Call Terms

Apply with one lead contact, optional co-recipients’ names and roles, a project title, a proposal of up to 800 words, your research question, main claim and confirming or refuting measurement, budget and duration, data and ethics, AI use, an existing open-source repository link and an introduction video. Limit each research-question, claim-and-measurement, data-and-ethics and AI-use answer to 150 words. Explain the budget in at most 100 words. Within the proposal, state what your privacy claim protects, against whom, what it means for one person over a lifetime, and its cost in usefulness. The linked artefact must run on public or synthetic data.

Connect at least one profile through ORCID, LinkedIn or AT Protocol (Bluesky). A connection confirms control of that account, not your real-world identity. No separate application account is required.

You may request up to 20 000 CHF, with no minimum, for 6, 9 or 12 months. Applications close on 15 December 2026; decisions are planned for 15 January 2027 and projects start on 1 February 2027. Applying does not guarantee funding. The current call, exact closing time and award conditions are at opening.science/apply.

Tell us personally about yourself and your project in a YouTube or Vimeo video. Aim for one minute; the maximum is 90 seconds. The video may be unlisted, but reviewers must be able to open its link. You host the video with your chosen provider and submit the link.

You may resubmit as often as you like before the call closes. Connect the same profile when resubmitting; only your latest completed submission counts. Each person may participate in only one application per call, whether as a sole applicant, lead applicant or co-recipient. Confirm that all named co-recipients agree to take part. Contact the Foundation to resolve conflicting team membership or a profile change.

Open Science Foundation uses the submitted material to administer and assess the call. Scientific material is shared with the reviewers involved in assessment. Open Science Foundation remains responsible for funding decisions.

Eligibility checks, an artefact re-run, a claim check and anonymised community review advise an independent panel of three to five experts. Applicants receive written feedback; a lottery with published rules and draws decides among equally qualifying applications. Application references make the process traceable.

By applying, you confirm that you have read the Call Terms and that the information you provided is complete and truthful. You commit to giving feedback on up to four anonymized peer applications within 14 days of the submission deadline.

AI-assisted peer review

Reviewers may use Foundation-approved Anthropic API tools for background research, technical checks and language editing. They form their own scientific assessment and verify any AI output used. Reviewers write their own substantive evaluations; these assistance tools must not score or rank applications or recommend funding. Substantive use is disclosed in feedback; applicants may respond to material AI-assisted findings before the final decision. Application and review material must not be entered into unapproved AI services. Theoria is a separate automated research investigation, described below; reviewers may consider its report when writing their assessment.

Official Theoria assessment

The only application field supplied to the official Theoria investigation is your main research question. Open Science Foundation runs and pays for this investigation using its own OpenAI account. Theoria uses OpenAI models and internet research to investigate the question and records its prompts, outputs and tool events. Its report goes to you and reviewers, is advisory, and cannot reject your application on its own.

You can respond to your official Theoria report before the final funding decision. The response deadline will be provided with the report.

See the Privacy notice for data handling. The full proposal, contact details and video are not supplied as application input to Theoria.

After the application deadline on 15 December 2026, Open Science Foundation publishes the main research question and application reference from each latest completed application during review and through the end of 14 April 2027. This temporary publication is required to apply, whether or not the project is funded. The reference identifies an application; it is not a login or proof of the applicant’s identity.

Two separate choices are optional and off by default: include your name with the question, and keep the question public after 14 April 2027. Without the second opt-in, your public entry is removed on 15 April 2027, whether funded or not. With it, the entry remains in the research archive until you withdraw that choice or the Foundation retires the archive. You can withdraw either optional choice by contacting the Foundation.

Other application answers, connected profiles (including ORCID), co-recipients and video links are not published. Theoria reports and their recorded prompts, outputs and tool events stay private to you and authorised reviewers and staff. The research question may itself identify you, and others can copy material while it is public; withdrawing an option does not undo earlier lawful publication.

You confirm that you are authorised to submit the material and the named co-recipients’ details and permit the assessment and question publication described here. You retain your rights; submitting someone else’s material does not grant rights you do not hold.

One proposal per lead; no double funding. The Swiss Code of Conduct for Scientific Integrity or an equivalent applies. Funded work follows the call’s open-source and licensing rules: code uses an OSI-approved licence; research papers and project reports use CC BY 4.0 or CC BY-SA 4.0; data and benchmarks use CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0. The full requirements, including public repositories, reproducibility and archiving, are at opening.science/apply.

Rules are provisional; the current version and change log are at opening.science/apply. The version in force at the deadline applies; new submission requirements get 14 days’ notice. There is no right to funding; the Foundation may change or cancel the call and withdraw grants for false information, misconduct or sanctions. Applicants bear their own costs and legal compliance. Funding decisions are final and cannot be appealed to the Foundation. This does not limit statutory rights, including data-protection rights and complaints to supervisory authorities. Liability is excluded as far as the law allows; Swiss law applies.

The call’s /apply page links to optional Theoria practice, operated separately by Standard Proofs. It opens in a new tab, has no effect on selection and does not automatically transfer your application or return practice results to Open Science Foundation. Practice terms and API-key authorisation belong to that separate service.

Contact Open Science Foundation at office@opening.science.