Experiment Foundation

Field Builders make the fields that make the future. More people should consider the role.

We’re backing at least 50 Field Builders to launch grant programs in emerging scientific fields. Each Field Builder will award $70,000 to researchers they recruit and receive a $5,000 honorarium for leading the work.

Applications for the Field Building Accelerator are open now through December 15, 2026: fieldbuilding.org

What’s in a name?

Naming is one of the first tasks for Field Builders, but there’s no simple formula for picking a great one. A new name for an emerging field needs to be specific enough for researchers to see that their work fits in and flexible enough for them to be able to propose creative new directions. It needs to spark curiosity, welcome people in, and provide space to grow—easier said than done.

Our program director @AllisonMLewis is also a Field Builder. She wrote about her experience of naming her grant program Living Thresholds, to help emerging Field Builders think about how they might name their own programs. By embracing a little weirdness, she made room for surprising proposals that also fit her vision. Read now: fieldbuilding.org/blog-posts/who…

Applications for the Field Building Accelerator are open now through December 15.

We’re funding Field Builders across five areas: Oceans, Toxicity, Climate, Conservation Technology, and Future Science. Within these categories you’ll create your own grant program, evaluating eligible projects for scientific merit that fit with your grant program's goals, and identifying a fundable set of projects you’d be thrilled to see awarded.

Apply now for the Field Building Accelerator through December 15: fieldbuilding.org

Join us on Wednesday, November 18, at 12pm ET / 9am PT for a virtual info session on the Field Building Accelerator. We’ll walk through the vision behind the program, how to apply, and what it takes to launch a grant program on Experiment. Bring your questions and come say hello! Register here: luma.com/1zvg7rfg

You don’t need to be an academic or have formal research credentials to be a field builder. We’re looking to back connectors who are doing the work to find, build, and nurture the people exploring different questions and building different tools. A field builder is someone with genuine curiosity and passionate belief in what might be possible just outside the edge of current research paradigms.

Read the Art of Field Building: