Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Research Grant Program

Top Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Research Grant Program

Program Description

The Harmful Algal Bloom Research Grant program is a competitive, statewide reimbursement grant program that funds projects to advance research goals of the DEC HAB Roadmap and the DEC HABs Research Guide through improved understanding of HAB drivers and reduce impacts to health and recreation across New York State.

DEC’s existing multifaceted HAB program covers monitoring, research, reporting, data publication, education, and outreach. Informed by applied research, DEC’s strategy takes a holistic approach to address HABs by focusing on controllable causes and addressing complex management challenges. The HAB Roadmap incorporates this holistic approach into a document intended to communicate DEC’s strategy to members of the public, other agencies, and researchers and provide keys focus areas and actions needed to advance management and reduce occurrence and impact of HABs. Researching HABs, their causes, and identifying effective short and long-term mitigation strategies is a key step in this process. While the current research efforts of DEC and its partners to advance understanding of HABs and improve management have been successful, this HAB Research Grant Program expands research capacity and provides funding and opportunity for collaboration to a broad range of research partners throughout the state.

For more information on HABs and HAB management in New York State visit the NYSDEC Freshwater HABs Website.

View the Harmful Algal Bloom Research Grant Program Guidelines and Bid Instructions (PDF)

Research Focus Areas

Research focus areas supported by the HAB Research Grant Program and described in detail in the DEC HABs Research Guide include:

Prevention and Mitigation
Causes of HABs
Monitoring and Modeling
Communication, Engagement, and Outreach

Match* is required at a rate of 10% for all applications and research focus areas.

*Match is the percentage of the award amount grant recipients are required to provide as a applicants.

How to Apply

Bids must be submitted through the NYS SFS Grants Management System. For more details on this opportunity review the HAB Research Grant Program Guidelines and Instructions available through the SFS Vendor Portal Homepage.

From the SFS Vendor Portal Homepage, potential applicants should

Click the “Search for Grant Opportunities” button and
Search the term “HAB 2026” in the “Event ID” field.

Using Google Chrome to access the SFS Grants Management System (GM) is recommended as other browsers may cause errors.

The research grant application period is open through September 15^th, 2026.

The question and answer period ends August 14^th, 2026.

Eligible Applicants

Governmental Entities: municipalities, including counties, cities, towns, villages; improvement district within a county, city, town or village; municipal corporations; soil and water conservation districts; and Indian nations or tribes recognized by the State or the United States with a reservation wholly or partly within the boundaries of New York State.
Academic Institutions: educational institutions dedicated to education and research, which grant higher education academic degrees. For-profit academic institutions are not considered eligible for this grant opportunity.
Not For Profit: An eligible bidder must be a not-for-profit corporation (NFP) community-based organization, or a community-based organization may partner with a NFP that will serve as their fiscal sponsor.

For further details on eligibility and definitions of community-based organizations and NFPs check the HAB Research Grant Program Guidelines and Instructions within the SFS Vendor Portal.

Questions

If you have questions further questions regarding the HAB Research Grant Program after reading this webpage and the HAB Research Grant Program Guidelines and Instructions available through the SFS Vendor Portal, email [email protected] with “HAB Research Grant Question” in the subject line.