No matter the training stage, funding is an essential aspect of academic life. Below, please find a non-comprehensive list on how to obtain funding and funding opportunites within and outside the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.
1. How to write grants
The Stanford Grant Writing Academy is a great resource for anyone planning or currently writing an application for a fellowship or grant. From the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to an NIH K Award, the Stanford Grant Writing Academy offers workshops for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to help develop their application action plan, learn how the application components fit together, and receive feedback and guidance.
Additionally, we recommend the Northwestern CLIMB website which provides a wealth of resources for grant writing.
2. Funding opportunities at Stanford (Intramural)
The links below represent a non-comprehensive list of different Stanford programs by trainee stage.
High School
SMYSP, Office of STEM Outreach
Undergraduate Students
NeURO, BioX, Simons Collaboration, Research Exploration Program, SSRP (summer undergraduate research fellowship for undergraduates from other institutions)
Graduate Students
MBCT, NeuroTech, SIGF, DARE
Transition - Graduate Student to Postdoctoral
PRISM, Propel
Postdoctoral
Interdisciplinary Scholar Awards, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs Fellowship List, Seed Funding
3. Funding opportunities outside Stanford (Extramural)
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Who: Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Fellows
Type: Fellowships, Grants
Description: The NIH funds a large amount of the research performed at Stanford. Trainees are encouraged to apply for NIH funding at all stages as this is an aspect of academia that requires practice and perseverance. Stanford provides a great number of resources to help trainees navigate the progress, including the Grant Writing Academy bootcamps and other workshops, and the office of Research Management Group (RMG) has detailed guidelines about the submission processes.
The RMG keeps a detailed list of NIH-specific fellowships. Additionally, the NIH provides research supplements for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, with an aim to promote diversity. There are additional diversity grants that exist to promote the diversification of the biomedical scientist workforce, and the GWA offers workshops on these too.
Research Management Group's Aggregated Lists
Who: Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Fellows
Type: Fellowships
Description: The RMG keeps an updated list of searchable fellowship funding opportunities by discipline, stage, and deadline. These included government funding agencies like NIH/NSF and private foundations.
Who: Graduate Students, Transition Awards, Postdoctoral Fellows, Faculty
Type: Grants and Awards
Description: The RMG keeps an updated list of searchable grants and Career Advancement Awards such as HHMI Hanna H. Gray.
