The term Research Funding refers to grants for any type of research, whether it be scientific and technological research or research in the social sciences. Like other grants, funding is awarded through a competitive process wherein applicants and their proposals are assessed based on their capabilities and experience as well as the stipulations of the particular grant being sought. Grants may be awarded by the government, by coroporations, and by private foundations and trusts. Some research is also funded by charitable organizations and may be applied to such areas as Alheimer's Disease, many forms of cancer, AIDS, and malaria.
There is a lot of competition for all kinds of medical research grants. However, there also a lot of grants and money available from all types of organizations noted in the opening section of this page. You have the best chance of winning a grant award if you focus your initial efforts on finding all the grants currently offered that are a close match with your interest, experience, and specific capabilities.
The federal government is the largest source of research grants. In fact, within the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the NIG - National Institute of Health - provides more research funding for medical research than any other organization in the world. Per the department's web site, the department was allocated $8.2 billion in “extramural funding to help stimulate the economy through the support and advancement of scientific research.”
You will find lots of information at Grants.gov as well as at the sites of specific agencies. Do a web search using the term “grants” and your area of specialty and you will get many results. Grants.gov provides excellent resources and Advanced Search capabilities and is always the place to start for grants from the government.
As noted above, when looking for a government grant you should always start with grants.gov. Go to individual categories or simply use the Advanced Search function. There you can browse by category or do very specific searches.
Do web searches in your area of interest – use a variety of search engines, they often provide different results. Use your contacts from school or career as well as your social network. Carefully review the web sites of universities, non-profits and corporations that are related to your field. Think outside the box – there is an organization called NFL Charities that sponsors research and grants in the areas of sports medical research as well as in a variety of youth initiatives. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given over three quarters of a million dollars for research regarding unconventional approaches to world problems, such as using chewing gum to detect malaria biomarkers in saliva, as reported in the Seattle Times and many other news outlets.
Be creative, don't limit yourself as to where you look. Do all the normal searches, and don't forget social networks like Facebook and Linkedin. As an additional source for ideas, check out the bottom of each page at Go Free Government Money for real-time announcements of newly released grants.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Research Funding" as well as other cited sources.