How trainees can find funded labs, not just fellowships
Explore direct funding opportunities and the labs already building momentum in your field.
Many trainees think about funding in only one way: fellowships.
Fellowships matter. They can create independence, strengthen a CV, and open doors. But they are not the only signal that matters, and often not even the most practical one.
Why funded labs matter
Another powerful way to think about scientific opportunity is to look at where funding is already flowing.
Recently funded labs can offer something that a fellowship search alone often misses: active resources, project momentum, hiring potential, and a stronger chance that your work will be supported in the near term. For PhD candidates and early trainees especially, that can make a major difference.
How Orbit helps
Orbit Grants is built around that broader view of opportunity.
It helps trainees move beyond broad keyword searches and begin to explore funding through the lens of scientific fit, stage, and field momentum. That includes direct opportunities, but also funded labs and signals that point to where meaningful opportunities may already exist.
For trainees, Orbit can help you:
- surface opportunities matched to your scientific interests
- identify funded labs in your field
- understand where research support is already building
- focus on paths that are more realistic and strategically useful
Funding discovery should not feel random. It should feel directional.