AI-Informed Discovery and Inquiry Seed Grants 2026
The Johns Hopkins Data Science and AI Institute is pleased to announce the continuation of programmatic support in the area of AI-informed discovery and inquiry for FY 2026. This program will provide funding for data science- or AI-driven proposals led by Krieger School of Arts and Sciences (KSAS) faculty.
Eligibility
All tenure-track and research faculty in KSAS can serve as principal investigators or co-investigators and are eligible to apply. If the proposal involves multiple investigators, one of the investigators must be identified as the principal investigator, with the rest being co-investigators.
Principal investigators must have their primary home in KSAS. Co-investigators can be from any school at JHU. MS/PhD students, undergraduates, and teaching faculty are ineligible to apply for this funding, and proposals from such individuals will be considered non-responsive.
Principal investigators can submit no more than one proposal as lead PI. Seed grant awardees from the last funding cycle are not eligible for funding in this cycle.
Deadlines
Call for Proposals: September 2, 2025
Proposal Submission: October 6, 2025
Proposal Awards Announced: November 5, 2025 (start date is November 15, 2025)
Funds Spent By: June 30, 2026
Final Project Report: September 1, 2026
Proposal Format
Title Page: Please include proposal title, investigators, with their departments, schools, and email addresses.
Narrative: This should not exceed three pages. This page count does not include figures and their captions (at most one page) or references (at most 10), if applicable. Please use 11-point font. The narrative must include the following:
Statement of the Problem or Area of Investigation. Proposals must address how the incorporation of AI/ML or data science tools will accelerate understanding in the investigators’ areas of research.
Project Goals/Objectives and Methods. Include the following: Research objective(s) and goal; task(s) description(s); methods, including AI or data science techniques.
Attractiveness for Future Funding. State how this project will help the proposing team attract new or more external funding following the close of the seed grant project phase. Which funding agencies and programs will be approached with future proposals.
Impact. Describe how this project will impact their research and/or the broader JHU research community.
Budget and Budget Justification: Budget must not exceed $25,000 in direct costs and must be spent over a period up to eight months, November 15, 2025, through June 30, 2026.
Note: Facilities, administrative costs, and indirect costs cannot be charged to this grant.
Curriculum Vitae: This should not exceed more than two pages for each investigator. Please use a font no smaller than 10.5-point.
Proposal Submission Processes
Seed grant proposals should be submitted in PDF format by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, for internal technical and financial review. Please email applications to: [email protected].
Two awards are expected to be made.
Criteria for Selection
Novelty and potential impact of the implementation of AI/DS within the domain of expertise of the primary investigator.
Preliminary evidence that the project will be viable in this unusually short funding period through a well-written “flight plan” of tasks.
Evidence of plan to secure follow-on funding.
Post-Award Requirements
Recipients will be required to submit a final progress report. The report should be no more than three pages describing use of the funding and work completed; figures welcome and not included in the page count. Please provide a list of any proposals submitted to external funding agencies or foundations, and/or papers submitted or in preparation. Please submit the report to [email protected], with a copy to Professor Paulette Clancy by Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026.
Contact
Please address any questions on the program to Professor Paulette Clancy, research director for discovery and inquiry of the Data Science and AI Institute.