Who funds evolutionary biology research?

We count 984 funded evolutionary biology projects, active between 2019 and 2034, from 9 funders. The most came from EU · ERC (457 projects), EU · MSCA (218 projects) and Wellcome (58 projects). The median award is $1.6M, across the 950 of 984 projects that list an amount.

Funded projects

984

Funders

9

Median award

$1.6M

Open calls now

5

Top funders of evolutionary biology research

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

Open evolutionary biology funding calls

5 open calls mention evolutionary biology today.

• Consolidation of the research infrastructure landscape – individual support for evolution, long-term sustainability and emerging needs of pan-European research infrastructures
  European Commission · Horizon Europe · Research Infrastructures€3,000,000 – €4,500,000Deadline: June 15, 2027 ·
• SSE Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize
  Society for the Study of EvolutionNot specifiedDeadline: December 1, 2026 ·
• SICB Libbie H. Hyman Memorial Scholarship
  Society for Integrative and Comparative BiologyNot specifiedDeadline: February 14, 2027 ·
• Defense Sciences Office (DSO) Office-wide BAA
  DARPA - Defense Sciences OfficeNot specifiedDeadline: August 27, 2027 ·
• Long Term Research in Environmental Biology
  U.S. National Science FoundationUp to $600,000Deadline: Not listed
  Real odds: About 1 in 4 funded (24% · NSF Division of Environmental Biology (DEB), all proposals, FY2024)

Real odds

• About 1 in 4 funded · 24% · NSF Division of Environmental Biology (DEB), all proposals, FY2024 · NSF funding rates (directorate page)

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

Forecast: announced, not open yet

6 forecast calls on evolutionary biology. Funders publish forecasts before a call opens; you can't apply to these yet, and dates can change.

• ForecastASN Student Research Awards
  American Society of NaturalistsUp to $2,000Opening date not announced
• ForecastSSE Graduate Research Excellence Grants (Lewontin and Rosemary Grant Awards)
  Society for the Study of EvolutionNot specifiedOpening date not announced
• ForecastSSE Presidents' Award for Outstanding Dissertation Paper
  Society for the Study of EvolutionNot specifiedOpening date not announced
• ForecastSSE W. D. Hamilton Award
  Society for the Study of EvolutionNot specifiedOpening date not announced
• ForecastGSA James F. Crow Early Career Researcher Award
  Genetics Society of AmericaNot specifiedOpening date not announced
• ForecastSICB Grants-in-Aid of Research (GIAR)
  Society for Integrative and Comparative BiologyNot specifiedOpening date not announced

Funded evolutionary biology projects

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

• Decoding Competition in the Brain
  Wellcome · £2,900,000 · ends 2034
• Behavioural and resistance genomics in an invasive urban malaria vector in Africa.
  Wellcome · £1,939,522 · ends 2034
• Harnessing Comparative Genomics to Uncover the Principles of Somatic Evolution and Healthy Ageing
  Wellcome · £1,252,960 · ends 2034
• Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) UM1 at Columbia University
  NIH · NCATS · $10,714,971 · ends 2033
• TRANSCEND: Cosmology and astrophysics from a census of the transient Universe
  UKRI · STFC · £3,889,891 · ends 2032
• The development, evolution, and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats to the future of human health
  USDA · $980,000 · ends 2031
• Immune mechanisms shaping airborne influenza transmission
  NIH · NIAID · $3,987,706 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Investigating the dynamic interplay between DNA methylation and bacterial evolution
  NSF · BIO · $1,347,897 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Understanding the Inner Mechanism of Transformer Neural Operators
  NSF · MPS · $403,875 · ends 2031
• CAREER: Using recombination in a hybrid zone to interrogate pathogen evolutionary genetics
  NSF · BIO · $1,099,500 · 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 “evolution or evolutionary”. 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.