Digital Science
Applications are open for the Digital Science Catalyst Grant 2026, an international funding opportunity supporting early stage innovation in software tools and technologies that can advance research and create meaningful change. This year's programme focuses on Agentic Workflows You Can Trust, supporting new artificial intelligence tools, agents and platforms that can perform complex research tasks while maintaining strong standards of provenance, governance and accountability.
The grant is offered by Digital Science and is open to individuals, startups and research teams from around the world. Applicants can submit an early stage concept, prototype or working product. A finished product, established revenue or complete business plan is not required.
For 2026, Digital Science is particularly interested in artificial intelligence systems that can do more than respond to individual prompts. The programme seeks technologies capable of planning, executing and reviewing multiple steps within research workflows while remaining transparent and trustworthy.
Potential applications can address different parts of the research lifecycle, including research writing, discovery, evidence synthesis, peer review, funding decisions, researcher identity and research integrity. The programme is particularly interested in solutions that provide audit trails, governance controls and clear provenance.
The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is a global initiative that has supported innovative software tools and technologies designed to advance research. Now in its sixteenth year, the programme provides early support to promising ideas that could improve the way research is conducted, communicated, evaluated or funded.
The 2026 theme reflects the rapid development of artificial intelligence from systems that generate or analyse information into systems that can carry out complex sequences of tasks.
Digital Science is looking for innovators developing agentic workflows that can operate across multiple stages of research. These systems should be useful to researchers, institutions, publishers, funders or other participants in the research ecosystem.
• Up to £25,000 in equity free funding.
• Funding that can be split across more than one recipient.
• Support for early stage research technology innovation.
• Advice from professionals with extensive experience in research software and technology.
• Introductions to relevant experts and potential collaborators.
• Feedback that can help strengthen the proposed technology or business direction.
• Opportunities to connect with innovators and previous Catalyst Grant winners.
• Greater visibility within the research technology ecosystem.
• Opportunity to develop tools that can improve research workflows.
• Support for technologies that combine artificial intelligence with provenance, governance and accountability.
The 2026 Catalyst Grant focuses on trustworthy agentic artificial intelligence across the research lifecycle.
• Trusted authorship and research writing.
• Research discovery.
• Evidence synthesis.
• Enterprise research workflows.
• Funding and institutional decision making.
• Researcher identity and disambiguation.
• Peer review.
• Publication workflows.
• Research integrity.
• Citation and figure provenance.
• Automated reviewer matching.
• Conflict of interest screening.
• Grant portfolio intelligence.
• Autonomous research workflows with audit trails.
The Catalyst Grant is open internationally.
• Individuals from anywhere in the world.
• Startups developing early stage research technologies.
• Research teams developing innovative technology.
• Founders and innovators with early stage ideas.
• Applicants with a well formed concept.
• Applicants with a prototype.
• Applicants with a working product.
• Projects developing agentic workflows connected to research.
• Teams working on technology that addresses a genuine problem in the research ecosystem.
Applicants should propose technology that fits the 2026 theme of Agentic Workflows You Can Trust.
The proposed solution should ideally:
• Operate across multiple steps.
• Plan, execute and review tasks.
• Address a real problem within the research lifecycle.
• Be embedded within workflows used by researchers, institutions, publishers, funders or related organisations.
• Include appropriate approaches to provenance.
• Consider governance and accountability.
• Have potential to create meaningful improvements in research.
• Demonstrate a credible path toward further development.
Projects may be at the concept, prototype or working product stage.
Applicants are required to submit a proposal of no more than 1,500 words. The proposal should provide enough information for the judges to understand the problem, proposed solution, team and potential impact.
The application should address:
• The problem being solved.
• The proposed workflow and approach.
• How trust, auditability and governance are addressed.
• The team and relevant experience.
• The current stage of development.
• Alternatives and competitors.
• The longer term vision.
• The project's fit with Digital Science.
• The proposed budget and use of funding.
Applicants with a demonstration, prototype or working product are encouraged to provide a link so that the judges can better understand the technology.
Applications are assessed across seven main areas.
• Team.
• Problem.
• Solution.
• Competitors.
• Market.
• Progress to date.
• Fit with Digital Science.
Digital Science
End of Content.
Do you have a scholarship, job opening, grant, fellowship, or event you’d like to share with a wider audience? Opportunity Desk gives you the platform to reach thousands of students and young professionals who are actively seeking opportunities like yours.
At Opportunity Desk, we go beyond simply sharing opportunities, we make them accessible, relevant, and tailored to your growth journey.
© 2023 Created with Kredibble Creatives & IT Agency
Be the first to comment on this opportunity.