W. M. Keck Foundation Awards

General Eligibility

• The applicant must be a Regular Series or In-Residence Series UCLA faculty member on the Westwood campus at the time of submission.
• The applicant’s appointment can be in any UCLA School or Department.
• Applicants must be in the Regular Series or In-Residence series, with their first appointment as an Assistant Professor at any university in any series between July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2020.

General Evaluation Criteria

• Strength and future promise of the applicant, based on research accomplishments to date as a trainee and independent investigator, and established success securing extramural funding.
• Extent to which the proposal and the applicant’s research in general focuses on important and emerging areas of biomedical research.
• Demonstration that private philanthropy generally, and the W.M. Keck Foundation in particular, is essential for the project’s success.
• Potential of the project to develop breakthrough conceptual insights, technologies, instrumentation, or methodologies.
• High level of risk due to the use of unconventional approaches or by challenging prevailing paradigms.
• Potential for transformative impact, such as the founding of a new field of research, the enabling of observations not previously possible, or the altered perception of a previously intractable problem.
• The proposal cannot focus on clinical or translational research, treatment trials, or research for the sole purpose of drug development.
• Evidence of innovation and use of interdisciplinary approaches.
• Evidence of deep engagement in UCLA’s research enterprise and positive interactions with the research community.

The Letter of Intent should include the following 2 items assembled into a single PDF (please use Ariel 11 font for the LOI text with 0.5-inch margins):

• A one-page document consisting of:
  • Project title.
  • Applicant name and UCLA department.
  • A brief summary of the applicant’s accomplishments as an independent investigator.
  • A brief summary of the scientific problem and the general, anticipated approach.
  • A brief description of why the proposed research should be considered to be transformative and suitable for funding from the W. M. Keck Foundation.
• An NIH-style biosketch including current and past research support.

The PDF containing these 2 items can be uploaded here by September 20, 2024.

Submit now

Application Instructions

Full applications can be submitted only by applicants invited by the LOI review committee to submit a full application.

Full applications should include the following 6 items assembled into a single PDF (please use Ariel 11 font for application text with 0.5-inch page margins):

• A cover page (1 page limit) containing:
  • Project title.
  • Applicant name and department.
  • 1-paragraph lay summary of the proposed research.
  • 1-paragraph description of the transformative nature of the proposed research.
• A 5-page research proposal consisting of:
  • Specific aims.
  • Significance.
  • Background.
  • Preliminary data (with embedded figures, if appropriate).
  • Experimental approach.
• A 1-page list of cited literature.
• An NIH-style budget page covering the entire 2-yr funding period ($500,000 maximum).
• A brief budget justification (1 page maximum).
• An NIH-style biosketch including current and past research support.
• ARC and IRB approvals do not need to be included with the application, but must be provided prior to funding; failure to provide approvals soon after grants are approved may jeopardize funding.

The PDF containing these 6 items can be uploaded here by November 1, 2024.

Submit now