Digital Science Catalyst Grant
The Digital Science Catalyst Grant supports early-stage teams and innovators building trustworthy AI agents for multi-step research workflows, to advance research and strengthen its impact on society.
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Funder: Digital Science
Due Dates: October 5, 2026 (application deadline)
Funding Amounts: Up to £25,000, equity-free; may be split among recipients
Summary: Supports early-stage, trustworthy AI agents that carry out multi-step research workflows.
Key Information: Proposals must explain how the agent’s actions are governed, traceable and accountable.
Description
Digital Science’s Catalyst Grant supports early-stage software tools and technologies that advance research and strengthen its impact on society. The 2026 theme, “Agentic Workflows You Can Trust,” focuses on AI tools, agents and platforms that plan, execute and review work across multiple steps rather than answer a single prompt.
The program seeks tools embedded in workflows researchers, institutions and publishers already use, with provenance, audit trails, governance controls and accountability built in. Projects may address writing, discovery, evidence synthesis, peer review, funding decisions or research integrity. Examples include citation-verification agents, governed evidence synthesis, reviewer matching and auditable manuscript screening.
