Department of Energy Announces Early Career Research Program for FY 2021

Awards Will Support University and National Laboratory Scientists

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is accepting proposals for the Fiscal Year 2021 DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program to support the research of outstanding scientists early in their careers. The Program will support over 50 early career researchers for five years at U.S. academic institutions and DOE national laboratories.

To be eligible for the competition, a researcher must be an untenured, tenure-track assistant or associate professor at a U.S. academic institution or a full-time employee at a DOE national laboratory. The applicant must also have received a Ph.D. within the past ten years. University awards average around $750,000 for five years.

Early career researchers may apply to one of eight Office of Science program offices: Advanced Scientific Computing Research; Biological and Environmental Research; Basic Energy Sciences; Fusion Energy Sciences; High Energy Physics; Nuclear Physics; Accelerator R&D and Production; and Isotope R&D and Production. Proposed research topics must fall within the programmatic priorities of DOE’s Office of Science, which are provided in the program announcements. Funding will be competitively awarded on the basis of peer review.

Pre-applications are mandatory and are due on Monday, November 20, 2020, at 5:00 PM EDT. Full proposals will be due on Monday, February 16, 2021, at 5:00 PM EDT. Only those applicants that receive notification from DOE encouraging a formal proposal may submit full proposals.

This is the 12^th year of the annual competition. For each of the last 11 years, an average of 40 university and 22 national laboratory awards have been initiated each year.

Further information can be found on the Office of Science funding opportunities page.