PETA Pays Students Who Create Alternatives to Animal Use
From mushroom leather and recycled ocean plastics in the clothing industry to replace animal leather, and placenta-on-a-chip that replaces toxin studies in mice and monkeys, to SynFrog dissection software that keeps the declining frog population safe in nature, and “horse breeding” using non-fungible tokens instead of forced insemination, animal use is being replaced with innovative technology as creative, young minds apply themselves to finding ways to save the environment, stop pollution, improve human health, and end society’s archaic dependence on animals as our surrogates, tools, amusements, and in other exploitive ways.
If you can use your talents to save animals from exploitation, you could score a Future Without Speciesism Cash Award.
PETA is awarding prizes of $1,000 to $10,000 to students who come up with a game-changing idea for an invention that the student can develop into a specific action plan or design to replace animal use. This award does not convey ownership rights to PETA or prevent you from patenting your invention.
Applicants are asked to identify an area in which animals are still exploited and to create a potentially patentable, original idea or prototype that allows for their replacement.
Inventions should be marketable as a viable alternative to the methods you seek to replace. Students can work in teams or as individuals.
Prize amounts will be determined by PETA and are based on the workability, practicality, and promise of the suggested alternative.
By submitting this form, you’re acknowledging that you have read and agree to our privacy policy and agree to receive e-mails from us.
PETA will screen applicants’ ideas or inventions for viability, originality, and applicability. Submissions will be continually screened and awards distributed as winners are identified. By submitting this form, you agree to the following terms:
- Proposed inventions must not use anything made from animals or animal-derived materials.
- You represent that your form responses are accurate and contain no misrepresentations, and you agree that the proposed invention or idea is your own original idea and work product that has not been made available to the public in any manner and has not yet been patented.
- The idea, proposed invention, reduced-to-practice idea, or working model must be the work of an undergraduate or graduate student or team of undergraduate or graduate students, either as a class project or as an independent project, and capable of being reproduced.
- Your submission must include substantiation that the invention works (or will work) for its intended purpose.
- Multiple undergraduate or graduate students may apply with a single project, but only one award will be disbursed.
- Receipt of the award is contingent upon your execution of an award acceptance agreement.
No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. Open to anyone 18 years or older.
