A new source of research funding is available to female researchers in the natural sciences.
Introducing Instrumentl. It combines crowdfunding with a comprehensive (and growing!) grant board to fund projects led by female researchers. The mission of the Instrumentl community is to “invest in female researchers solving the world’s greatest challenges”. Much similar to Kickstarter, our crowdfunding platform allows female researchers to harness the power of their community to raise funds for their projects. For instance, see how we’ve connected wildlife biologist, Courtney Marneweck, with the funding she needed to move forward in her PhD research.
Since its inception only a few months ago, Instrumentl has already raised over $10K for women researchers, and we hope to do much more in the coming year. In particular, I’d love to get more museum scientists on board, and am hoping you can help me spread the word through the NATHIST network and other museum communities you are a part of. I envision that Instrumentl could help fund projects related to natural history collection growth and maintenance, specimen digitization, field research, and much more. We’re already getting traction in the museum community – in the past few weeks, we’ve had proposals submitted by researchers at the Smithsonian Institution, the New York Botanical Garden, the Museum of Southwestern Biology and the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Museum of the North. These campaigns should be going live on our website over the coming weeks!
Call for Proposals: Instrumentl combines crowdfunding with a comprehensive grant board to fund projects led by female researchers. We are seeking crowdfunding proposals from female researchers, including those working in museums, who need funding to pursue their research projects. Crowdfunding through Instrumentl not only allows researchers to raise funds by connecting with the resources of their communities, but also provides a platform for communicating their research with the general public. Though we are women-focused, we accept proposals involving male researchers as long as there is a female lead on the project (and the crowdfunding campaign). Interested researchers can contact Katharine Corriveau at Katharine@Instrumentl.com or visit the Submit a Proposal page on our website for more information.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about Instrumentl, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at katharine@instrumentl.com, or by phone at 1-510-684-4978.