2023 Catalyst and Discovery awards now accepting applications

Early-career faculty and new cross-divisional teams are invited to submit proposals for two of Johns Hopkins University's major initiatives.

The Catalyst and Discovery awards, launched in 2015, support university faculty who are collaborating in the pursuit of the undiscovered through bold interdisciplinary innovations.

Applications for the 2023 round must be submitted by Feb. 15.

The Johns Hopkins University Catalyst Awards of up to $75,000 are designed to help early-career faculty undertaking exceptional research or creative endeavors launch their promising careers during the crucial years when startup funds are depleted, and external funding or other support may be elusive. The awards are available to faculty members appointed to a full-time tenure-track or tenure track equivalent faculty position within no fewer than three years and no more than 10 years, as of July 1, 2023.

The Johns Hopkins University Discovery Awards focus on cross-university faculty-led research and discovery. These awards of up to $100,000 are intended to spark new interactions among faculty from across the university. Teams use these funds to get started while they seek an externally funded large-scale grant or cooperative grant.

Details and applications are on the Office of Research website.

In October, the 74 Catalyst and 76 Discovery awards teams from the two most recent cycles were celebrated at an event at the George Peabody Library that gathered scholars and researchers representing disciplines and divisions across the university. Their work encompassed such endeavors as enabling robots to "feel" through improved tactile sensors, studying the long-term impacts of chemical warfare on survivors, exploring Asian identity and representation on the American opera stage, and developing new measures to better advance Indigenous health resources.

The Catalyst awardees alone represented 50 departments, including Biostatistics, Classics, Environmental Health and Engineering, Composition, Neurosurgery, and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.