CORDAP Funding Awards

G20 CORDAP is committed to making an impact in filling the gap between current and required capabilities when it comes to saving tropical coral reefs and cold-water corals.

Through our funding awards, CORDAP encourages the best minds worldwide, in a transdisciplinary approach, to propose ideas and concepts that will accelerate international research and development to supply the technologies and innovations required to secure a future for corals.

 

Open Now: Coral Accelerator Program (CAP) 2026 

The Coral Accelerator Program (CAP) will fund international collaborative teams with impactful ideas in coral conservation and restoration. Awards will span across the full range of novel early-phase projects through to final proof-of-concept development and testing.

After going through the review process, selected projects will receive funding based on the expectation that their proposal will quickly lead to significant discoveries, innovations and improvements in current tropical coral reefs and cold-water corals protection and restoration.

We encourage teams with ideas and concepts that transcend different disciplines and fields to participate. This includes end users in the research, design, and development of projects.

successful applicants will be awarded funding up to USD$ 1 million per project which can last from one to three years.
The deadline for Concept Note Submissions is October 19, 2026, at 18:00 UTC.

We will also be launching a new call, “CORDAP High Reward”, in November/December 2026. More details are provided in the “CORDAP High Reward notice”.

The total funding allocation available under the CAP 2026 and the High-Reward calls is USD 3.2 million.

Submit your proposal

Eligibility and criteria

With CAP, we seek proposals that focus on advancing the next generation of science and technology to help save corals and reefs. We are looking for projects with the potential to create a significant global impact. We strongly encourage the engagement and inclusion of users of the proposed project outputs in the proposals. An additional and important aspect is that the proposed technologies can be scalable and affordable to those needing them most.

CORDAP awards can also be used to increase support for and complement the vital existing work being carried out at national, regional and international levels.

The awarded projects can span across the full range of novel early-phase projects through to final proof-of-concept development and testing.

CAP funds International teams, each application must consist of:

  1. A minimum of 3 Applicants: one Lead Applicant and a minimum of two Co-Applicants, and
  2. Organizations from at least 2 different countries, one of which must be a low or middle-income country. The OECD List of low and middle-income countries should be used to determine eligibility.

    It is also important to note that:

  • An individual can only be the Lead Applicant on one proposal and participate in up to  two additional proposals as a Co-Applicant.
  • Organizations can only be the Lead Organization on a maximum of two proposals but can be a participating organization on multiple proposals.
  • Eligible organizations include not-for-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, higher education institutions, research institutes, and government organizations in any country.
  • If a for-profit organization wishes to submit as an applicant, then they must be willing to co-invest to the point that they are not making a profit.
  • If the research activities are to take place in a third country (a country different from that of any of the applicants), it is strongly encouraged to have that country represented in the application.

**Please note that CAP awards cannot go directly to individuals. There is no upper limit to the number of organizations in an application.

Project duration

The Award Term can be between a minimum of 12 months to a maximum of 36 months.

Funding

Successful applicants will be awarded funding up to USD 1 million per project.

Types of projects considered and program priority areas

Types of projects supported in this call

  • Novel R&D projects
  • Capacity Building
  • Cold Water Corals (CWC)

Program priority areas

The following areas are considers ‘high need’ by CORDAP:

  • Assisted evolution
  • Aquaculture/Automation
  • Preserve and conserve existing corals
  • Limit early life mortality
  • Intervention planning, risk, and monitoring
  • Blended artificial and natural reefs
  • R&D capacity development
  • LMIC or Developing country R&D methods
  • Reef-associated organisms
  • Water quality

Timeline and deadlines

CORDAP Awards Open for Submissions September 1, 2026
Q&A Webinar September 21, 2026, 02:00 UTC
Register here: Registration Link 
Concept Note Submission Deadline October 19, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Anticipated Concept Note Notification Date December 17, 2026
Anticipated Full Proposal Deadline February 2027
Anticipated Applicant Notification Date
July 2027

Call documents

Documents listing:

  • CAP 2026 Call for Proposals
  • Concept Note Submission Form Template
  • Concept Note Budget Template
  • Statement of Intent to Collaborate (Required at Full Proposal stage)

Download the Call Documents – Zip File

Funding policies

Documents listing:

  • CORDAP IP Policy
  • CORDAP Consortium Agreement Template (Required at Award stage)
  • CORDAP Open Access Policy
  • CORDAP Award Terms and Conditions (Award Manual)
  • CORDAP Data Privacy Note

    Download CORDAP’s Funding Policy Documents – Zip File

    Submission assistance

    CORDAP Strategic Plan 2022-2025

    Submit your CAP 2026 proposal

    News & Events

    CORDAP talks at BBVA in Madrid

    The event Acting on the Risk of Coral Reef Collapse took place on June 2, 2026, at the BBVA Foundation’s headquarters in Madrid, where CORDAP’s experts raised public awareness of the situation facing tropical and cold-water corals and of potential strategies to halt their decline.

    Your contribution can fast-track research and development solutions to save the corals.

    Image: Qui Nguyen