Henri Boulard Award 2026: Five €10,000 Grants for Local Microbiota and Public Health Projects Across Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa

Henri Boulard Award 2026: Five €10,000 Grants for Local Microbiota and Public Health Projects Across Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa

The Henri Boulard Award is a small, focused grant with a specific purpose: to put money directly behind local health projects that protect the human microbiota and improve population health in parts of the world where research funding is scarce and unmet needs are large. Run by the Biocodex Microbiota Foundation, the award gives five grants of €10,000 each year to health professionals leading practical, community-rooted projects in eligible countries across Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. For the current cycle, submissions close on September 15, 2026, with the jury selecting recipients in December 2026.

This guide explains what the award funds, who is eligible, how the money is structured and paid, how to submit a competitive application, and what the foundation appears to reward. It is built from the foundation’s own call-for-projects page so you can decide whether your project fits before you invest time in the form.

Key Details at a Glance

Use this table as a first screen. If your project is a local public-health initiative in one of the eligible regions, led by a health professional and centered on the human microbiota, the sections below will help you judge fit and prepare.

What the Award Offers

Each Henri Boulard Award is worth €10,000, and the foundation makes five of them available every year. That is a deliberately modest sum by research-grant standards, and it signals what the program is for. This is not funding for a multi-year laboratory study or a large trial. It is seed money for a concrete, local project — a community initiative, a public-health intervention, an education or surveillance effort, or applied research that addresses a specific unmet need in the applicant’s own country.

The payment structure reinforces that intent. The €10,000 is released in two installments: €8,000 when the award is approved, and the remaining €2,000 twelve months later, contingent on the awardee submitting a progress report. In practice this means the foundation front-loads most of the money so the work can start quickly, while holding back a final tranche to confirm the project actually moved forward. If you plan a project around this award, budget with that split in mind: the bulk arrives at the outset, and the final €2,000 depends on demonstrating progress at the one-year mark.

The award is named after Henri Boulard, and it sits within the broader mission of the Biocodex Microbiota Foundation, which supports research and public-health work on the human microbiota. For a small team or an early-career health professional in an under-resourced setting, €10,000 can meaningfully launch or sustain a well-scoped local project — the kind of work that rarely attracts large international grants but can have a real effect on the population it serves.

The Three Award Categories

The five annual awards are not a single undifferentiated pool. They are split across three thematic categories, and knowing which one your project fits is the first strategic decision you make:

• Microbiota & Human Health — 2 awards. Projects examining how the human microbiota relates to health and disease, and initiatives that use that knowledge to improve population health.
• Microbiota & Antimicrobial Resistance — 2 awards. Projects addressing the intersection of the microbiota and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one of the most urgent global health threats, especially in settings where antibiotic stewardship and surveillance are limited.
• Human Microbiota & Environmental Concerns — 1 award. Projects connecting the human microbiota to environmental factors — a single award, and therefore the most competitive category by ratio of awards to likely applicants.

Because there is a category-specific application form, you should identify your category before you begin. A project that could plausibly sit in more than one category should be framed clearly for the single category where it is strongest and where the odds are best. The AMR and human-health categories each fund two projects; the environmental category funds only one, so applicants there should be especially sharp about fit and impact.

Who Is Eligible

The eligibility rules are specific, and screening yourself against them before you write is the single best way to avoid wasted effort:

• You must be a health professional. The award is aimed at health professionals, not the general public or students without a clinical or health background.
• You apply on behalf of an organization. Applications are submitted on behalf of an association, a research organization, a hospital, or an institution — not as an unaffiliated individual. You need an institutional home for the project.
• Your project must address local health needs in an eligible country. The foundation designates eligible countries in three regions: Asia (21 countries, including India, Vietnam, and Thailand), Latin America (15 countries), and the Middle East and Africa (30 countries). The project must respond to a genuine, local unmet need in one of those countries and aim to improve the population’s health by protecting the microbiota.

The foundation is equally clear about what it will not fund. Ineligible projects include:

• Clinical drug evaluations — this is not a mechanism for testing pharmaceuticals.
• Pre-clinical studies — laboratory or animal work without a direct, local public-health application.
• Projects from prior-year awardees — previous winners cannot re-apply for the same support.
• Projects supported by international NGOs — the award targets locally driven initiatives rather than efforts already backed by large international organizations.

Read these exclusions carefully. The award is built for locally led, applied, population-facing work — not for drug trials, basic bench science, or projects already resourced by international funders. If your idea drifts toward any of those, it will not survive screening, and reframing a bench study as a “local health project” rarely convinces a jury that knows the difference.

Deadlines and Timeline

The submission window follows a fixed annual rhythm. Submissions open on April 30 and close on September 15. For the current round, that means the deadline is September 15, 2026. The jury selects the recipients in December, so applicants can expect to learn the outcome around the end of 2026.

Two practical points follow from this schedule. First, the window is open for roughly four and a half months, which gives you time to secure institutional sign-off and assemble a strong application — but it also means the deadline is firm and predictable, so there is no reason to be caught out by it. Second, because decisions come in December and the first payment follows approval, you should plan your project timeline to begin in early 2027 rather than expecting funds in 2026. The one-year progress report that unlocks the final €2,000 then falls roughly twelve months into the funded work.

How to Apply

The application process is straightforward but requires attention to the category structure:

1. Confirm your eligibility. Check that you are a health professional, that you can apply on behalf of an eligible organization, and that your project country is on the foundation’s designated list for Asia, Latin America, or the Middle East and Africa.
2. Choose your category. Decide whether your project belongs under Microbiota & Human Health, Microbiota & Antimicrobial Resistance, or Human Microbiota & Environmental Concerns, and use the correct category-specific application form.
3. Complete the form fully. Fill out the application in line with the category’s requirements, describing the local unmet need, your proposed activity, your methods, your timeline, and the expected public-health benefit.
4. Submit electronically. Send the completed application to [email protected] before the September 15 deadline.
5. Ask for help if you need it. For assistance completing an application, the foundation provides a dedicated support address: [email protected].

Submit before the final day rather than on it. Email submissions can fail silently, and a proposal that arrives after the deadline is a proposal that does not get read.

Writing a Competitive Application

Because the award is small, local, and impact-oriented, the jury is looking for projects that are realistic, well-targeted, and likely to help a specific population — not the most elaborate science. A few principles help:

• Anchor the project in a concrete local need. The foundation explicitly wants projects that “address local unmet needs” and improve population health by protecting the microbiota. Name the need precisely — the community, the health problem, the gap in current care or knowledge — and show why it matters where you work.
• Match your scope to €10,000. A credible plan that a small grant can actually deliver beats an ambitious plan that clearly needs ten times the budget. Reviewers can tell when a proposal is scaled to the money and when it is not.
• Make the microbiota link central, not decorative. Every category is about the human microbiota. If the connection to the microbiota is vague or tacked on, the project reads as off-theme. Explain the mechanism or rationale clearly.
• Show your institutional footing. Because you apply on behalf of an association, hospital, research organization, or institution, make that backing visible — it signals that the project can be carried out and that funds will be managed responsibly.
• Be honest about feasibility and the one-year checkpoint. The final €2,000 depends on a progress report. A realistic timeline with a clear twelve-month milestone tells the jury you have thought about delivery, not just ideas.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Applying from an ineligible country or without an organization. The country list and the requirement to apply on behalf of an institution are hard gates. Confirm both first.
• Proposing an excluded project type. Clinical drug evaluations and pre-clinical studies are explicitly out. So are projects already supported by international NGOs, and re-applications from prior awardees. Do not spend effort on a proposal that cannot be considered.
• Using the wrong category form. With separate forms per category, a mismatched submission signals carelessness. Pick the right one and frame the project for it.
• Over-scoping the budget. Padding a €10,000 project into something that plainly needs far more undermines credibility. Keep it deliverable.
• Treating “microbiota” as a keyword. A weak thematic link will not compete against projects that are genuinely centered on the human microbiota.
• Submitting at the last minute. Email problems near a hard deadline are avoidable. Send early.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is each award, and how many are given? Each award is €10,000, and five are given per year — two for Microbiota & Human Health, two for Microbiota & Antimicrobial Resistance, and one for Human Microbiota & Environmental Concerns.

How is the money paid? In two installments: €8,000 when the award is approved, and €2,000 twelve months later, contingent on submitting a progress report.

Who can apply? Health professionals applying on behalf of an association, research organization, hospital, or institution, for a project addressing local health needs in an eligible country in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, or Africa.

When is the deadline? Submissions close on September 15, 2026, having opened on April 30, with the jury selecting recipients in December 2026.

What projects are not eligible? Clinical drug evaluations, pre-clinical studies, projects from prior-year awardees, and projects supported by international NGOs.

How do I submit? Complete the category-specific application form and email it to [email protected]. For help, contact [email protected].

Official Links and Next Steps

Start at the foundation’s official call-for-projects page: https://www.biocodexmicrobiotafoundation.com/henri-boulard-award/henri-boulard-award-call-projects. Confirm that your country is on the eligible list, choose the category that fits your project, and download the correct application form. Then draft a tightly scoped proposal that names a real local health need, ties it clearly to the human microbiota, and can be delivered on a €10,000 budget within a year.

If your work is a locally driven public-health or applied-research project in an eligible country — and especially if it addresses antimicrobial resistance, a major global-health priority with two dedicated awards — the Henri Boulard Award is a realistic, low-friction opportunity with a clear deadline and a straightforward email application. Because amounts, eligible countries, category splits, and dates can change from year to year, confirm the current details on the official page before you submit, and use the support address if any requirement is unclear.