Biswas Family Foundation Fast Grants Program 2026: A Guide for Researchers

The Biswas Family Foundation is offering Fast Grants to support researchers exploring ideas at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and health. These grants are designed to provide quick, flexible funding for projects that traditional grants may not easily cover, such as compute time, dataset access, or AI model training. If you have a groundbreaking idea that could lead to a health breakthrough using AI, this program might be the perfect opportunity to get it off the ground.

Understanding the Fast Grants Program

The Fast Grants program from the Biswas Family Foundation aims to remove financial barriers for researchers working on AI and health. The foundation recognizes that many scientists need seed capital for specific resources like computing power, specialized datasets, or AI development tools. These grants are structured to be lightweight and fast to approve, ensuring that promising research isn’t delayed by slow funding processes.

The program focuses on curiosity-driven projects that align with several key themes. These include training or evaluating AI models on health data, developing or gathering datasets for new clinical insights, creating AI tools to help scientists work more efficiently, and conducting pilot experiments that could lead to larger funding requests. Essentially, any project that uses AI or data to advance health and can be significantly accelerated by modest, rapid funding is a potential candidate.

Funding Opportunities and Grant Tiers

The Biswas Family Foundation plans to award up to $3 million annually through two funding cycles each year. The grants are divided into three tiers, each with a specific funding amount and purpose:

• $25,000 Grants: These are intended for small curiosity sprints. This tier is open to all eligible researchers, including undergraduates who must have faculty sponsorship.
• $50,000 Grants: These grants support pilot experiments. They are suitable for researchers looking to test the feasibility of a more ambitious project.
• $100,000 Grants: These are for more ambitious projects that require a larger initial investment.

Each grant has a 12-month project period, and indirect costs are capped at 15%. The funding is provided as a single payment.

Eligibility Requirements

Researchers from academic institutions worldwide are encouraged to apply. The foundation particularly welcomes applications from early-career faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students. Undergraduates can also apply, but they must secure faculty sponsorship and are only eligible for the $25,000 grant tier.

A key requirement is affiliation with an institution that can receive charitable gifts from a U.S. private foundation. For U.S. institutions, this typically means a 501(c)(3) public charity, such as universities, non-profit research institutes, or academic medical centers. Non-U.S. institutions must be recognized as foreign equivalents, often confirmed through equivalency determination or by having a U.S.-based fiscal sponsor. For-profit companies and individuals receiving funds personally are not eligible.

The Application Process

The application for the Biswas Family Foundation Fast Grants is designed to be straightforward and concise. Applicants must format their submissions using bullet points for each required section. This structure ensures that reviewers can quickly assess the core aspects of each proposal.

The required sections include:

• Project Title: A clear and descriptive title for your research.
• One-sentence summary: A brief, plain-language description of your project, limited to 200 characters, that could be published if your grant is approved.
• The question / idea: Clearly state what you aim to explore and explain its significance. This section should use 3-5 bullet points, totaling around 50 words and 275 characters.
• What you’ll do: Outline your proposed experiment or approach. This should also be presented in 3-5 bullet points, around 50 words and 275 characters.
• Why now / why this team: Provide relevant background information about the timing and the team’s qualifications. Use 2-3 bullet points, approximately 30 words and 200 characters.
• Budget: Detail the line items that make up your requested grant amount ($25k, $50k, or $100k), ensuring it totals the chosen tier and adheres to the indirect cost limit. This section should be around 50 words and 275 characters.
• Outputs: Describe what you intend to release publicly as a result of the research. Sharing findings is strongly encouraged, though not always mandatory. This should be 1-2 bullet points, about 20 words and 125 characters.
• Brief bio: Include your role, institution, and 2-3 representative pieces of your work. This section should consist of 3-4 bullet points, totaling around 80 words and 400 characters.

Conclusion

The Biswas Family Foundation Fast Grants Program offers a valuable opportunity for researchers at the forefront of AI and health innovation. By providing accessible, rapid funding for specific research needs, the foundation aims to accelerate discoveries that can lead to significant health advancements. Researchers who meet the eligibility criteria and have a compelling project idea are encouraged to submit their applications before the deadline of June 15, 2026.