# Research Funding Landscape MCP Server (`nexgenwatch/research-funding-landscape-mcp`) Actor

Answer 'who funds research on this topic' across two public government registers: US National Science Foundation awards and UK Research and Innovation's Gateway to Research.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/nexgenwatch/research-funding-landscape-mcp.md
- **Developed by:** [NexGen Watch](https://apify.com/nexgenwatch) (community)
- **Categories:** Agents, Business
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $50.00 / 1,000 tool calls

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Research Funding Landscape MCP Server

Answer **"who funds research on this topic"** across two public government registers — the
**US National Science Foundation** awards API and **UK Research and Innovation's Gateway to
Research** — live.

Built for grant writers and research-development teams.

### Five things this server gets right that a naive read gets wrong

Every one measured live against the sources on 2026-07-30.

#### 1. UKRI treats a multi-word topic as OR, not as a phrase — the error is 15×

```
term=quantum                5,835 records
term=computing             14,453 records
term=quantum computing     18,219 records   <- the union of the two, not the phrase
term="quantum computing"    1,182 records   <- the phrase
```

An unquoted two-word topic returns **roughly fifteen times too many projects**, most about
neither subject together. This server **quotes a multi-word topic by default** and reports
both counts in every answer, so the size of the difference is visible rather than taken on
trust.

#### 2. UKRI answers "no results" with HTTP 404

```
term=zzzqqqnotarealterm  ->  HTTP 404, Link-Records: 0
```

That is the register saying *nobody here funds that* — an answer, not a failure. This server
returns it as a real empty result and charges for it. A 404 **without** `Link-Records: 0` is
a route failure and raises.

#### 3. NSF's keyword matches the abstract, not the title

Measured on ten hits for "quantum": **six carried the word nowhere in the title**, including
*"REU Site: Extremal Graph Theory and Dynamical Systems at RIT"*. Correct behaviour, and
misleading if you assume otherwise — so every award reports whether the topic is visible in
its title, and each search reports the ratio.

#### 4. An unrecognised NSF parameter returns zero rows, not an error

```
title=quantum     ->  totalCount 0      (an unrecognised parameter)
keyword=quantum   ->  totalCount 519    (the real one)
```

A typo therefore answers *"nobody funds this"*. Only parameter names proven real against the
live API are ever sent, and the data layer refuses anything else with a named reason.

#### 5. NSF's `offset` is 0-based

`offset=1` returns `totalCount − 1` records and drops the **first** one, every time, on every
query. Every walk here starts at 0.

### The two registers are shaped differently, and are never merged

On **NSF** the funder is always the National Science Foundation, so ranking by funder
collapses the whole US side into one row and answers nothing. The comparable unit is the
funding **programme**. On **UKRI** the comparable unit is the **council or scheme** — EPSRC,
Innovate UK, STFC, UKRI FLF.

`find_funders` reports the unit and says which kind it is. **US amounts are USD, UK amounts
are GBP, and they are never added together.**

### Tools

| tool | what it answers |
|---|---|
| `find_funders` | Who funds this topic — funding units across both registers, ranked, with counts and totals per currency |
| `list_us_awards` | NSF awards matching a topic, with programme, recipient, PI, dates and amount |
| `list_uk_projects` | UKRI-funded projects matching a topic, with the council or scheme behind each |
| `explain_limits` | What this server will and will not say, and the five traps above. Read before acting. |

### Scope

**Two registers only: NSF and UKRI.** NIH, DOE, DOD, ERC, Horizon, charitable and industrial
funders are **not** covered — "who funds this" here means "who among these two registers has
funded it".

Neither host publishes a `robots.txt` and neither states a rate limit, so pacing is our own
choice: each source has its own strict-pacing bucket at **2 requests/second**.

Rankings are over the **sample actually read**, not the whole matching set; every answer
carries the full match count alongside the sample size.

This server reports who **has** funded work matching a topic. It does **not** say who will
fund you, does **not** rank funders by suitability, and never mixes currencies.

### Pricing

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Server start (`apify-actor-start`) | $0.05, charged once per server run by the platform |
| Tool call (`mcp-tool-call`) | **$0.05 flat per completed tool call** |

No other events. Memory is pinned to 1024 MB so the start fee is charged **once** — on this
platform the start event bills once per gigabyte.

**Errors and notices are not charged.** An empty topic, an unknown source name, or a read
failure on every requested register returns without billing.

**A sourced "nobody funds this" IS charged** — including UKRI's 404-with-zero-records, which
is that register's way of saying it.

If one register fails and the other answers, you get the answer **and** the named failure —
a partial read never looks like a complete one.

If a tool call cannot be billed correctly, **the call fails** rather than serving free.

# Actor input Schema

## `note` (type: `string`):

This Actor runs as an MCP server in Standby mode. Connect an MCP client to the server URL with path /mcp; there is no batch input to fill in.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "note": "standby"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "note": "standby"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("nexgenwatch/research-funding-landscape-mcp").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "note": "standby" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("nexgenwatch/research-funding-landscape-mcp").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "note": "standby"
}' |
apify call nexgenwatch/research-funding-landscape-mcp --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,nexgenwatch/research-funding-landscape-mcp"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/wW4uY7uKtSSmgbhcf/builds/7EMdR2Fw6lc15iyZZ/openapi.json