Cabot Institute Seedcorn Fund

Giraffe eating leaves at Bristol Zoo Project.

The Cabot Institute Seedcorn Fund allows us to support bold, ambitious, and impactful ideas that transcend disciplinary boundaries.

This call invites new ideas from our research community – those that might not receive funding from traditional sources, but which show real intellectual or practical promise.

In 2025 we launched the Accelerator Fund for recent recipients of our Seedcorn funding. The Accelerator Fund enables award holders to build on successful pilot projects to lay a solid foundation for major grants from external funding.

Applicants benefit not only from the funding to deliver their project, but also the support from Cabot Institute staff to communicate and develop their ideas. Crucially, these projects are focussed on creating something new, from new connections across disciplines to new solutions for society.

We do a lot with a little

With £40,000 of donations, this year’s Seedcorn Fund has supported researchers to develop their careers, facilitated new projects amongst award-winning scientists, pump-primed future research proposals, established global networks, and supported real-world impacts.

Find out more about the Seedcorn Fund projects that have been supported by donors like yourself.