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Nucleation, crystal growth and polymorph control

Ideas about how molecules and atoms come together into crystals, controlling crystal size, shape and polymorph (crystal form), cocrystals and crystal engineering.

Who funds this idea

18 calls from 14 funders currently fund work on this idea. Most calls: British Association for Crystal Growth (3), Innovate UK (2), Rinn Pharma & Biopharma / SSPC (2), NWO (Dutch Research Council) (1), FFG – Austrian Research Promotion Agency (1), Royal Society of Chemistry (1), and 8 other funders.

3 calls for this idea welcome industry or international partners

Open now (14)

MDI Programme Innovation and Scale-up Hub

Innovate UK · UK
Deadline: 18 Nov 2026 (27 days)
Total budget (all awards): Share of up to GBP 4 million; award size: see call
Checked 16 Oct 2026
pharma processestablished / PI

NWO Open Competition Domain Science – M 2026/2027

NWO (Dutch Research Council) · Netherlands
Deadline: 24 Nov 2026 (33 days)
Award: ENW-M-1 up to EUR 400,000; M-1X up to EUR 800,000; M-2 up to EUR 800,000
Checked 16 Oct 2026
crystallizationchemistrymaterialsestablished / PI

Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation: CR&D round 2

Innovate UK (UKRI) with DHSC · UK
Deadline: 02 Dec 2026 (41 days)
Total budget (all awards): Up to £7 million total competition budget (per-project size: see the competition brief); award size: see call
Checked 16 Oct 2026
pharma processcrystallizationchemistryestablished / PI

FFG Basisprogramm 2026 (company R&D projects, any topic)

FFG – Austrian Research Promotion Agency · Austria
Deadline: 31 Dec 2026 (70 days)
Award: Up to EUR 3,000,000 per project (grant + loan mix, usually 50% of costs; startups up to 70%)
Checked 16 Oct 2026
crystallizationpharma processchemistryestablished / PI

RSC Tilden Prizes (and other RSC Research & Innovation prizes, 2027 cycle)

Royal Society of Chemistry · UK and Ireland
Deadline: 13 Jan 2027 (83 days)
Award: GBP 5,000 + medal (Tilden)
Checked 16 Oct 2026
chemistryestablished / PIprize / nomination

DOE Office of Science FY2027 Open Solicitation (incl. Basic Energy Sciences), DE-FOA-0003665

U.S. Department of Energy – Office of Science · United States
Deadline: 30 Sep 2027 (343 days)
Award size: not stated in the listing; see call
Checked 16 Oct 2026
crystallizationmaterialschemistryestablished / PI

BACG Lifetime Achievement Award (Lifetime Membership)

British Association for Crystal Growth · UK
Deadline: Rolling / no fixed deadline
Award size: not stated in the listing; see call
Checked 16 Oct 2026
crystallizationestablished / PIprize / nomination

BACG travel grants / sponsorship

British Association for Crystal Growth · UK (BACG members)
Deadline: Rolling / no fixed deadline
Award size: not stated in the listing; see call
Checked 16 Oct 2026
crystallizationstudentearly-career

CMAC CEDAR EPSRC CDT PhD studentships (medicines manufacturing)

CMAC / University of Strathclyde (EPSRC CDT) · UK
Deadline: Rolling / no fixed deadline
Award: Home fees + research/training costs + stipend min £20,780/yr tax-free for 4 years
Checked 16 Oct 2026
pharma processcrystallizationstudent

DFG Research Grants (Sachbeihilfe)

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) · Germany
Deadline: Rolling / no fixed deadline
Award size: not stated in the listing; see call
Checked 16 Oct 2026
chemistrymaterialscrystallizationestablished / PI

Enabling Technologies Consortium (ETC) RFI/RFPs and third-party project proposals

Enabling Technologies Consortium (16 pharma member companies) · International
Deadline: Rolling / no fixed deadline
Award size: not stated in the listing; see call
Checked 16 Oct 2026
pharma processcrystallizationestablished / PI

FWF Principal Investigator Projects

Austrian Science Fund (FWF) · Austria
Deadline: Rolling / no fixed deadline
Award: Project-specific personnel and non-personnel costs; max 48 months
Checked 16 Oct 2026
crystallizationchemistrymaterialsestablished / PI

Rinn Pharma & Biopharma (ex-SSPC) PhD positions

Rinn Pharma & Biopharma / SSPC · Ireland
Deadline: Rolling / no fixed deadline
Award size: not stated in the listing; see call
Checked 16 Oct 2026
pharma processcrystallizationstudent

SSPC/Rinn industry-led research projects (fully funded or up to 50% co-funding)

Rinn Pharma & Biopharma / SSPC · Ireland (company partners worldwide)
Deadline: Rolling / no fixed deadline
Award: Co-funding max 50%
Checked 16 Oct 2026
pharma processcrystallizationestablished / PI

Recurring calls (4)

AIChE PD2M Forum Awards (Technical Innovation, Process Development, Manufacturing, Early Career Impact, Student)

AIChE – Pharmaceutical Discovery, Development & Manufacturing Forum · International
Deadline: Recurring call (recurring (annual)): check the funder page for the next date.
Award: USD 1,500 + plaque (Excellence/Early Career); USD 800 (Student Award) – per page (2023 text)
Checked 16 Oct 2026
pharma processcrystallizationstudentearly-careerestablished / PIearly-career / new PIprize / nomination

BACG Young Scientist Award

British Association for Crystal Growth · UK/ROI (or UK/ROI nationals abroad)
Deadline: Recurring call (recurring (annual, 31 May)): check the funder page for the next date.
Award: Monetary award (amount not stated on current page) + medal + conference costs
Checked 16 Oct 2026
crystallizationearly-careerstudentprize / nomination

EFCE Excellence Award in Crystallization

European Federation of Chemical Engineering – Working Party on Crystallization · Europe (EFCE)
Deadline: Recurring call (closed – next call 2028): check the funder page for the next date.
Award size: not stated in the listing; see call
Checked 16 Oct 2026
crystallizationpharma processstudentearly-careerprize / nomination

ICDD Ludo Frevel Crystallography Scholarship

International Centre for Diffraction Data · International
Deadline: Recurring call (recurring (annual; 2027 round closed 8 Oct 2026)): check the funder page for the next date.
Award: USD 3,000 each + PDF-5+ subscription (2027 awards)
Checked 16 Oct 2026
crystallizationstudent

Recently funded work on this idea

113 awards from NSF and NIH in our sample of the last 24 months match this idea. Latest examples:

Award (official page)InstitutionAmountStart date
CAREER: Confinement Induced Structural Evolution of Calcium- and Magnesium- Carbonates in Architected Siliceous Nanochannels
U.S. National Science Foundation · Interfacial Engineering Progra
Columbia University$535,000 (estimated total award)01 Oct 2026
DMREF: Accelerated Design and De-risking of Complex Organic Molecular Solid Forms Using New Theoretical and Experimental Methods in a Closed-loop Approach
U.S. National Science Foundation · OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC
University of Iowa$2,000,000 (estimated total award)01 Oct 2026
EIR: Close-Space Sublimation for Scalable Perovskite Optoelectronics Manufacturing
U.S. National Science Foundation · HBCU-EiR - HBCU-Excellence in
Albany State University$1,328,340 (estimated total award)01 Sep 2026
CAREER: Predicting the Synthesis and Synthesizability of Metastable Epitaxial Thin Films
U.S. National Science Foundation · CONDENSED MATTER & MAT THEORY
Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor$653,618 (estimated total award)01 Sep 2026

More on what’s getting funded

Calls are matched by keywords and field tags (see each call page for why). Always confirm on the official call page. Updated 22 Oct 2026.