Who funds cognition research?

We count 583 funded cognition projects, active between 2019 and 2034, from 7 funders. The most came from EU · ERC (154 projects), NIH · NIA (109 projects) and Wellcome (85 projects). The median award is $2.6M, across the 551 of 583 projects that list an amount.

Funded projects

583

Funders

7

Median award

$2.6M

Open calls now

10

Top funders of cognition research

Projects whose title or summary mentions cognition. Median award: of the projects that list an amount, in US dollars; “—” when fewer than 3 do.

Open cognition funding calls

10 open calls mention cognition today.

• DeepRAP: Deep Reasoning, Abstraction & Planning towards trustworthy Cognitive AI Systems
  European Commission · Horizon Europe · European Innovation Council€500,000 – €4,000,000Deadline: October 28, 2026 ·
• Cognitive Science-based Technologies
  National Science Foundation (SBIR/STTR)Not specifiedDeadline: July 7, 2027 ·
• HCI to Enhance Human Cognitive Capacity
  National Science Foundation (SBIR/STTR)Not specifiedDeadline: July 7, 2027 ·
• Other Learning and Cognition Technologies
  National Science Foundation (SBIR/STTR)Not specifiedDeadline: July 7, 2027 ·
• Learning and Cognition Technologies
  National Science Foundation (SBIR/STTR)Not specifiedDeadline: July 7, 2027 ·
• Alzheimer's Drug-Development Program (U01 Clinical Trial Optional)
  National Institutes of HealthUp to $1,500,000Deadline: November 5, 2027 ·
• Utilizing Invasive Recording and Stimulating Opportunities in Humans to Advance Neural Circuitry Understanding of Mental Health Disorders (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)
  National Institutes of HealthUp to $200,000Deadline: January 7, 2028 ·
  Real odds: About 1 in 9 funded (11% · NIH R21 (exploratory/developmental), all NIH institutes, FY2025)
• Utilizing Invasive Recording and Stimulating Opportunities in Humans to Advance Neural Circuitry Understanding of Mental Health Disorders (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
  National Institutes of HealthNot specifiedDeadline: January 7, 2028 ·
  Real odds: About 1 in 8 funded (13% · NIH R01-equivalent grants, all NIH institutes, FY2025)
• NIH Brain Development Cohorts (NBDC) and Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study Biospecimen Access (X01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
  National Institutes of HealthNot specifiedDeadline: April 17, 2029 ·
• Collaboratory to Advance Mathematics Education and Learning (CAMEL) for K-12
  U.S. National Science Foundation$1,000,000 – $1,500,000Deadline: Rolling (no fixed deadline listed)

Real odds

• About 1 in 9 funded · 11% · NIH R21 (exploratory/developmental), all NIH institutes, FY2025 · NIH Data Book, report 202
• About 1 in 8 funded · 13% · NIH R01-equivalent grants, all NIH institutes, FY2025 · NIH Data Book, report 29

Published success rates for the programs behind the open calls above: the share of applications the funder funded, program-wide, not for this topic.

Funded cognition projects

A sample, latest start first, at most three per program.

• Seeing inside the brain: the in-tissue structure of living and postmortem Alzheimer’s disease human donor brain by high-resolution cryo-electron tomography.
  Wellcome · £4,800,000 · ends 2034
• Neural Mechanisms of Cognitive Control in Cortico-Basal Ganglia Circuits
  Wellcome · £4,000,000 · ends 2034
• Cognitive Rewards: Mechanisms, Development & Well-Being
  Wellcome · £3,778,510 · ends 2034
• CAREER: Using Novel Neural Measures to Investigate Attention Bias
  NSF · SBE · $884,290 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Vehicle adaptive shared control: Predicting human driver cognitive and intent states for personalized control decisions by automated vehicles
  NSF · CISE · $613,461 · ends 2031
• Nonhuman Primate-Derived Enhancers for Studying Neural Circuit Functions
  NIH · NIMH · $4,028,357 · ends 2031
• Impact of Amyloid and Tau on the Aging Brain: The Harvard Aging Brain Study
  NIH · NIA · $4,832,454 · ends 2031
• Healthy Aging and Senile Dementia
  NIH · NIA · $6,374,287 · ends 2031
• Cognition & Hippocampal/Cortical Systems in Aging
  NIH · NIA · $3,501,771 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Cognitive and Affective Pathways of Children's Ecological Science Learning
  NSF · EDU · $1,370,486 · ends 2031

How we count

Funded projects come from public award records (NIH RePORTER, NSF, EU CORDIS, UKRI Gateway to Research, Wellcome, the Gates Foundation, DOE, NASA and USDA NIFA) whose title or summary matches “cognition or cognitive”. NIH lists each budget year separately; one project counts once. Amounts are as the funder lists them; medians use only projects that list one, in US dollars. Open calls and forecasts are from our listings of October 28, 2026. A project can mention a topic without being mainly about it, so treat the counts as a guide to who funds the area.