FeME Seed Funds

College student holding her robotic toy at robotics classroom at school

FeME Seed Funds are designed to spark innovative research and solutions for the pressing challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Through targeted calls, FeME invites partners to develop new approaches aligned with our six Failure Modes of Engineering. We support early-stage, boundary-pushing projects that address critical gaps in current practice and advance a more inclusive, resilient, and adaptable engineering future. FeME Seed Funds provide catalytic support to help promising ideas grow into impactful, real-world solutions for a just and sustainable world.

Current Open Calls

 

CLOSED – The Challenge Discovery Seed Fund (Stage 1)  

This seed fund supports interdisciplinary teams to explore real-world engineering challenges through discovery visits and early co-creation with communities and FeME Challenge Partners. This is a four-stage programme. Awards of up to £2,000 per team for Stage 1 of the programme support travel, engagement activities, and accessibility/care costs. This fund is supported by Failure Mode 2: Inspired Engineering and Failure Mode 6: Agile Engineering.

  • Deadline: 6 February 2026 at 5pm GMT (previouly 31 January 2026)
Download Fund Guidelines

CLOSED – Data for Change Training Fund

This seed fund supports projects that close key training gaps in climate resilience, environmental justice, and inclusive engineering – especially in low-resource and Global South contexts. Awards of up to £5,000 support training delivered between April and August 2026. This fund is supported by Failure Mode 3: Connected Engineering.

  • Deadline: 13 February 2026 at 5pm GMT
Download Fund Guidelines

CLOSED – Represent and Innovate Seed Fund 

This fund enables early-career researchers, practitioners, and community partners to co-create inclusive engineering innovations that address inequalities in climate action, sustainability and just transitions. Funding (£2,000–£5,000) supports prototypes, participatory design work, toolkits, creative outputs, community-led methods, datasets, and policy influence. This fund is supported by Failure Mode 4: Inclusive Engineering. 

Download Fund Guidelines
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