FAQ: Spring 2025 Open Call

Q.   What is the purpose of the open call?

The Mission Directors of the Climate Project at MIT are launching this open call to engage the broader MIT community in extending or building capability for cross-mission needs.

Each theme was selected because it cuts across the six missions of the Climate Project and encompasses critical areas where progress is needed to set the foundation for future ideas, projects, and innovations.

Through this call, the Mission Directors will fund researchers to develop a full proposal related to the two themes within a six-month period. At the end of the six months, proposals will be assessed for follow-on funding.

Q. The proposed areas are quite broad. How will they be narrowed?

The Mission Directors will narrow the focus areas based on the topics discussed in the workshops and identified in submitted expressions of interest. In particular, subthemes will be chosen where there is sufficient synergy among the submitted expressions of interest. The bullets provided in the theme descriptions provide potential areas of priority for the Mission Directors that can be directed towards applications or use cases based on researcher expertise.

Q. Does the call include topics that are not directly mentioned in the bulleted examples?

Yes, the Mission Directors are eager to hear from broad expertise across campus on the areas proposed in the call even if an area is not explicitly called out. Individuals are welcome to reach out with specific topics of interest in advance of submission as desired.

Q.   Who is eligible to respond to this open call?

All principal investigators at MIT are eligible to participate in this open call.

Q.   What are the April workshops for? Are they mandatory for participation in this call?

Attendance at a workshop is encouraged but not required to be able to submit an expression of interest.

At the workshops, attendees will:

• Learn more about how each theme connects to each Mission
• Provide input into subtheme priorities based on researcher expertise and interest
• Engage with others in the community who are interested in these topics and develop out specific ideas for submission

Q.   What is required for the expression of interest?

The expression of interest has a max of 2-pages, and is aimed at identifying areas and not proposing specific projects.

Q.   If I complete the expression of interest form, will I receive funding?

Responding does not guarantee funding. All individuals who complete the application in the MIT Funding Opportunities Portal (InfoReady) will be considered for project teams.

Selected projects will then receive funding for an initial period of approximately six months. Follow-on funding may be available at the conclusion of this six-month period, for a period of up to two years.

Q.   Can I submit a response to each of the two themes?

Yes. A PI can submit one response per theme.

Q.   How will teams be formed?

Teams do not need to be formed upon submission of Expressions of Interest. Based on the submitted expressions of interest, the Mission Directors will suggest multi-disciplinary teams on a particular subtopic drawn from the applications of interest. This will be an iterative process; team size will remain small with the potential to treat these dynamically as the work progresses.

Q.   What happens after I submit my response?

You will learn whether you were selected by the end of May, when the Mission Directors invite individuals and small groups to work towards a full proposal. Funding for this work will be made available this summer.

The first deliverable will be within six months to develop the full proposal, and, where applicable, generate preliminary results including proof-of-concept examples. Monthly meetings will be scheduled from the time that funding is released until the end of the six-month project period.

Q.   Are these funded projects the same as the Frontier Projects that are part of the Climate Project?

No. Frontier Projects—impact-focused, interdisciplinary research and innovation projects aimed at deploying scalable climate solutions—will be launched in the coming months. Projects funded within these two themes are part of the gap analysis that could lead directly to a Frontier Project or provide the building-block capabilities for a Frontier Project.

Read a description on MIT News of how the Climate Project is organized.

Q.   What will be expected during and after the 6-month time frame?

During the six-month timeframe researchers will participate in monthly meetings. At the end of the six months, the expected outputs of the work could include:

• Problem: The specific problem to be addressed.
• Impact: The expected goal/outcome if it is addressed successfully.
• Approach: A detailed description of the proposed solution including key challenges across economic, technical, scientific and humanistic domains
• Proof-of-concept: Preliminary data to prove or disprove technology concepts, behavioral studies, etc.
• Deployment: A plan for transitioning the solution in the real world as quickly as possible including technical and non-technical barriers.
• Achieving scale: A clear understanding of the likely pathway to deployment such that the solution will help move the needle in terms of climate response (mitigation and/or adaptation/resilience).
• Barriers to intervention/implementation: An understanding of potential barriers to scale-up and how they can be addressed. These barriers may include, but are not limited to markets, policy and regulatory environment, financing, behavior/social acceptance, etc.
• Collaborators: Demonstrated engagement with partners whose participation is required both for successful deployment and successful scale-up, i.e. results of external workshops and on-site development.

Q.   How may the funds be used during the six-month period?

The funds are meant to support gap analysis and road-mapping efforts that support the development of a full proposal. We anticipate that the major uses of these funds will be for research personnel expenses, including summer salary and support for research assistants, postdocs, or research scientists. Please inquire about any specific requests for use of funding, although this can also be addressed based on submitted Expressions of Interest.

Q. Are similar calls on different themes also anticipated to be released?

Yes, there will be similar calls on different themes going forward as well as launched Frontiers.

Q.   I have a question that is not addressed here. Who can I ask?

Email climate_hq@mit.edu. The staff at Climate Headquarters will make sure you get a response from their team or one of the Mission Directors.