Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Opens 16th Round of Grand Challenges Explorations

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SEATTLE (September 9, 2015) – The Grand Challenges Explorations grant program seeks bold ideas from innovative thinkers to solve the greatest challenges in global health and development. One great idea. Two pages to fill out. $100,000 to prove it.

Launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2008, Grand Challenges Explorations has already awarded grants to 1100 researchers from 60 countries. The grant program is open to innovators from any discipline; at any level of experience, from student to tenured professor; and from any organization, including colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations, and for-profit companies.

Grand Challenges Explorations is a streamlined program. Two-page applications are submitted online, and winning grants are chosen approximately six months from the submission deadline. No preliminary data is required – we simply reward bold ideas that show great promise. Initial grants are for $100,000 each. Projects showing success have the opportunity to receive additional funding of up to $1 million.

We are currently accepting applications for the next round of Grand Challenges Explorations until November 11, 2015 on the following topics:

  • Novel Approaches to Characterizing and Tracking the Global Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance
  • Explore New Solutions in Global Health Priority Areas
  • Addressing Newborn and Infant Gut Health Through Bacteriophage- Mediated Microbiome Engineering
  • Explore New Ways to Measure Delivery and Use of Digital Financial Services Data

For more information about Grand Challenges Explorations, please visit gcgh.grandchallenges.org.

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

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