Equipping your lab with Seeding Labs

Seeding Labs’ Equipment Transfer Program works to make high-quality equipment affordable and available to natural science related departments at public universities in quantities adequate to fully equip their teaching and research laboratories. Equipment is the beginning of an ongoing relationship which may grow to include other activities beyond equipment.

The Equipment Transfer Program begins with an annual call for applications. We seek applicants that demonstrate a strong work ethic, high research capacity and sustainability, a clear institutional mission of conducting life-changing research and a history of research execution.

The 2013 call for applications has closed. Please check back here at the end of the year for updates on the next call for proposals. 

• Please do not send Seeding Labs a list of equipment needs.
• We use a multi step, selection based application process to identify our partners for the Equipment Transfer Program.
• Applicants must be affiliated with a public university located in a low-to-middle income country.
• Applicants must be in the natural sciences. We do not provide equipment for direct medical use.
• Equipment is not free. The university’s financial obligation is proportional to the amount of equipment that is requested, procured, matched, fulfilled and shipped.

Overview of the process:

1. Application and selection process

We start with a selection process to identify universities that will be great partners and where our equipment will make the greatest impact. We look for partners with strong institutional leadership, a clear research vision and a history of research execution, and the human resources to do even more. Our selection process involves a written application and may include site visits by Seeding Labs staff. Seeding Labs and university administrators then cement the partnership with the signing of a formal agreement.

2. Equipment sourcing and matching

The process for gathering, testing, and packing the right equipment for each institution takes about 3 months to complete. Equipment is screened to ensure that nothing outdated or broken is sent. Scientists help select the tools appropriate for them.

You can see examples of the equipment we can provide here.

3. Cost share and shipment

Equipment from Seeding Labs is not a donation.

Everyone involved invests in the project: Seeding Labs invests in procurement, sourcing, testing, and carefully matching the right equipment for your institution. The donors of this equipment invest time and effort to provide high-quality equipments.

Institutions that receive equipment invest financially. The cost is much less than the cost of purchasing new equipment. You may of course seek outside sponsorship to cover the costs of a shipment. Equipment is shipped from port to port and receiving universities are responsible for final customs clearance.

4. Follow up

Before equipment can be shipped, the receiving university submits an action plan for the installation, sharing and maintenance of the equipment. Seeding Labs continues to follow up with universities on the progress of these activities as well as to assess the impact of equipment on teaching and research. To ensure that equipment is shared, used and maintained, we will often introduce university researchers to scientific or technical advisors in the U.S. for further help.