BWF’s Preterm Birth initiative was the Fund’s first funding mechanism in reproductive sciences. This award mechanism ran alternating years from 2009-2019 initially stemming from consortium meetings that brought together research leaders in this space.

In 2019, building upon the original goals of the BWF Preterm Birth Initiative, BWF convened a Pregnancy Think Tank to guide the next phase of this award mechanism. With growing evidence suggesting the interrelatedness of the duration of pregnancy, fetal growth, and adverse pregnancy outcomes of preterm birth, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, stillbirth, and maternal medical complications, including maternal mortality, the decision was made to broaden the scope of the initiative. Reflecting this expanded focus, the program was renamed the Next Generation Pregnancy Initiative. Along with a broadened scope, the award also moved to annual cycles to address the limited funding mechanisms in this scientific area.

After five years of conducting the program with the broadened scope, BWF paused the mechanism to reassess our investments, the state of the field, researchers’ priorities, and the funders' landscape. BWF initiated a strategic reassessment of the program in partnership with Health Resources in Action (HRiA) to revisit the current needs and priorities of the field. The new directives for those outcomes will be rolled out in a stepwise fashion.

This 2025-2026 cycle is the first step in a full program revamp that will prioritize the refinement of the scope of research areas to be considered for the award.

The updated priority areas BWF aims to support include underlying mechanisms of normal pregnancy, preeclampsia, preterm birth, and late term pregnancy loss (projects focused on miscarriage at 10 weeks or less and infertility-related loss are beyond the scope of this mechanism). These conditions remain both pervasive challenges in reproductive medicine and persistently underexplored in reproductive biology.

We especially welcome applications focused on subtyping adverse pregnancy outcomes, investigating maternal–fetal interactions, and integrating animal models with clinical outcomes.