Grand Challenges Explorations Round 15 open ($ 1,000,000)

The Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative invites applications for Round 15 of its Grand Challenges Explorations grant (GCE). Deadline of submission is May 13, 2015. Phase I grants of $ 100,000 will be awarded with an opportunity for successful projects to receive a follow-on Phase II grant of $ 1,000,000. GCE is open to non-profit organizations, for-profit companies, international organizations, government agencies and academic institutions. Topics for Grand Challenges Explorations Round 15 are:

Addressing Newborn and Infant Gut Health Through Bacteriophage-Mediated Microbiome Engineering;

Explore New Ways to Measure Delivery and Use of Digital Financial Services Data;

Surveillance Tools, Diagnostics and an Artificial Diet to Support New Approaches to Vector Control;

New Approaches for Addressing Outdoor/Residual Malaria Transmission;

New Ways to Reduce Childhood Pneumonia Deaths Through Delivery of Timely Effective Treatment;

Enable Merchant Acceptance of Mobile Money Payments.


GCE supports hundreds of early-stage research projects - including many ideas that have never before been tested – and scientists and innovators from a wide range of disciplines and regions. The Explorations initiative funds innovative ideas that could lead to new vaccines, diagnostics, drugs, and other technologies targeting diseases that claim millions of lives every year, as well as improvements and innovations in agriculture development and others of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation priority areas. GCE is an extension of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s commitment to the Grand Challenges in Global Health, which was launched in 2003 to accelerate the discovery of new technologies to improve global health.