Life Sciences
The John Templeton Foundation's Life Sciences grant funds research on emergent properties and genetic mechanisms underlying life in natural and synthetic systems.
Funder: John Templeton Foundation
Due Dates (Anticipated): March 2027 (Online Funding Inquiry submission deadline, projected)
Funding Amounts: No explicit minimum or maximum; typical project durations up to 3 years; budgets must be well-justified and appropriate for project scope.
Summary: Supports innovative research into the mechanisms, emergent properties, and genetic foundations of life in natural and synthetic systems, with emphasis on agency, consciousness, intelligence, and genomics.
Key Information: This is a forecasted opportunity—dates and guidance may change; check the program page for updates.
Description
The John Templeton Foundation's Life Sciences funding area supports experimental, theoretical, and applied research aimed at uncovering the biological mechanisms underlying life in its many forms. The Foundation encourages proposals ranging from exploratory pilot studies to large-scale, transformative projects that advance fundamental understanding or develop new tools and frameworks. Research is supported in two principal sub-areas:
- Emergent Properties: Projects targeting complex phenomena such as agency, consciousness, and intelligence—especially those not fully explained by a system's individual components. The Foundation is particularly interested in interdisciplinary work, development of rigorous methodologies, and projects grounded in real biological data that produce empirically testable predictions.
- Genetics and Genomics: Research that elucidates genetic and regulatory mechanisms, particularly as they relate to protein activity, health, disease, and crop resilience. Foundational studies that enable future translational or applied research are prioritized.
A portion of funding is dedicated to projects aligned with the Foundation-wide Intelligence Venture, but connection to this initiative is not required for eligibility.
