Protocol Labs Research Grants

Overview

The Protocol Labs Research Grant Program aims to both support collaborative work on problems defined by the broader research community and drive progress on clearly scoped research projects critical to our work at Protocol Labs. We encourage proposals aligned with PL's mission to drive breakthroughs in computing to push humanity forward, and we welcome unique perspectives and diverse backgrounds.

Funding instruments

Protocol Labs Research funds three broad categories of grants:

1. Topic-specific Requests for Proposals (RFPs), designed to fund goal-driven research in response to specific open problems defined by Protocol Labs (PL). RFPs are posted intermittently based on need and readiness of our research labs to support these collaborations.
2. Open research grants, intended to support researchers pursuing topics of interest to Protocol Labs. These include:
   • Doctoral Fellowships
   • Postdoctoral Fellowships
   • Faculty Summer Research Grants
   • Faculty Research Sabbatical Awards
3. A wildcard Request for Proposals, RFP-X, by which we fund research proposed by applicants where funding from one of our other grant structures does not readily apply. Note that we have a strong preference for funding via the open grants framework, and RFP-X applications that could be handled within the existing framework will be rejected without review.

Evaluation of applications for the open grants will occur in quarterly rounds. Decisions will normally be made and communicated to applicants within eight weeks of these submission deadlines. Evaluation for RFPs takes place according to the timeline in the call. RFP-X applications are evaluated year-round but usually have longer decision times.

If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected].

Requests for Proposals (RFPs)

Requests for Proposals are a fairly common method for funding individuals and groups to solve problems, and have the goal of funding researchers to develop or find novel results on specific topics. RFPs are posted as issues in this repo, and a summary of current and past RFPs may be found below:

Active

• RFP-011: Changing the Internet
• RFP-012: Checkpointing Filecoin into Bitcoin
• RFP-013: Cryptonet network grants
• RFP-014: Private retrieval of data

Inactive

• RFP-001: Novel constructions for Proof-of-Replication
• RFP-002: Novel constructions for Proof-of-Spacetime
• RFP-003: Single Secret Leader Election
• RFP-004: Decentralised access control in CRDTs
• RFP-005: Optimize storage and convergence time in causal CmRDTs
• RFP-006: Secret single-leader election (SSLE)
• RFP-007: Multi-Level DHT design and evaluation
• RFP-008: Scalability bounds of P2P Pub/Sub (libp2p floodsub, gossipsub and episub)
• RFP-009: Proof of Space and Useful Space
• RFP-010: Vector commitments

Open Research Grants

Applications for open grants can be submitted at any time and are processed in quarterly blocks. The cut-offs for each quarter are:

• 15 February
• 15 May
• 15 August
• 15 November

Protocol Labs Doctoral Fellowship

The Doctoral Fellowship is intended to support the development of an early-stage researcher conducting research in one of PL's fields of interest. This award is available to doctoral candidates who have completed their Master's degree or have otherwise satisfied the requirements for candidacy.

The PL Research Doctoral Fellowship consists of a fixed award of $60,000, intended to cover tuition and subsistence costs for a period of one year. Doctoral Fellowships can be renewed for a second year, by mutual agreement between PL and the grantee.

This application may be submitted by the doctoral candidate, their PI, or an administrative staff member from the host institution. The submitter will serve as the primary point of contact for all communications regarding this application.

Protocol Labs Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Postdoctoral Fellowship is intended to support a postdoctoral researcher's contributions to PL-related research. The fellowship may be applied for on behalf of a postdoc to be named later, or directly by the intended recipient.

The PL Research Postdoctoral fellowship consists of a fixed award of $100,000, intended to cover salary and contributions for a period of one year. Postdoctoral Fellowships can be renewed for a second year, by mutual agreement between PL and the grantee.

This application may be submitted by the Postdoctoral candidate, their PI, or an administrative staff member from the host institution. The submitter will serve as the primary point of contact for all communications regarding this application.

Protocol Labs Research Sabbatical

The Research Sabbatical Award is intended to support faculty conducting research in PL's fields of interest during a 6-12 month sabbatical period, with a particular emphasis on supporting collaborative work with a PL researcher.

The PL Research Sabbatical consists of a fixed award of $80,000, intended to serve as an approximate 50% replacement for a year’s teaching load.

This application may be submitted by the applicant or an administrative staff member. The submitter will serve as the primary point of contact for all communications regarding this application.

Protocol Labs Summer Research Grant

The Summer Research Grant is intended to support faculty using the summer term to conduct research in one of PL's fields of interest, with a particular emphasis on carrying out collaborative work with a PL researcher.

The PL Summer Research Grant consists of a fixed award of $40,000, intended to cover approximately 3/9ths of the researchers’ salary.

This application may be submitted by the applicant or an administrative staff member. The submitter will serve as the primary point of contact for all communications regarding this application.

RFP-X

RFP-X provides an application path for research projects not otherwise covered (e.g. multi-PI collaborative projects). It is not meant as a way to sidestep the cut-off dates or the fixed amounts of the open grants. We expect RFP-X applications to request customary rates up to the open grant amounts. Applications seen to be abusing RFP-X will be rejected without review. Note that the success rate for RFP-X applications is significantly lower; consider this the path of last resort.

Additional considerations

Application process

• Applications will only be accepted via our grant management portal: grants.protocol.ai.
• We intend for our application process to be lightweight. In addition to basic applicant information, we require a short research proposal (max 5 pages), describing the problem and proposed directions (and relating them to our priorities), as well as a proposed timeline with clear milestones. We provide recommended templates for:
  • Open grants
  • RFPs
• For doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, we will also ask you for your supervisor’s information, as well as a letter of support, committing to hosting you during the duration of the grant.

Review process

• We aim to return a decision within eight weeks of the application deadline. Our review process includes two rounds:
  • A first formal review, during which applications failing formal checks will be declined and invited to apply in the next cycle. To avoid this outcome, please make sure you fulfill all the requirements when applying.
  • An in-depth review by a technical committee.
• At the end of the process, we will provide you with a decision and feedback.
• In some cases, we may feel the need to request more information or schedule a call with you. We will reach out to the form submitter with any requests.

Award amounts

• The Protocol Labs grants program is available worldwide (except where incompatible with local or US law) and covers a wide range of different systems and institutions. We believe that great researchers are found in all places and want to contribute to their freedom to choose an institution.
• Our grants are generally disbursed as unrestricted gifts, which are, in most cases, exempt from overhead or subject to the lowest overhead rate; if charged, these shall be deducted from the award as PL will not top-up funding amounts to cover overhead.
• Specific rationales and restrictions apply to each type of grant:
  • [Open grants] For the reasons above, we choose not to micromanage the open grant allocation: recipients can therefore freely allocate the fixed award to salary, tuition, or other costs, including institutional overhead/F&A/indirect costs. In determining the numbers for each grant, we tried to aim for the generous end of US programs. Still, in certain cases, our grant amounts may be less than customary for a specific role/institution/country. Unfortunately, we are unable to make exceptions; if additional funding is required, we encourage grantees to seek it from other sources.
  • [RFPs] Each RFP call lists a maximum budget. We will accept applications up to that amount, inclusive of overhead. When applying, please make sure to include the overhead in your budget request. We will not provide additional funding in excess of the budgeted amount. Note that RFP evaluation is competitive, and the amount requested is taken into account for the grant decision. Also note that, all else being equal, we value faster delivery.

Publications

As a general rule, we do not provide additional funding for publications and conference travel. However, publications co-authored with a Protocol Labs researcher are eligible for funding under our Co-authored Publication Support Policy, provided basic open-access requirements are met.

Intellectual property (IP)

Protocol Labs does not require any IP transfer as a condition of our funding. However, we require a commitment to release the funded work under appropriate open licenses and unencumbered by IP claims. We strongly recommend the use of the Permissive License Stack.

FAQ

A list of frequently asked questions is available in FAQ.md