Faculty Affairs and Academic Programs
Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Awards
Launching in fall 2025, the Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Awards (ECFREA) advance the University’s enduring commitment to the scholarship and creative activity of early career faculty across the ten-campus UC system. This new program builds on a range of existing programs and initiatives across the system designed to support thriving faculty careers at UC.
The changing national landscape for research funding demands a renewed commitment and investment in the talent, achievement and promise of early career faculty at UC. The Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Awards program will make up to sixty competitive awards to early career faculty from across the UC system. Selected award recipients will receive a one-time $50,000 allocation beginning in 2026 to support their proposed research plan and associated allowable activities. These award recipients will represent the breadth of the excellence of the professoriate while accelerating the continued impact of UC in California, across the country and around the world.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What is the Early Career Faculty Research Excellence Award?
- Who is eligible to be nominated?
- How many awards are given each year?
- What types of projects are supported?
- What are the required components of the proposal?
- How are nominations submitted?
- What is the program timeline?
- How are funds administered?
- Are final reports required?
- Who manages the program?
- Do campuses rank their applicants?
- Can indirect costs (IDC)/overhead be charged to these awards?
- How does Proposal Central recognize UC applicants?
- Will Proposal Central notify applicants who are not selected?
- Who handles technical questions in Proposal Central?
- Can applications be edited after submission?
The award provides a one-time $50,000 allocation to support early career faculty research and creative activity across the ten campuses of the University of California. The program is designed to accelerate milestone accomplishments and highlight the breadth of excellence within UC’s professoriate.
Eligible faculty: Assistant Professors, Assistant Professors of Teaching, Acting Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors in Residence, who are in good standing at their campus.
Tenure timeline: Recipients are expected to expend all Early Career Award funds prior to submitting their tenure promotion file.
Program focus: The award is designed to support faculty in advancing their scholarly work.
Up to 60 awards annually. The first 20 awards are guaranteed — two for each UC campus. The remaining awards are made without regard to campus affiliation.
Projects should:
Advance the applicant’s career by enabling a major milestone (e.g., first book, significant experiments, major publications, exhibit).
Contribute meaningfully to knowledge advancement and/or creative achievement.
Priority consideration is given to:
Projects for which access to extramural funding is generally limited
Projects for which the federal funding environment has changed, making federal grants difficult to obtain or for which grants have been lost.
Projects for which access to extramural funding may prove challenging because they entail a new research direction for the applicants and, thus, some proof of concept or establishing a track record in the area is needed.
Applications should include:
Campuses manage their own internal selection process and forward up to 10 nominees to the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Academic Programs (FAAP) by the final deadline of December 15, 2025. Campuses may use FAAP’s Proposal Central platform or their own system in advancing the 10 nominees.
- How are funds administered?
Funds are transferred to individual campuses by FAAP and administered locally. Allowable expenses may include:
Faculty salary support
Research travel and fieldwork
Preparation of publications (articles, books, exhibits)
Development of future funding proposals
Course Buyout
Use of funds: Awards must be spent by June 30, 2027, with the possibility of a 12-month no-cost extension approved at the campus level.
Tenure timeline: Recipients are expected to expend all Early Career Award funds prior to submitting their promotion file for tenure rank.
Yes. Awardees must submit a final report at the conclusion of the funding cycle. Details of the final report requirements to be announced at a later date.
The program is overseen by the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Academic Programs (FAAP), with day-to-day implementation managed by FAAP staff.
No. Each campus conducts its own internal selection process and forwards up to ten nominees to FAAP. The initial systemwide review will proceed without regard to campus affiliation or ranking ensuring that applications are evaluated on their merit.
12. Can indirect costs (IDC)/overhead be charged to these awards?
No, no overhead or indirect costs are permitted.
Faculty should use their UC-affiliated campus email address when applying through Proposal Central. This ensures they are routed to the correct UC campus portal. Use of personal email accounts (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo) is not recommended for application submission.
14. Will Proposal Central notify applicants who are not selected?
No. ProposalCentral does not automatically notify applicants who are not selected. The system will allow administrators to send emails to applicants, if needed, based on application status.
Applicants experiencing technical issues should contact pcsupport@altum.com directly. This ensures timely resolution, even if a campus or program administrator is unavailable.
Yes, with conditions. Applicants would need to contact their campus administrator to request application edits.