: (1) Automated nanotechnology: AI methods for nanoscale design, simulation and assembly, closed-loop fabrication and characterization tools, credible application pathways from toy problems to medicine, environment and bottom-up production, and defensive applications and safety frameworks. (2) Whole-brain emulation: cheaper and faster brain mapping and preservation, bringing down the cost of connectomics through better imaging or cheaper proofreading, lo-fi emulation pathways that predict organism behavior from behavioral and neural data, and shorter experimental feedback loops in neurobiology. (3) Replacement, Enhancement, Biostasis: longevity work including tissue engineering, organ synthesis, 3D bioprinting and progressive replacement strategies; reversible biostasis for organs and full humans with improved preservation and revival protocols and organ banking; and datasets for independently testing genetic predictors, gene editing and better measures of aging. Selected projects receive grant funding, private local compute, workspace at the San Francisco or Berlin AI Nodes, travel-paid field-building events and access to Foresight's advisors and network; in-person contributors at the Nodes are strongly prioritised. Individuals, teams, and nonprofit or for-profit organisations worldwide may apply (for-profits must justify their need for grant funding). Deadline 31 October 2026, 23:59 PDT.
The Open Notebook's paid fellowship for early-career science journalists is open for its 2027 round. Fellows spend twelve months working part-time and remotely with a personal mentor, reporting and writing articles about the craft of science journalism that are published at The Open Notebook, one of the field's central craft resources. Eligibility: early-career science journalists with fewer than three years of regular professional science-writing experience; applicants from anywhere in the world are welcome, and application materials are in English. TO APPLY: submit the application form (linked from the program page) by 31 October 2026, 11:59 PM US Central time; reference letters are due 7 November 2026. The fellowship year starts 9 February 2027.
First visiting-fellow cohort of the newly launched KU Leuven AI Safety Lab, a multidisciplinary research group on large-scale risks of advanced AI (independent research, policy workshops, a summer school and an annual conference). Five fellows spend March to May 2027 in Leuven under two programmes: Theories of Victory and Viable Endgames (positive AI futures and the conditions for beneficial advanced AI outcomes) and Democratic Control over AI Companies (power concentration and mechanisms for societal oversight of frontier AI developers); strong AI safety proposals outside these two areas are also considered. ELIGIBILITY: PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, faculty and researchers outside academia, from any relevant discipline; applications from underrepresented groups encouraged. APPLICATION: email a CV (max 2 pages including publications), a one-page cover letter and a research plan (max 1,500 words) to existentialrisk@kuleuven.be with subject line 'Fellowship application' plus the programme name. Deadline 31 October 2026.
Foresight Institute's AI for Science and Safety Nodes request for proposals funds open, AI-first projects across three calls: I. Local Compute (compute that individuals and communities physically own and control), II. Coordination and Accountability (supercollaboration and decentralised alignment, human empowerment, and AI insurance and open governance: multi-agent oversight and verification, tools for collective deliberation, decision rules for when human control adds value, and independent risk assessment or insurance mechanisms for frontier labs), and III. AI-first Science (automated nanotechnology, whole-brain emulation, frontier bio). Grantees can also get workspace in the San Francisco or Berlin AI Nodes (a community xNode runs in Cape Town) and private compute. All funded code, data and outputs must be open-sourced. Projects are judged on fit with the focus area, impact on reducing existential risk from AI, feasibility within 1 to 3 years, AI-first working methods, ability to execute, and high-risk, high-reward potential. ELIGIBILITY: individuals, teams and organisations worldwide; nonprofits and for-profits welcome (for-profits must justify the need for grant funding). Priority goes to applicants who want to work in person at one of the Nodes, but it is not required. Review takes about three months; applications can opt in to sharing with Lightcone Commons. DEADLINE: 31 October 2026, 23:59 PDT.
Movies that Matter, the human rights film festival in The Hague (19-27 March 2027), is open for 2027 submissions. The festival screens poignant fiction films and revealing documentaries that stir debates about human rights, sustainability and the fight against injustice, and feeds several competitions: the Grand Jury Documentary Competition (eight documentaries, EUR 5,000, winner eligible for Academy Award consideration for Best Documentary Feature), Grand Jury Fiction (EUR 5,000), Shorts (EUR 1,500), plus Activist Lens, Justice Frame, Dutch Focus, an Education Award and an Audience Award. ELIGIBILITY: films of any length, completed or world-premiering in 2026 or 2027, addressing human rights and/or social or environmental issues; English commentary/dialogue or English subtitles required; the film must not have been released in Dutch cinemas, broadcast on Dutch television, made freely available online, or submitted to the festival before. A world premiere is not required but may be taken into account in selection. FEES: EUR 25 normal fee until 30 September 2026, EUR 35 late fee from 1 October; final deadline 1 November 2026. Selection is announced at the end of February 2027. Submit via the festival's own submission database at database.moviesthatmatter.nl. Note the festival also runs a separate Take on Film & Impact industry programme (deadline 11 October 2026) for feature documentaries in late/post-production, but it carries no cash and participants fund their own travel, so it is not listed on the desk.
The ARC Prize Foundation runs its 2026 competition for progress toward artificial general intelligence, with a USD 2,000,000 total prize pool across three tracks: the main Kaggle competition on the ARC-AGI-2 static reasoning benchmark, a track on ARC-AGI-3 interactive agent reasoning (second milestone 30 September 2026), and a paper prize for research that advances understanding of ARC-AGI performance. Milestone prizes run USD 25,000 / 10,000 / 2,500. Open to individuals and teams worldwide, entirely online via Kaggle. Winning entries must be open-sourced under permissive licenses to collect prizes. Main submission deadline 2 November 2026, paper track 8 November 2026; results announced 4 December 2026.
MIT Solve's annual open innovation call selects tech-based solutions to global challenges and backs them with funding and a nine-month support program. The 2027 cycle runs five parallel challenges on a shared application deadline: the Global Climate Challenge, Global Health Challenge, Global Learning Challenge, Global Economic Prosperity Challenge, and the Indigenous Communities Fellowship. WHAT SOLVERS GET: a USD 10,000 grant funded by Solve for every selected team; access to a pool of over USD 1 million in sponsor prize funding at selection; tailored capacity-building workshops (marketing, PR, monitoring and evaluation, business model and more); leadership coaching; networking with the MIT and Solve community; pro bono resources such as software and legal services; event attendance and media exposure; and permanent Solver status. ELIGIBILITY: open to applicants of all backgrounds worldwide with a technology-based solution addressing one of the challenge areas; teams and organizations at various stages can apply. SELECTION: judged on alignment, impact potential, feasibility, innovation, human-centered design, scalability, partnership potential and technical feasibility. DEADLINE: 2 November 2026 at 12:00 PM EST, shared across all 2027 challenges. Apply via the challenge pages on solve.mit.edu.
The Klagenfurt association Lendhauer invites proposals for artworks at the Lendhafen, the city's harbour, under the 2027 theme Urban Ecologies: Coexistence and Control. The call asks who or what counts as useful or disruptive in public space, who is included or excluded, and whether peaceful coexistence is achievable, treating urban space as networks of diverse relationships between human and non-human actors. Both fully developed artistic works and experimental, process-based or collaborative approaches are welcome. WHAT YOU GET: production costs up to EUR 4,000 gross (exact amount depends on project scope), an artist fee up to EUR 2,500 gross, travel expenses up to EUR 1,000, and on-site coordination of technical and organisational requirements including permits. ELIGIBILITY: artists, designers, architects, performers, theorists and practitioners working in interdisciplinary contexts; individuals and collectives, based in Austria or abroad; disciplines listed are architecture, performing arts, and visual arts and design. Projects are realised June to end of September 2027. DEADLINE: 2 November 2026. Full details and application via lendhafen.at.
NLnet's current open call funds open-source technical development: software and hardware released under free licenses. ROUTES: the Restack fund (open internet stack), the CodeSupply fund, and the general open call for everything else; accessibility and assistive-tech FOSS (screen readers, a11y tooling, accessible interfaces) was repeatedly funded under the predecessor NGI Zero programme and fits via the general route, though Restack's own scope text does not name accessibility, so confirm scope with NLnet before applying. NLnet also provides grantee support services including accessibility audits. ELIGIBILITY: individuals, informal collectives, nonprofits, SMEs and universities from any country; no disability identification required. NOTE: proposals and projects generated with AI/LLMs are ineligible. APPLICATION: short online form at nlnet.nl/propose; decisions within weeks; calls recur roughly every two months, so a missed deadline rolls to the next cycle. DEADLINE: 3 November 2026, 12:00 CET (noon).
Production grants for newly commissioned works of visual art exhibited beyond museum walls, in the public realm, or in non-traditional exhibition environments. Grants are awarded to projects that best exemplify VIA's three core values of Artistic Production, Thought Leadership, and Public Engagement. Two-stage application process: Letter of Inquiry due 5 November 2026; invitations to submit a full application sent 15 December 2026 (by invitation only); full application deadline for invited applicants 25 January 2027; grant award notification April 2027. Projects must start after 15 June 2027. VIA runs Fall and Spring cycles each year; Spring 2027 is the current open call. Start with the eligibility form linked from the apply page; full program description, eligibility requirements and LOI guidelines are in the program PDF.
The Judson-Morrissey Excellence in New Media Award (JMEM) is the New Media Caucus's scholarship program supporting BIPOC students in new media art fields. It gives multiple unrestricted monetary awards of up to USD 500 each, funded through donor contributions, and features awardees in an NMC Header/Footer Gallery exhibition and a digitally published interview. ELIGIBILITY: BIPOC undergraduate and graduate students working as artists, practitioners, historians and/or critics in new media art. TO APPLY: submit the Google Form with an application letter (max 500 words), a 100-200 word biography, and either 3-5 artwork samples or 2-3 writing samples. DEADLINE: 8 November 2026, 11:59 PM EST. Questions to NMC co-president Chanhee Choi.
Creatives for Our Future is the Swarovski Foundation's global grant programme for emerging creatives aged 21 to 30. Each selected participant receives a EUR 20,000 grant to support their creative project, alongside a mentorship and education programme. DISCIPLINES: fashion, design, art, architecture and engineering, which makes it a direct fit for fashion-tech, wearable and smart-textile projects. ELIGIBILITY: applicants must be aged 21 to 30 at the time of application and working on an initiative that uses creativity to accelerate awareness, technology, or solutions toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals; open worldwide. DEADLINE: 9 November 2026 at 11:59 pm BST.
Zoud GameLab is a month-long virtual game jam run by Global Game Jam and Zoud, the UAE's national financial wellbeing initiative, under the theme Make FinLit Fun. Participants build a game that integrates financial literacy in a meaningful way; this is part of the judging criteria, and a scoring rubric is published on the jam page. WHO: anyone aged 18 or over by 15 November 2026, anywhere in the world; solo developers, teams of any size and studios, each member registering individually. Prior Global Game Jam participation is not required. WHAT YOU GET: a share of up to USD 140,000 in prizes and development-support funding; entrants who want to be considered for development funding submit the game, a concept or design document, a two-minute gameplay video and a game budget. A pre-jam learning programme of webinars, resources and expert sessions ran from September. APPLICATION: register and submit on itch.io (and the Global Game Jam Discord). DEADLINE: 15 November 2026 at 23:59 anywhere on earth (the itch.io counter may show 16 November in some time zones).
The UCLA Library Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP), funded by Arcadia, grants its ninth cohort of awards to preserve, document and digitize cultural heritage collections at risk from environmental conditions, political uncertainty, inherently unsustainable media, inappropriate storage, or communal and social change. IN SCOPE: 20th and 21st century materials, including print, photographic, film, video, audio, ephemeral and born-digital objects; all funded materials are published open access in the UCLA Library Digital Collections repository. GRANT TYPES: Planning Grants up to USD 20,000 over one year for organization, survey and inventory work before digitization; Project Grants up to USD 70,000 over two years for digitization and metadata creation on collections ready to digitize, or for curating existing digital assets; Regional Grants up to USD 100,000 over two years for digital collections combining materials from three or more institutions, families or archival repositories around one theme, community or historical event, hosted by an organizing institution with prior MEAP grant experience (consult MEAP staff before applying). There is also an invitation-only Emergency Grant track up to USD 10,000 (email meap@library.ucla.edu), and a new AV Grants track up to USD 100,000 for audiovisual archives opening April 2027 with selections in September 2027. TIMELINE: applications opened 14 September 2026; preliminary application webinar 15 October 2026; preliminary applications due Monday 16 November 2026 at 11:59pm Pacific Time via meap.smapply.io; preliminary decisions December 2026; detailed applications due 12 February 2027; awards announced summer 2027. Applications name teams working with the institutions, families or repositories that hold the collections; read the Program Guidelines and Project Eligibility documents on the MEAP site before applying.
Online incubator from Swiss foundation Unearthodox (formerly the Luc Hoffmann Institute) for innovators with early-stage ideas at the intersection of environmental and societal challenges, aimed at work that tackles root causes in the relationship between people, society and nature rather than symptoms: climate, biodiversity, habitat loss, regeneration and environmental justice among them. WHAT YOU GET: a CHF 10,000 grant plus 10 months of cohort-based incubation (March to December 2027) with coaching, expert and peer support, and access to a global community of systems innovators. ELIGIBILITY: over 18, idea already in motion through research, testing, piloting or community engagement; applications in English; participation fully online with sessions planned for UTC-6 to UTC+6. SELECTION CRITERIA: systems orientation (25 percent), nature-society vision (25 percent), boundary-pushing (25 percent), transformational intent (15 percent), edge-walking (10 percent). DEADLINE: 16 November 2026, 23:59 GMT+1 (window opened 15 September 2026).
The Mozilla Foundation Incubator's next cohort funds seven Human-Scale AI projects: working AI technologies that are small (small models, less compute, able to run locally or on low-power devices), intentional (users and communities get insight into and control over their data, and systems can be configured, forked or community-governed) and tailored (fit-for-purpose for a specific community, context or problem, with particular interest in resource-constrained regions, people with disabilities and other underserved groups). Projects must already be deployed with the people they serve, even at pilot scale, and show early product-community fit. Not wanted: concepts without working technology, standalone governance or policy work, generic chatbots, or products whose core depends on a frontier model or a slimmed-down version of one. The cohort runs for 12 months from April 2027 with coaching, a Mozilla programme officer, network access and a showcase at the Mozilla Festival; required sessions are about one or two hour-long virtual meetings a month, and teams must work in the open. ELIGIBILITY: worldwide; you do not need to be a nonprofit but the project must have a charitable purpose and you must be legally able to receive Mozilla Foundation grant funds. Applications in English (translation tools welcome). Multi-stage process: an initial project proposal, then a full application for a shortlist. Info session 12 November 2026, 17:00 UTC. DEADLINE: Friday 20 November 2026, 11:59PM PST (UTC-8).
Busan Metropolitan City invites individuals and teams from around the world to propose a site-responsive work of land and ecological art for Eulsukdo, an estuarine island at the mouth of the Nakdong River, South Korea's longest river. The island sits in a brackish estuary where river meets sea and is an important stopover for migratory birds on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway; once heavily altered by agriculture, landfill and urban development, it has been restored as wetlands and bird habitat, a layered history the call frames as an invitation to reflect on coexistence between human and more-than-human life. Proposals must respond to Eulsukdo's ecology, landscape, history and changing environment while minimising ecological disturbance and demonstrating environmental responsibility across the work's whole lifecycle. ELIGIBILITY: individuals or teams professionally active in art, landscape architecture, architecture, design or related fields; interdisciplinary teams welcome. SELECTION: one proposal, with artwork support of KRW 380,000,000 and an artist fee of KRW 20,000,000. SUBMISSION WINDOW: 2 November 00:00 to 22 November 2026 24:00 KST (UTC+9). Provisional opening of the realised work May to June 2027. Full guidelines via the official website (eulsukdo-ecoart.com); inquiries to eulsukdo.ecoart@gmail.com.
The Fondation Francois Schneider's Talents Contemporains competition, in its 16th edition, supports contemporary creation on the theme of WATER. Submissions can be a project for an installation or sculpture, or an existing unique work in painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, video, textile art or other fine and visual arts; performing arts and music are excluded. A Grand Jury (chaired by international museum figures) designates 4 to 7 laureates. WHAT YOU GET: EUR 15,000 per laureate as a merit prize and official acquisition of the artwork (EUR 8,000 for editioned works); installation and sculpture projects share up to EUR 50,000 in production assistance (existing works get no production budget); plus an exhibition at the foundation's centre in Wattwiller, a bilingual publication, inclusion in the collection and a video portrait. ELIGIBILITY: visual artists of all nationalities, of legal age, with a solid professional background and/or an art school degree and a recent continuous track record over the past five years (exhibitions, publications or residencies); one artwork or project per candidate per year. Applications in French (French speakers) or English (all others), via the foundation's online platform. DEADLINE: 22 November 2026.
Sadler's Wells Digital Stage commissions three new Dance on Screen films of up to four minutes on the theme The Future Remembers, asking artists to consider legacy, responsibility and the futures we are creating together. WHO: filmmakers and dance artists of any style working across dance and moving image, aged 18 or over, applying as individuals, groups or companies; international applicants are welcome and filming can happen anywhere. WHAT YOU GET: a flat GBP 6,000 per commission regardless of team size, which must cover equipment and any external filmmaker or producer; a Sadler's Wells producer helps shape the idea and source collaborators, and the in-house filmmaker may support editing. Finished films premiere at the Dance Digital Film Festival in November 2027. APPLICATION: online form describing your practice and the idea; shortlisted artists are interviewed in early December 2026. Contact digitalstage@sadlerswells.com. DEADLINE: midnight, 22 November 2026.
The Nieman Foundation brings around two dozen journalists to Harvard each year for two semesters of study, reflection and community, one of the oldest and best-known midcareer journalism fellowships in the world. Fellows design their own course of study, audit classes across Harvard's schools and take part in Nieman's own seminars and master classes; many use the year to deepen a beat such as technology, AI accountability, science or press freedom. WHAT YOU GET: a USD 87,500 stipend paid over the nine-month academic year (2026-27 figure), plus allowances toward housing, childcare and health insurance. WHO IS ELIGIBLE: working journalists, staff or freelance, in any medium, with at least five years of full-time media experience; open to applicants from any country. Freelancers may use a recent supervising editor for one of the three required recommendation letters. Special fellowships within the program include the Nieman-Berkman Klein Fellowship in Journalism Innovation. TO APPLY: applications for the class of 2028 open in the first week of October 2026 and require two essays (personal statement and study proposal), work samples and three recommendation letters. DEADLINE: 1 December 2026 for international applicants; 31 January 2027 for US citizens.
The Mensch Maschine VISIT Residency Program is an annual fellowship offering four fully funded fellowships to artists from around the world, run by the JUNGE AKADEMIE of the Akademie der Künste (Berlin) with VISIT, the artist-in-residence programme of the E.ON Foundation, E-WERK Luckenwalde and Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art (Warsaw). The 2027 edition particularly encourages projects at the intersection of art, energy and ecology exploring the theme ENERGY GHOSTS: the unseen dimensions of energy approached through mythology, cosmology or speculative fiction, the invisible infrastructures, histories and residues that haunt contemporary life, and energy as an ecological, political or spiritual force. Proposals are welcome from visual art, performance, film, installation, sound, writing and new media. WHAT YOU GET: EUR 20,000 per fellow for artist fees and production costs of a new project (research and development, travel, material and presentation costs); three fellows receive studio space and accommodation at E-WERK Luckenwalde (a former power station about 40 minutes south of Berlin), one is accommodated by the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. The three-month residency runs roughly September to November 2027 with on-site presence of at least 75% required, a retreat at Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw in September 2027, events across the three venues, and a closing symposium in October 2027 at the Akademie der Künste where fellows show work in progress alongside the 2026 cohort. JURY: Nolan Oswald Dennis; Chus Martinez (Institute Art Gender Nature, TBA21); Sarah Johanna Theurer (Fondation Beyeler); Anh-Linh Ngo (Akademie der Künste); and Tiara Roxanne. APPLICATION: via the VISIT portal at visit-energy.com/bewerben. DEADLINE: 1 December 2026, 23:59 CET.
Stanford's nine-month residential fellowship for journalists and people who work in service of journalism (editors, producers, photographers, audience and community builders, publishers, operations and strategy staff). Fellows bring a question about journalism they cannot let go of rather than a fixed project, and pursue it with a small international cohort, individual coaching, customised workshops and the run of Stanford; many fellows work on AI, platforms, information ecosystems and audience trust. ELIGIBILITY: at least five years of professional experience (student work and internships don't count); no degree or newsroom background required; freelancers must do most of their work in journalism. Not eligible: PR or communications staff, government employees, full-time academics, staff of non-editorially-independent media, degree seekers, book or reporting projects. APPLICATION: via SurveyMonkey Apply (jsk.smapply.org); deadline 2 December 2026 at 1pm Pacific, no extensions. Info webinars on 21 October and 5, 6 and 12 November 2026.
The Palestine Film Fund, set up by the Palestine Film Institute in 2025 so that Palestinians can tell their own stories, gives financial and professional support to Palestinian filmmakers worldwide in two rounds a year. This is the autumn round. WHAT IS FUNDED: short films up to 30 minutes at development, production or post-production stage, and medium or feature-length films at development or post-production stage only; fiction, documentary, animation, hybrid, experimental and essay forms are eligible, series are not. WHO: the director must be Palestinian, living in Palestine or the diaspora, with a recognised link to Palestine, and aged 18 or over; a non-Palestinian producer may apply if the director is Palestinian. Feature and medium-length applicants need at least one previously directed short. Only producers (or director-producers) may apply for post-production. One project per director per cycle, and not while holding an active PFF grant. WHAT YOU GET: up to EUR 3,000 (short, development), EUR 7,000 (short, production or post), EUR 5,000 (feature, development) or EUR 15,000 (feature, post-production). APPLICATION: online form in English or Arabic; questions to fund@palestinefilminstitute.org. DEADLINE: 4 December (the fund page gives no year; read as 2026 from the round schedule; past rounds closed at 23:59 Palestine time).
The European Media Art Festival (EMAF) in Osnabrueck invites submissions for its 2027 edition in three sections: Film (experimental films of all lengths and any theme), Installation (installative, interactive, spatial or sculptural media art works) and Expanded (performances, live events or workshops). WHAT YOU GET: all films selected for the International Selection are equal winners of the EMAF Award with EUR 400 prize money each; films in the Features section (over 60 minutes) receive a EUR 250 screening fee; curated programmes pay EUR 80-250 depending on length; installations and expanded projects receive a EUR 500 fee with production costs paid by the festival. Selected artists are invited to the festival with free accreditation, three hotel nights (potentially longer if setting up is required) and a contribution to travel costs. RULES: maximum 2 works per artist; only works completed in 2026 or 2027 are eligible; no premiere status required; works entered at previous editions will not be reconsidered. Films up to 60 minutes are viewed for the International Selection, films over 60 minutes for Features. Installation entries should relate to the 2027 festival theme of the archive (as an instrument of knowledge production, a site of critical intervention and a space for alternative visions of the future); Installation and Expanded entries must include a comprehensive description, tech rider, cost calculation and visual materials. Non-English-language works must have English subtitles for the selection screening. Submit digitally via the EMAF registration portal (no DVDs or physical media). Selection decisions are emailed from mid-March 2027. DEADLINE: the call closes as soon as 2,200 entries have been received, or at the latest on 15 December 2026, so submit early. No entry fee.
The Internet Society Fellowship supports people advancing Internet connectivity, policy or security in their communities. Fellows design and implement a practical project with deliverables such as policy briefs, research reports, training programs, community engagement initiatives, workshops or technical resources, supported by a stipend of up to USD 5,000, a dedicated mentor, weekly virtual training sessions and funded travel to a global or regional Internet event. IMPORTANT PREREQUISITE: applicants must first complete the Pre-Fellowship Training modules; enrollment for the training runs 23 September to 22 November 2026, and eligible participants receive the Fellowship application link by email within 24 hours of completing it. ELIGIBILITY: open worldwide; requires a high level of English reading, speaking and writing, continuous Internet access throughout the program, a valid passport (six months beyond anticipated travel), at least four hours per week over 10 months, and not currently participating in a 2026 Internet Society fellowship. TIMELINE: applications reviewed on a rolling basis and close 18 December 2026; notifications 19 February 2027; program kick-off 22 February 2027; project execution 1 June to 30 November 2027; graduation early December 2027.
The Omidyar Network Tech Journalism Fund offers rolling grants of $5,000-$25,000 for technology journalism projects. Relevant for journalists and media organizations investigating AI, tech policy, and AI's impacts on culture, society, and creative industries. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through December 31, 2026 — one of the few currently open opportunities with a confirmed near-term deadline. Apply via the application form on omidyar.com.
Vietnamese multimedia artist and poet Nguyen Hoang Gia Bao (text, sound, moving image, performance) is collecting 100 scream recordings and 100 inscriptions from participants anywhere in the world for 100 Screams. The recordings will be collaged and composed into a 100-hour sound work, alongside a spatial installation developed from the inscriptions, framed by the prompt 'So long I was __________ that I forgot my own scream.' ELIGIBILITY: anyone, anywhere; no professional recording equipment required. NOTE: this is a participatory contribution call with no fee and no cash award, listed for the joy of it. APPLICATION: submit via the Google Form. DEADLINE: 31 December 2026.
The Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri funds people and teams to build and launch a tool, workflow or product that helps newsrooms, in three tracks: Individual (USD 75,000), Institutional (USD 75,000, paid to a host organisation or the fellow) and Emerging Technology (USD 100,000, where AI or another new technology must be essential to the solution). The output must be a free, open-source resource usable by US journalists; tools limited to one city or state are unlikely to be funded. The fellowship is remote and runs for eight months from 28 June 2027 with an in-person kickoff at RJI and a couple of paid visits. ELIGIBILITY: anyone, anywhere; no age, background or journalism credential required. Applications open 2 November 2026 on Submittable; a shortlist is invited in early to mid February 2027 to submit a fuller application, with finalist interviews 5 to 23 April 2027. DEADLINE: 8 January 2027 (first round; no time zone stated, RJI is on US Central time).
ARDC funds amateur radio, wireless technology education, and communications research and development, including software-defined radio, mesh and packet networking, and open RF tooling, which puts it squarely at the transmission-art and community-network end of creative tech. WHAT YOU GET: grants with no stated minimum or maximum; the published 2026 portfolio ranges from USD 1,285 to USD 258,000, so both small education projects and major open-source radio infrastructure are funded. CONDITIONS: all funded work must be released openly (GPL, MIT, BSD, CERN OHL or CC licenses). ELIGIBILITY: US 501(c)(3) nonprofits, government agencies, schools and universities, and international nonprofits and schools; individuals, artist collectives and radio clubs must apply through a nonprofit fiscal sponsor, which is routine in the US but adds overhead. APPLICATION: open now on a quarterly cadence; the September 2026 round has closed, so the next actionable deadline is 15 January 2027, with evaluation taking 60 to 120 days.
The 73rd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (27 April to 2 May 2027), one of the oldest and most influential short film festivals, opens its call for films across five competitions: International (max 35 minutes, produced outside Germany, German festival premiere required), German (max 45 minutes, produced in Germany, no premiere requirement), NRW (max 45 minutes, produced or co-produced in North Rhine-Westphalia), International Children's and Youth Film, and the MuVi Award for music videos produced in Germany (max 15 minutes). ELIGIBILITY: works produced after 1 January 2026; screening formats 35mm, 16mm, Super 8 and DCP (MuVi: DCP). PRIZES: from the EUR 8,000 Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen and EUR 4,000 Principal Prize through German, NRW, children's/youth, FIPRESCI, Ecumenical and audience prizes, awarded to the directors, plus European Film Awards and ECFA nominations. FEES: the first five submissions per submitter are free of charge; from the sixth, a EUR 20 handling fee per film applies. HOW TO SUBMIT: online entry form with preview link via kurzfilmtage.filmchief.com; selection results announced mid-March 2027. DEADLINE: 18 January 2027 for all competitions (17:00 UTC per the listing), except the MuVi Award: 22 February 2027. No extensions.
Winter round of Germany's flagship open, non-thematic federal project line, one of the largest European funders that will back a festival, exhibition programme or multi-partner convening run by an organisation rather than an individual artist. It funds large innovative projects across all artistic fields, explicitly including New Media alongside visual and performing arts, music, film, photography and architecture. There is no published maximum, but the EUR 50,000 minimum total project cost sets the scale, and at least 20 percent co-financing is mandatory. This round closes 31 January 2027 at 12:00 CET, with decisions at the external jury meeting in May 2027; no project may start before its jury date, so plan four to six months of lead time. Non-German organisations are genuinely eligible, which is unusual at this scale, provided the project is visible in Germany and has an international dimension. Two practical barriers: the application form must be completed in German, and project communications must include a German-language version.
WOW is the world's largest wearable-art competition, culminating in a staged show in Wellington, New Zealand, with the 2027 awards night on 17 September 2027. The Kinetic and Avant-garde sections regularly attract technology-driven wearables, making this a natural target for e-textile, robotic and sensor-driven garment work. WHAT YOU GET: a prize pool exceeding NZD 200,000 across 25 awards; in the published 2026 schedule the Supreme WOW Award paid NZD 30,000, the runner-up NZD 15,000 and each section winner NZD 8,000 (the 2027 schedule was not yet posted at the time of listing). KEY DATES: the 2027 section themes are published and entries open in November 2026; international designers must lodge an intention to enter by 11 February 2027 and submit their entry by 25 February 2027 (New Zealand designers: 31 March and 14 April 2027); finished garments ship to New Zealand with a final delivery cut-off of 2 June 2027. ELIGIBILITY: designers worldwide, entering under their own names rather than as a business; teams of up to three allowed; entrants must be 18 or over. There is no entry fee.
The New Media Film Festival in Los Angeles champions stories told with new technology and was among the first festivals to screen AI-generated content; it has a dedicated AR / MR / AI / TECH category. Open worldwide in all formats. Deadlines: 6 December 2026 (USD 80), 6 February 2027 (USD 85), final 6 April 2027 (USD 95).
She Got Game is a Pro Helvetia mentoring programme promoting equal opportunities in the Swiss and international game industry, supporting the representation of women in management positions through dialogue with experienced international experts from the game industry. The call is aimed at professional game designers who identify as women from the regions of Pro Helvetia's liaison offices: the Arab region, East Asia, South America, South Asia and Vietnam, and West, Central, East and Southern Africa. ELIGIBILITY: Emerging Talents are game developers or game studios whose relevant training or registration (self-employed, sole proprietorship, or company) dates back less than seven years. Selection criteria include digital content for devices such as computers, consoles, mobile devices, or mixed-reality devices requiring a high level of interaction; clearly defined objectives in terms of participation and career; originality, feasibility, degree of innovation, and marketability of the project; and project leaders holding the copyright and rights of use. Excluded: commissioned work and projects that are part of an advertising or promotional campaign, and purely technological projects without obvious narrative and/or aesthetic content. WHAT IS OFFERED: individual coaching and input talks on project development, business strategy and finances, marketing, PR, and pitch training; involvement in a growing community of female game developers; potential access to international trade fairs; CHF 3,000 toward the production of a prototype or demo version; and up to CHF 250 per week toward childcare or children's travel expenses when attending international trade fairs (a budget must be presented in advance). All modules are conducted in English; the programme is a time-consuming commitment of roughly 30 hours over six months, plus potential additional time attending events or trade fairs. APPLICATION: submit a short CV (including education/training, nationality, and residency status in Switzerland), a short description of the current project (type and genre, gameplay, platform, development status, target audience, with relevant visual material, max. 10 A4 pages), a project portfolio, and expectations regarding the programme's objectives. All documents should be submitted in English; if not possible, applications may be submitted in German, French, or Italian. KEY DATES: applications open 1 July 2026; submission deadline 1 September 2026, 23:59 CEST; notification of decision in November 2026; earliest project start 1 January 2027. Apply via the Pro Helvetia application portal.
Robot foundation models (pi-zero, OpenVLA, GR00T and others) are approaching widespread deployment on the back of more than USD 18 billion in funding, and almost nobody is working on their safety. The Physical AI Safety Institute, a new nonprofit founded by Bear Haon and Kaylene Stocking and seeded by a grant from BlueDot Impact, describes itself as a capacity-building organisation growing the community that develops techniques to interpret, align and control robot foundation models. Its research fellowship runs in 12-week cohorts: each fellow works within a stream led by a mentor on a concrete problem in physical AI safety, with mentors drawn from researchers with track records in robot foundation models, mechanistic interpretability, safe control or adversarial robustness for embodied systems. Each cohort ends with a research symposium where fellows present their work. STREAMS: mechanistic interpretability (sparse autoencoders and activation patching for VLA and WAM architectures); adversarial robustness (jailbreaking and prompt injection in the embodied action space); runtime monitoring (detecting when a policy operates outside its competence envelope); sim-to-real safety transfer (do safety behaviours survive deployment on physical hardware); and robot security (cyberattack vectors, data poisoning and supply chain for deployed robot models). WHO SHOULD APPLY: researchers with strong technical foundations in robotics or machine learning and a demonstrated interest in safety; prior safety experience is not required. PROCESS: this stage is an expression of interest, not a full application. The form takes about two minutes and asks you to pick your stream and preferred cohort dates; concrete details including stipend figures and application deadlines are shared through that channel, and neither is published on the site as of listing. PAISI also publishes seven free curriculum modules running from classical robot safety through VLA interpretability, adversarial robustness and runtime monitoring to deployment evaluation, plus a white paper, The Case for Physical AI Safety, at paisi.ai/the-case-for-physical-ai-safety. Contact: bear@paisi.ai.
OSIP is the European Space Agency's standing front door for unsolicited novel ideas, launched in 2019 and now the main entry point for new concepts into ESA, both in response to specific problems and through open calls. HOW IT WORKS: ideas are submitted through two mechanisms. Campaigns are targeted calls responding to specific questions with defined timelines (recent examples include Future Navigation Demonstrators and elements for the EOCognitiveLab mission); Channels are permanently open, open-ended calls on broader topics with no deadline. Submissions can go through an optional community discussion phase, with voting and comments, before expert evaluation by ESA. WHO CAN SUBMIT: individuals, businesses, universities and organisations anywhere in the world. The catch for funding: to implement a funded idea yourself, you must be eligible to do business with ESA under Article 18 of its procurement regulations, which in practice means affiliation with an entity in an ESA member state. WHAT FUNDING LOOKS LIKE: successful ideas are typically supported as co-funded PhD or postdoctoral research (ESA plus a university), early technology development activities, or system studies; amounts vary by route and campaign. WHY IT IS ON THE DESK: this is the one genuinely public, always-open route into ESA for independent researchers, technologists and artists working with space data or space technology concepts; new campaigns appear regularly, so checking the platform periodically is worthwhile. Submit via ideas.esa.int.
AIXI Labs is a small London-based non-profit doing AI safety research grounded in algorithmic information theory. Its stated position is that most AI research today is either mathematically clean but narrow, or practical but too opaque for rigorous safety analysis; the lab targets a third category, methods general enough to describe powerful agents and provable enough to support real safety claims, using AIXI (the theoretical model of unbounded artificial superintelligence) and then porting the strongest of those ideas to modern LLM-based agents. The fellowship is a quarterly, rolling programme for researchers who want to work on this agenda under close mentorship from the core team: Cole Wyeth (Founder and Executive Director), Marcus Hutter (Research Director) and Aram Ebtekar (Founding Research Scientist). Fellows pursue a focused research project over roughly a quarter and receive a monthly stipend plus a compute budget for machine-learning work. The fellowship is fully remote, so fellows may work from anywhere in the world or from the London base. RESPONSIBILITIES: pursue a self-directed research project aligned with the lab's algorithmic-information-theoretic approach to AI safety, spanning anything from foundational theory to empirical tests with LLM-based agents; shape the project direction around your own strengths and interests, as the lab supports a range of work within this framework; and contribute papers, blog posts or other written output communicating results to the broader AI safety and ML research communities. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: a research background at the level of a current PhD student (for primarily empirical projects, a master's-level command of the relevant mathematics paired with substantial industry or applied research experience can also qualify); solid grounding in probability, statistics, information theory and reinforcement learning, sufficient to engage seriously with AIXI-style theoretical models (prior expertise in algorithmic information theory or AIXI is NOT required); strong verbal and written communication skills; genuine motivation to reduce existential risk from advanced AI and enthusiasm for the lab's kind of work. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: publications at top ML, AI or theory venues such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ALT or COLT, though the lab values the strength of your best work over volume; background in algorithmic information theory, computability theory, learning theory or related theoretical computer science; experience fine-tuning, evaluating or red-teaming LLM-based and/or RL agents; prior engagement with the UAI/AIXI community or related fields, including members of the lab's online reading groups. APPLICATIONS are reviewed on a rolling basis and previous applicants remain eligible for later rounds.
Emergent Ventures funds entrepreneurs and thinkers worldwide with highly scalable, zero-to-one ideas for meaningfully improving society. It is aimed at individuals (applicants must be 13 or older) rather than institutions, and international and non-US applicants are eligible; grants are awarded to people around the world. Dedicated support is available for projects focused on India, Africa, the Caribbean or Ukraine. Grant amounts are not disclosed and are set per project. Applications are accepted on a rolling, continuous basis through an online form. The programme launched in 2018 and is administered by Tyler Cowen at the Mercatus Center.
GitHub's Secure Open Source Fund supports maintainers to improve the security of widely-used open-source software, pairing funding with hands-on security training. ELIGIBILITY: individual maintainers or teams of up to three, aged 18 or older, in a region supported by GitHub Sponsors; applicants cannot work for GitHub or its parent company. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis; apply once to be considered for upcoming 2026 sessions. Apply via the GitHub Secure Open Source Fund page.
The Sovereign Tech Fund invests in the open digital infrastructure that underpins the modern internet, funding maintenance, security and development of critical open-source base technologies. ELIGIBILITY: individuals, companies and non-profits maintaining or developing critical open-source infrastructure; open worldwide. Applications are accepted on a rolling, year-round basis via the Sovereign Tech Fund page.
FLOSS/fund, backed by Zerodha, provides financial support to free and open-source software projects and maintainers. ELIGIBILITY: individuals and projects worldwide; applicants apply by publishing a funding.json manifest in their public repository as described on the fund's site. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis with no deadline.
Pulitzer Center reporting grants supporting in-depth international journalism on under-reported global issues. Open to reporters, photographers, audio and video journalists, and documentary filmmakers worldwide. Grants cover the hard costs of reporting projects. ELIGIBILITY: professional journalists and visual storytellers anywhere in the world; both freelance and staff. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis via the Pulitzer Center grant portal.
Rolling grant programme funding individuals at any career stage who want to pursue careers that could help reduce global catastrophic risks or otherwise improve the long-term future. Especially interested in candidates working on risks from future advances in AI and global catastrophic biological risks. Funds graduate study (master's/PhD/MPP/law school), unpaid internships, postdocs, professional certifications, online courses, independent study/upskilling, career-transition and exploration periods, and academic sabbaticals. Concrete examples Coefficient Giving lists: a senior ML engineer doing six months of independent study to investigate AI risk mitigation careers; a physics PhD doing self-guided ML interpretability work to transition into technical AI safety; a management consultant exploring how to apply their skill set to GCR; a tenured ML/CS professor taking a one-year sabbatical to contribute to AI safety or governance. Open globally; no institutional affiliation required. Looks for candidates whose funding would 'make a difference' (otherwise unable to find sufficient funding, or existing funding has restrictions). Encourages applications from women and people of color. Now subsumes the former Biosecurity Scholarship. Applications are open until further notice and assessed on a rolling basis. Free to apply.
Funds data-driven reporting that uses ML, NLP, satellite imagery, sensors and other computational methods on under-reported issues. Open to freelance and staff data journalists worldwide. Reviewed first-come, first-served on a rolling basis; decisions usually within a month.
Lightweight rolling grant for individual journalists worldwide (writers, photographers, radio, film; freelance or staff) examining how AI systems are designed, sold and deployed in communities. Faster turnaround than the Pulitzer AI Accountability Fellowship: decisions in 1 to 2 weeks.
Contemporary art magazine commissioning paid art writing and criticism, with pitches accepted on an ongoing basis (online reviews/pitches continuous; themed print issues have set deadlines, e.g. the Spring issue around 15 September 2026). A direct paid outlet for criticism on digital, new-media and AI art. ELIGIBILITY: writers at all experience levels are invited; not restricted to Canada. Mostly pitch-based, with short online reviews accepted unsolicited.
Rolling-deadline fund for technology-focused projects that promote human rights, internet freedom and open societies. Funds anti-censorship, anti-surveillance, privacy-preserving and circumvention tools, plus applied research. Two-stage process: submit a Concept Note via the OTF online application system; reviewed monthly with feedback in 6-8 weeks. Open internationally.
The Digital Defenders Partnership runs the main rapid-response fund for digital threats against human rights defenders, journalists, activists and the organisations they work in. The Incident Response Fund covers urgent costs after or during a digital attack, including incident response and forensics, emergency infrastructure or hosting changes, secure devices, account recovery, legal or psychosocial support tied to the incident, and short-term relocation of digital operations. This is the practical counterpart to physical-safety emergency funds for anyone whose work makes them a target online. ELIGIBILITY: human rights defenders, journalists, activists and civil-society organisations facing digital threats or attacks, worldwide. Applications are rolling; DDP aims to respond within two weeks and funds activities for up to four months. DDP also runs a Sustainable Protection Fund for longer-term digital-security capacity building (currently invitation-only in some regions) and an invitation-only Community and Network Fund of up to EUR 15,000 for rapid responders and digital-security facilitators. Contact team@digitaldefenders.org or apply through apply.grants.digitaldefenders.org.
Rest of World is in the third year of its Labor x Tech program, underwritten by the Ford Foundation, commissioning reported stories on the changing nature of work at a moment of upheaval: AI tools and robotics reshaping professions at every rung of society, from self-driving cars replacing drivers to humanoid robots working alongside nurses; lay-offs across the tech industry; and the gig work model continuing to reshape traditional employment. The programme's premise is that this moment needs documenting now, in stories that help prepare society for what comes next. WHAT THEY COMMISSION: reported stories of 800 to 1,000 words from around the world on this beat, at a fee of USD 1,000 per story. WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR, based on previous years: how new technology is transforming existing industries in unique ways and creating unexpected new pockets of employment; how technology is leading to significant job gain, job loss, and government responses to those trends; whether large demographic shifts are following the adoption of new technology or the arrival of new industries; how workplace technology is changing workplace dynamics; how new industries and tools are changing workers' incomes; and the expansion of the gig work model alongside the threats of automation. EXAMPLES of the kind of story they hope to commission, all previously published by Rest of World: workers in Chinese data factories teaching humanoid robots boring tasks; entry-level tech workers describing the AI-fuelled jobpocalypse; Microsoft and Google claiming their data centres create thousands of jobs while their permit filings say otherwise; AI helping judges close cases quickly and lawyers open them quickly; tech workers fuelling a mini baby boom in Taiwan's Silicon Valley; Dubai's robotaxi ambitions coming for human drivers; and the job brokers who run the lives of the migrant workers staffing Taiwan's chip plants. ELIGIBILITY NOTE: the programme is unable to commission reporting in India or from writers based in India for this series. HOW TO PITCH: send 2 to 3 paragraphs laying out the nutgraf of the proposal and explaining how the pitch fits the editorial mission of the programme. Indicate what sources will be used, whether any pre-reporting has been completed, what reporting has already been done on the topic at other outlets, and what the story contributes to the discourse. Pitches go to laborxtech@restofworld.org. Pitching is open on a rolling basis; no closing date is stated.
The ILIAD Intensive is a four-week, full-time, in-person program for mathematically strong researchers interested in foundational AI alignment, running in London (at LISA) and in Berkeley. It runs five days a week, 10am to 6pm, in cohorts of 15 to 30 participants. CURRICULUM, across five clusters: Alignment (decomposing the alignment problem, pretraining, post-training and deployment, reward learning); Learning (deep learning theory, singular learning theory, training dynamics); Abstractions, Representations and Interpretability (mechanistic interpretability, natural latents); Agency (reinforcement learning, decision theory, agent foundations); and Safety Guarantees (debate, steganography, the limits of interpretability). MONEY: no tuition is charged. Each participant receives a USD 5,000 travel and housing allowance, office space at the venue, and lunch and dinner five days a week. Participants book and pay for their own travel and accommodation out of the allowance. ELIGIBILITY: a strong mathematical background, typically graduate-level study or a completed degree in mathematics, physics or theoretical computer science, though mathematical maturity is weighted more heavily than specific credentials. Research experience, general competence and motivation are also assessed. Prior machine learning or alignment experience is not required. DEADLINE: no fixed closing date is published. A single application covers several upcoming programs and applicants indicate their preferred dates and locations; applications are being accepted for the October 2026 and November 2026 cohorts. HOW TO APPLY: through the application portal at iliad.ac/apply. Questions to contact@iliad.ac.
apexart's Open Calls turn a curatorial idea into a funded apexart exhibition, selected by a crowdsourced international jury of more than 600 people in 70 countries. WHO CAN SUBMIT: anyone, from anywhere, with no fees at any level: trained and student curators, artists, writers and creative people regardless of experience, background or location. HOW: a 500-word proposal for a focused, idea-driven, original group exhibition, submitted through the online form during the proposal window. TWO ANNUAL WINDOWS: every October for exhibitions in apexart's NYC space, and every February (to early March) for exhibitions taking place anywhere in the world except NYC; for the international call you must propose a location you have actually visited, with the specific venue settled after selection. SELECTION: jurors vote anonymously online (each proposal gets an equal number of views, submitter names hidden); proposals are judged on the strength of the idea and how well it is communicated, not on connections or CV. WHAT WINNERS GET: a USD 10,000 budget (USD 8,000 for expenses, up to USD 2,000 curator honorarium, plus up to USD 1,000 venue-rental match outside NYC), with apexart covering insurance, publicity, the printed brochure, the opening reception and most logistics including loan agreements and shipping, and staff working closely with the guest curator. Winning proposals become part of apexart's next exhibition season. Check the site for the current window's exact dates; submission forms only go live during the proposal periods.
BlueDot Impact runs a rolling micro-grants program for people working on concrete AI safety projects where money is the bottleneck. Grants of up to USD 10,000 (more negotiable on request) cover compute and API credits, events and meetups, research access, travel, community chapters and project tooling. The process is deliberately fast: average reply within a day, and nine in ten applicants hear back within a week, with funds typically wired upfront rather than reimbursed. Open to anyone worldwide working on a concrete AI safety project; BlueDot course alumni and active members of the AI safety and biosecurity communities are prioritized. Rolling applications, no deadline.
The Center on Long-Term Risk makes rolling grants for research that reduces long-term risks and suffering risks (s-risks) from transformative AI, including AI safety, macrostrategy, cooperative AI and decision theory work. Recipients may be individuals, charitable organizations or academic institutions; funded formats include independent research, academic scholarships and tuition, teaching buyouts and career development for promising researchers. Grant sizes vary widely, from around USD 1,300 to historical grants over USD 250,000, and decisions are made by a simple majority of the three fund managers with external experts consulted as needed. The fund is flexible on project type if it believes you can do high-quality work relevant to s-risks now or in the future. Rolling applications via the online form.
The Institute for Progress pays authors to develop short pitches (200-400 words) into full published project plans for preparing the world for advanced AI, across three areas: accelerating science, strengthening security, and adapting institutions. Authors of selected proposals receive a USD 10,000 honorarium once the full plan is published, plus IFP advisory support, funder matchmaking and help recruiting project leads; USD 1,000 bounties go to successful referrals and published new ideas. Applicants who want to build their own proposal are welcome. Rolling submissions with no deadline; early submissions are prioritized.
MAGIC Grants, a US 501(c)(3), funds applied privacy-technology research and development through its Monero Fund: cryptographic security proofs, membership proofs, privacy, UX and efficiency improvements, audits, and infrastructure in and around the Monero ecosystem. Grants run USD 5,000-20,000 equivalent and are open to all competent researchers regardless of educational attainment, as individuals or teams, internationally (standard US nonprofit due-diligence and sanctions screening applies). One of the few rolling, individual-friendly privacy-tech research funds; decisions typically arrive within three weeks.
FUTO funds open-source software that challenges the tech oligopoly: privacy tools, secure messaging, alternative operating systems, developer and creative tools. Microgrants of USD 1,000-5,000 support individuals and early-stage projects, while larger grants go to established open-source projects and nonprofits; FUTO has distributed over USD 5 million across 20 projects to date, including Signal and Tor. Applications are genuinely open and rolling (via grantapps@futo.org), with no stated geographic restrictions. Squarely in the NLnet / Prototype Fund tradition of anti-monopoly FOSS funding.
Halcyon Futures makes fast grants to exceptional people founding new organizations in AI safety and alignment, biosecurity, cybersecurity and AI governance/policy. Nonprofit seed grants run up to USD 1,000,000 to get new projects off the ground, and career transition grants up to USD 500,000 support leaders at career inflection points searching out their next big project; the org states it often wires money within days. Grantees also get mentorship, introductions and founder community events. (Halcyon also runs a separate venture capital arm; the grant tracks are non-dilutive.) Rolling; contact via the Request for Founders link or hello@halcyonfutures.org.
NOTE: this tier is institutions-only; individual researchers cannot apply in a personal capacity but can serve as principal investigators through their institution. Anthropic's earlier Economic Futures Research Awards (USD 10,000-50,000 plus USD 5,000 Claude API credits for empirical research on AI's economic impacts, rolling, with results presented within six months) are currently not accepting applications; this entry covers the larger Research Fund now open for proposals. THE FUND: Anthropic has committed USD 200 million to the Economic Futures Research Fund to support ambitious external research on interventions that prepare society for the economic impacts of AI, studying what programs could make the economy more flexible and resilient, ensure AI's benefits are shared, and minimise harm from AI-driven disruption. FIVE RESEARCH PRIORITIES: (1) AI's impact on workers at the firm and workplace level; (2) equipping people for AI-driven transitions; (3) modernising income support for displacement; (4) building worker stakes in AI-driven growth; (5) generating evidence on public investments. FUNDING: projects primarily in the USD 5-30 million range, minimum USD 1 million, flexible upward for well-scoped, high-potential-impact projects. ELIGIBILITY: accredited universities and other degree-granting institutions, independent research institutes and policy research organisations, and nonprofits with a track record of running field experiments at scale; a global fund with an initially US-centric focus. APPLICATION: via the request for proposals linked from the research agenda announcement (Google Form); no deadline published as of September 2026.
Applications for the 2027 Bertha Artivism Awards are open (confirmed 23 September 2026). The awards fund up to USD 20,000 for a one-year activist-art project made in collaboration with a social justice organization, campaign or movement, and the cohort also receives peer exchange and support from the Bertha Foundation network. Open worldwide to artists and collectives across disciplines. IMPORTANT: no closing date is published on the award page, and the cohort starts January 2027, so apply early rather than waiting; the call has historically opened around August and closed in the autumn. TO APPLY: submit the application form linked from the Artivism Awards page at berthafoundation.org.
FfAI gives grants to individuals active in visual art and culture (artists, curators, critics, researchers, writers, organizers) for independent travel and research, and to small institutions for general activities and projects. AMOUNTS: USD 10,000 for individual research grants; institutional grants typically USD 10,000 to 25,000, limited to organizations with annual budgets under USD 1,000,000 (US organizations must be IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofits; non-US organizations must be created and operated exclusively for charitable and/or educational purposes, with a signed statement from an authorized officer). NOT FUNDED: scholarships, residency programs, production of work, or major equipment; research and travel must be independent of institutional or professional obligations, and funds cannot be transferred to anyone else. PROCESS: two-stage and rolling; anyone can submit an inquiry via the form at apply.ffaiarts.net, but a full proposal must be invited; if you do not hear back within four months, the inquiry was not selected. DEADLINE: none (rolling inquiries). NOTE: there is no conventional 'open call' page; the grants page only sketches the two grant types, the guidelines page holds the amounts and rules, and the entry point is the inquiry form at apply.ffaiarts.net.
The Disability Chapter of the Awesome Foundation, a trustee-funded giving circle, awards a USD 1,000 no-strings micro-grant every month to a project benefiting disabled people: accessibility and assistive technology, arts and culture, inclusion and advocacy all qualify. ELIGIBILITY: worldwide; individuals, nonprofits or companies; applicants do NOT need to be disabled themselves, though disability-led projects get priority. NOT FUNDED: personal medical needs, rent, repairs and similar personal expenses. APPLICATION: free, via the chapter page; submissions are only accepted from the 1st through the 10th of each month, with decisions by the end of the month. DEADLINE: rolling monthly windows (1st to 10th).
Fellowship grants for a defined period of full-time work transitioning into AI safety or biosecurity: research, policy or technical output, building evidence, testing an uncertain career path, closing a skill gap, or moving into a role. Grantees also get structured advising, introductions and a peer community. BlueDot has taken over Coefficient Giving's former career development and transition funding. ELIGIBILITY: ready to work full-time on the transition (not alongside a job); evidence of recent relevant action (strong analogous work counts); a plausible plan with milestones and a theory of change linked to reducing catastrophic risk from advanced AI or biological threats. No prior BlueDot course needed. Master's and PhD programmes are generally not funded. PROCESS: a roughly 45-minute form, then routing, evidence review, interview and decision; grantees send weekly updates and a short end-of-grant report.
EA Funds closed the Long-Term Future Fund and launched the Transformative AI Fund in its place. It makes early-stage, fast grants for work on transformative AI, mainly reducing global catastrophic risks from advanced AI: training, field-building, technical research, policy analysis, forecasting, advocacy and demonstration projects, with a smaller share for other implications such as flourishing futures and digital sentience. Biosecurity and nuclear work are funded only where they intersect with AI. ELIGIBILITY: individuals, new organisations, and existing organisations starting a new project; not geographically restricted. Always open to applications via the EA Funds form.
The Mondriaan Fund's International Art Presentation grant helps art institutions and festivals abroad present current work by living visual artists from the Netherlands or the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, covering costs that raise the work's visibility and fall outside the host's regular budget. WHO: internationally recognised institutions outside the Kingdom whose main purpose is showing contemporary art (not sales); commercial galleries are excluded (they use Art Fair International). Dutch and Caribbean-Kingdom artists with at least one year of professional practice can apply for their own personal costs. WHAT IS FUNDED: return travel for the artist and guest curator (one production trip and one opening visit), up to EUR 1,000 per person for lodging, transport and insurance of the work, up to 50 percent of production costs for new site-specific commissions (the host must pay the artist a realistic fee), up to 25 percent of publication costs and up to 50 percent of film subtitling. Artists may not be asked to pay to take part. Guest curators from the Netherlands need at least two years of curatorial experience. APPLICATION: via the Mondriaan Fund's My Fund system with a plan, presentation plan, CVs, consent declaration, itemised budget excluding VAT, quotes above EUR 1,000 and visual documentation; processing takes about three months. DEADLINE: rolling.
Pro Helvetia supports presentations outside Switzerland of contemporary artists, photographers and architects from Switzerland, with applications generally made by the host institution or festival. WHO: established cultural institutions and organisers with international reach based outside Switzerland; exhibitions normally run at least four weeks, which does not apply to festivals and similar events. WHAT IS FUNDED: transport and insurance, equipment rental, materials for temporary artworks, fees for the participating artists, photographers and architects from Switzerland, and their economy-class travel (no accommodation). TIMELINE: requests up to CHF 25,000 can be submitted year-round with a decision within eight weeks; CHF 25,001 to 50,000 year-round with a decision within four months; over CHF 50,000 by 1 March, 1 June, 1 September or 1 December. Projects need a clear connection to Switzerland, and only complete, on-time applications are considered. APPLICATION: via the Pro Helvetia online portal. DEADLINE: rolling (fixed dates for requests over CHF 50,000).
Pro Helvetia funds thematic group exhibitions of design from Switzerland and knowledge exchange at public specialist events abroad, such as symposia and round tables, organised by institutions outside Switzerland. WHO: recognised design institutions and established festivals or design weeks outside Switzerland. WHAT YOU GET: up to CHF 10,000 for transport and insurance costs and economy-class return travel for participants from Switzerland (accommodation not covered). APPLICATION: year-round via the Pro Helvetia online portal; the project can start eight weeks after submission and decisions come within eight weeks. DEADLINE: rolling.