What is a "forward-looking word"?
I think he means that "confirmation" is something you affirm about a thing that already exists. He wants wording that suggests you are looking at things that don't yet exist. Or rather, things that are not yet known. Something you intend to do with the grant that is new and novel, not something that sounds like it is just same-old-same-old, even if it isn't Discover is a good word. Search is another. Research is a search for unknown truths. 

If you have an hypothesis that will be stated in the grant you don't want to (say you will) "confirm" it. You want to discover the underlying truth. 

But bounce this idea off the PI first.