Essential Open Source Software for Science

Open source software is critical to modern scientific research, advancing biology and medicine while providing reproducibility and transparency. Hundreds of software packages, libraries, and applications have become essential tools for research—so much so that many researchers could not continue their work without them. Despite its importance, even the most widely-used research software often lacks dedicated funding for maintenance, growth, development, and community engagement. Also, those who work on such software often lack credit and recognition.

In an effort to support open source software for science, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), the Wellcome Trust (Wellcome), and The Kavli Foundation (Kavli) (“The Funders”) seek letters of intent to apply for funding for software projects that are essential to biomedical research. Ideal applications will have previously demonstrated impact, currently show potential for continued improvement, and expect to deliver added value to the biomedical research community through the proposed activities.

The Funders have partnered on this request for applications because of their shared commitment to supporting software critical to biomedical research. Although the process will use CZI infrastructure (e.g., application portal), The Funders are equal partners in this call. All applications will be considered by all funders. Selected proposals will be funded by either CZI, Wellcome, or Kavli, and the decision of which funder funds what will be made based on the corpus of selected proposals, their domain, and their alignment with funder goals. The decisions on which Funder supports a proposal will be made after evaluation and selection of the full proposals. Funders will provide requirements and information for the successful applicant at the time of award notification. All grants, regardless of funder, will be for two years and can be used to fund a variety of eligible activities. 

For this Request for Applications, the Funders seek to support software tools across a broad range of biomedical fields, including (but not limited to)

• Imaging
• Single-Cell Biology
• Neuroscience
• Bioinformatics
• Genomics
• Structural Biology 
• Clinical Biology
• Infectious Disease
• Data Visualization
• Data Analysis, Machine Learning, and AI
• Data Management and Workflows

Applications can request funding between $50,000 USD and $200,000 USD total costs per year for two years (inclusive of up to 15% for indirect/overhead costs) for an overall amount requested between $100,000 USD and $400,000 USD total costs for the two-year duration of the grant.

For complete program guidelines, application instructions and eligibility requirements, see the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative website.