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Youth Opportunity & Wellbeing
The Youth Opportunity & Wellbeing Pitchfest invites NYU faculty and researchers to share ideas, form collaborations, and compete for seed funding to launch projects that advance youth opportunity and wellbeing.
ABOUT THE PITCHFEST
The Youth Opportunity & Wellbeing Pitchfest brings together NYU researchers to present ideas and programs that enhance opportunities and support the holistic wellbeing of young people (ages 0–24). The event focuses on initiatives that promote education, career pathways, mentorship, mental and physical health, social-emotional development, and the creation of safe, inclusive spaces. The event encourages interdisciplinary collaboration to turn NYU researchers’ ideas into scalable projects via seed funding.
At the Pitchfest, you can:
At the Pitchfest, you can:
Present a 3-minute pitch on a project idea related to youth opportunity and wellbeing;
Find collaborators across schools, disciplines, and research areas;
Apply for seed funding:
Anticipating four awards of ~$5,000 each to advance a subset of Pitchfest ideas;
Funding may be used for researcher time, postdoc salaries, project materials, and other direct costs;
Awardees may also request in-kind support (follow-up meetings, editors, advisors, student workers, analysts, data costs, etc.).
The Pitchfest is designed to spark new collaborations and support multi-step research efforts that advance youth wellbeing and opportunity. Modeled on NYU’s Pilot Pitchfest, this event is part of the NYU Cross-Cutting Initiative on Inequality + Opportunity (CCII+) research roundtable series. This initiative is open to faculty, researchers, postdocs, and PhD students with a current NYU affiliation.
Get ready for fast, three-minute pitches packed with big ideas:
Get ready for fast, three-minute pitches packed with big ideas:
CHOOSE HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Attend As Audience
Attend As Audience
Listen to pitches, share your expertise, connect with teams seeking collaborators to apply for seed funding.
You will not be presenting, but your role will be as active.
The Pitchfest is a dynamic forum to explore your colleagues’ research ideas, find out who is looking for collaborators, spot where your expertise shines, and have the opportunity to team up and bring those ideas to life by applying for seed funding.
Pitch Your Project Idea
Pitch Your Project Idea
Find collaborators, generate feedback,
and compete for seed funding.
Submit a 3-minute, bold, low-stakes presentation.
Preview the application questions here.
You may submit multiple pitches. Your idea may be exploratory or at a more developed stage. Slides are not needed for the application: at the Pitchfest, you will use this slide template for exploratory ideas, and this template for more developed projects.
Applications closed on February 11.
Applying For Funding: How It Works
Applying For Funding: How It Works
Before the Pitchfest
Before the Pitchfest
Register by January 23, 2026.
If you are presenting, you may submit more than one project idea.
If registrations exceed capacity, participation will be prioritized based on registration order and thematic fit.
Confirmed presenters will be notified by early February 2026.
At the Pitchfest
At the Pitchfest
Whether you are pitching or listening to pitches, take your time to connect with colleagues, how your knowledge and skills match and overlap, and how you can for a team to advance an idea presented at the Pitchfest.
After the Pitchfest
After the Pitchfest
Newly formed interdisciplinary teams (faculty, postdocs, PhD students) may apply for seed funding by early April 2026.
Funding decisions will be made in May 2026 by a review committee (details forthcoming). While we anticipate that four seed grants of approximately $5,000 each will be awarded, the final number and amount of awards will be determined by the number of applications received and the quality of the proposed projects.
Projects should aim to produce evidence to support agency decision-making and potentially yield publishable research.
Funded teams may request tailored implementation support (meetings, editorial help, research assistants, data costs, etc.).
Contact information: Greta Bosello (Program Administrator, University-wide Initiatives) – gb3151@nyu.edu
Steering Committee
Steering Committee
Stephanie Cook, Associate Professor, Global Public Health
Cheri Fancsali, Executive Director, Research Alliance for NYC Schools
Erin Godfrey, Director, Institute of Human Development and Social Change
Mindy Tarlow, Senior Fellow and Research Professor, NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management
With the Support of Office of the Provost, Interdisciplinary Impact
With the Support of Office of the Provost, Interdisciplinary Impact
Elise Cappella, Vice Provost for University-wide Initiatives and Graduate Education
Alex Clothier, Assistant Director, University-wide Initiatives and Graduate Education
Greta Bosello, Program Administrator, University-wide Initiatives and Graduate Education
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