Tiny Blue Dot Foundation Announces RFP for Third Round of Funding for Neuroscientific Research Projects Related to “The Science of Perception Box”
Applicants Can Seek Funding for Three Consecutive Years for up to $900,000
New Round Follows Previous Two Rounds that Drew Hundreds of Innovative and Forward-Thinking Applications from Around the Globe with Studies Ranging from the Effects of Psychedelics, Death Anxiety, Breathwork, Mindfulness, Heated Yoga, Mindfulness Interventions for Treating Chronic Pain, Teen Awareness In Body Signals, Dream Induction in Trauma Recovery, Teaching Narrative Skills to Minority Adolescents and Reducing Bias by Building Compassionate Relationships Among Police and Black Community Members.
(September 24, 2024 - Los Angeles, CA) – Following several hundred innovative and forward-thinking proposals from scientists and clinicians from around the globe to the RFPs released during the past two years, Tiny Blue Dot Foundation is funding a third round of major neuroscientific research projects related to “The Science of Perception Box™.” As has been the case for the past two years, each project will receive three consecutive years of funding of up to $900,000. The application process officially kicks off on September 24th, with an open call for Letters of Intent. These will be vetted and up to 30 applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal, which will undergo a double-blind external review, before the final selection of the proposals to be supported in June 2025. This third round of funding was announced by Elizabeth R. Koch, the Founder of Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, and Christof Koch, the Chief Scientist at Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. More information about this research project can be found on the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation website.
Over the past decade Elizabeth R. Koch has founded and co-founded organizations in the fields of publishing, media, neuroscience, and transformational experiences, all under the banner of Unlikely Collaborators. Her goal is to help resolve conflict through self-investigation and self-understanding by means of Perception Box workshops and other curricula; investments in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and post-experience integration; publishing books; making movies; founding a neuroscience research foundation; and collaborating with non-profits, universities, and organizations that study the brain, bias, emotions, reality, and consciousness. These organizations include Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, a scientific research non-profit that seeks to understand and measure the operations of Perception Box, and Catapult, an award-winning publishing company that seeks to expand our ability to see one another and honor every life experience. These organizations all share the same goal of bringing Perception Box awareness to all people.
"Over the past two years, we’ve been deeply encouraged by the number and creativity of the responses we've received from scientists and institutions worldwide,” she said. “These fascinating studies have the potential to transform the way we understand ourselves and one another, and, critically, how we navigate the world. We’re eager to discover what the first two years of studies might teach us about the properties and malleability of Perception Box, and look forward to supporting the next batch!"
To date, 23 neuroscientific research projects related to “The Science of Perception Box” are funded by the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation over the past two rounds of competitive applications that have taken place in 2023 and 2024.
The projects include a wide-range of empirical investigations studying the effects of psychedelics, death anxiety, breathwork, mindfulness, heated yoga, mindfulness interventions for treating chronic pain, teen awareness of body signals, dream induction in trauma recovery, teaching narrative skills to minority adolescents and, in a very relevant study for our current times, reducing bias by building compassionate relationships among police and Black community members. The studies are being conducted by researchers from many corners of the world including Israel, Germany, Spain, Austria, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Australia and the United States and were selected from more than two hundred applications during an open call for proposals, which kicked off in October 2022 and October 2023. Details on the first two groups of projects researching “The Science of Perception Box” can be found here (2023) and here (2024). While the focus in these first two rounds has been on work with adults, the emphasis in this third round of research funding is on work with children and adolescents.
"We are incredibly grateful to Elizabeth for the opportunity to continue supporting this important scientific research on Perception Box,” said Christof Koch. “The grants we provide are proving vital to our recipients in their work conducting studies aimed at creating and refining methods and interventions to broaden people's awareness that they live inside a Perception Box and how to expand its walls. It is very exciting as a neuroscientist to be participating in such wide-ranging and creative studies aimed at making a difference in the lives of so many people.
“Our first two RFPs generated a tremendous response from the global scientific community both in quantity and quality,” Christof continued. “We are very fortunate to continue to fund more rigorous, empirical, statistically valid, and sound neuroscientific research. Our grant funds are being used by recipients to support research to develop relevant techniques and interventions to expand the walls of people’s Perception Box, to measure the effectiveness of such techniques and interventions for neurotypicals and/or clinically defined populations and to track their basis in the brain using appropriate tools.”
Grants can only be awarded to recognized Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) medical schools, colleges, universities, or not-for-profit research organizations and, to the extent permissible pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code, to similar organizations located outside the United States. The Principal Investigator(s) should be a clinical, applied, or basic science researcher with a MD, PhD, or an equivalent degree. The research should be focused on the discovery or development of tools and interventions to help expand the walls of people’s Perception Box, and to measure and track the effects of these tools and interventions on the minds, behaviors, and brains of subjects. Please also see the Detailed Criteria section.
To help applicants through the process, we will host webinars at key stages. Webinars will be recorded to accommodate applicants from different time zones, with the first one taking place on October 1st.
A full timeline of project is as follows:
September 24, 2024: LOI opens
October 1, 2024: Application Guidance Webinar
October 28, 2024: LOI closes
December 20, 2024: Selected LOIs are announced
January 7, 2025: Full Application Guidance Webinar 2
February 28, 2025: Deadline for submitting Full Proposals
June, 2025: Funding decision announced
About Tiny Blue Dot Foundation
Tiny Blue Dot Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, strives to help people understand that they live in their own unique Perception Box whose walls can be expanded to minimize suffering, increase acceptance of self and others, and view trauma/other challenges as opportunities for growth. Our mission is to develop Perception Box modification techniques that are safe, effective, reliable, measurable, widely accessible, and easy to use.