Venture and Seed Funds

The Institute breaks down traditional academic boundaries across the University of Chicago community. One way it does this is by supporting early-stage and interdisciplinary research across the University through two funds.

• The Seed Fund fosters the advancement of early-stage research that explores a wide range of climate and energy topics. This includes providing research awards to both traditional climate and energy researchers and those who do not typically study climate and energy topics but who see connections between climate and energy and their areas of expertise.
• The Venture Fund fosters an ecosystem of scholars from across UChicago around a central challenge to conduct more advanced research. These projects often include external collaborators such as government or industry entities to pilot and scale real-world solutions and provide impactful tools.

Since the launch of this effort in 2024, the Institute has awarded funding to nearly 50 faculty working on 28 innovative, ambitious research projects across a wide range of research areas. This funding has served as a catalyst for many projects, allowing them to scale and successfully attract additional external support. Explore our current projects below.

Applications are now open. Details about the request for proposals and the application process are available here.

Key Dates

April 19, 2026 – Application deadline

June 2026 – Announcement of awards

July 2026 – Funds released to award winners