Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Ocean Discovery Venture Fund will stimulate and foster the creativity, innovation, and collaboration required to push the frontiers of basic ocean science. Designed to provide opportunities outside the limits of conventional funding and support high-risk, high-reward pioneering research projects for individuals as well as interdisciplinary teams, the fund will encourage the fuller development of promising new ideas, emerging concepts, and novel engineering techniques. The Fund may be augmented with internal funds, with a goal to maximize venture investment over time.
PURPOSE AND FOCUS:
The fund will support the Institution’s highest priority cutting-edge research leading to transformations in understanding of our planet’s one and only ocean.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE:
Members of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s scientific, engineering, and technical staff, including postdocs and graduate students.
APPLICATION AND REVIEW:
The Ocean Discovery Venture Fund will be managed by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Director of Research. Proposals will be requested from principal investigators working on fundamental science and engineering questions. Criteria for selection will be defined clearly in program descriptions and will include a peer-review process involving panel discussions and ratings following NSF standards.
TYPE OF SUPPORT:
Awards will be made to support institutionally established priority initiatives, joint interdisciplinary efforts, innovative technology development, and independent research to strike out in new directions or synthesize a body of work. Award size varies from $50,000–$1,000,000 and ranges from 1–3 year timeframes.