The Water Research Foundation (WRF) Outbound Grants Portal is the premier global platform for discovering funded scientific calls focused on the water sector, including drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and water reuse. WRF facilitates highly targeted, multi-disciplinary research projects designed to solve operational, engineering, and environmental challenges for utilities and governments. Funding streams include Sponsored Programs, Emerging Opportunities, Tailored Collaborations, and an Unsolicited Research Program open to innovative field-initiated ideas.

Eligibility

WRF operates an inclusive international eligibility structure, allowing global expertise to address critical water security issues:
- Non-U.S. Applicants: Research institutes, technical universities, water utilities, and engineering firms worldwide (including Kazakhstan and Central Asia) are fully eligible to apply for WRF research contracts.
- Partnerships: Interdisciplinary consortiums combining academic researchers with local municipal water utility practitioners or industrial water operators are heavily prioritized.
- All technical proposals, legal agreements, and project deliverables must be managed in English, and fiscal budgets must be calculated in U.S. Dollars (USD).

Priority Areas
- Advanced Water Treatment and Wastewater Reuse Engineering
- Desalination, Membrane Technologies, and Brine/Concentrate Minimization
- Pathogen Monitoring, Microplastics Tracking, and Emerging Contaminants (PFAS)
- Smart Utility Management, Big Data, Sensors, and Climate Adaptation Risk Analysis