World Community Grid provides scientists conducting cutting-edge research in health and other humanitarian areas with free access to dedicated virtual supercomputing resources and a platform to engage the public in their research. World Community Grid volunteers donate their computer or mobile device's unused computing time to power this research, forming the biggest volunteer computing initiative devoted to humanitarian science - as powerful as some of the world's fastest supercomputers. Through their contributions, our research partners have published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals and have completed the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of years of research in less than a decade.
Advancing scientific discovery
Research We Support
World Community Grid supports research that is:
- Humanitarian: Focused on solving problems to benefit humanity
- Not for profit: Conducted by public or nonprofit organizations
- Contributed to the public domain: all data generated by World Community Grid volunteers must be made freely available to the scientific community
- Accelerated by volunteer computing technology: computations that require significant computer processing power and can be divided into small independent computations
World Community Grid has supported more than 25 research projects to date, including searches for more effective treatments for cancer, COVID19, HIV/AIDS and neglected tropical diseases. Other projects explored low-cost water filtration systems and new materials for capturing solar energy efficiently.
The Mapping Cancer Markers project is using World Community Grid to scan data from thousands of patients to identify molecular signatures associated with various types of cancer. This will help researchers detect cancer earlier and design more personalized treatment.
The Computing for Sustainable Water project studied the effects of human activity on the Chesapeake Bay watershed to understand what actions can lead to restoration, health and sustainability of this important resource.
Harvard University's Clean Energy Project discovered 35,000 materials with the potential to double carbon-based solar cell efficiency, after screening more than two million organic materials on World Community Grid – believed to be the world's most extensive quantum chemical investigation to date. These discoveries could result in solar cells that are cheaper, easier to produce and more efficient than ever before.
To date, over 500,000 volunteers have screened millions of drug candidates in the search for more effective HIV treatments as part of the FightAIDS@Home research project.
Submitting A Proposal
We're in the process of moving to our new home at Krembil Research Institute. During the transition, we will not be accepting or reviewing proposals for additional projects, as our priority is to ensure the current projects continue without interruption.
The new World Community Grid will build on and expand the potential of citizen science. In the coming months, we will be busy capturing expertise running the Grid, and ensuring we fully and effectively transfer know-how gained over 17 years. Once the foundation of the new WCG is ready and we can scale it up, we will post the call for proposals.