Limited Deadline: 2/2/26 4pm
Award: $1 million to $1.3 million over three years, grant
period starting January 2027 Purpose: The W. M. Keck Research Program seeks to
benefit humanity by supporting Medical Research and Science & Engineering
projects that are distinctive and novel in their approach, question the
prevailing paradigm, or have the potential to break open new territory in their
field. The Foundation funds projects that:
*Focus on important and emerging areas of research
*Have potential to develop breakthrough technologies,
instrumentation, or methodologies
*Are innovative, distinctive, and interdisciplinary
*Demonstrate a high level of risk due to unconventional
approaches or challenge the prevailing paradigm
*Have potential for transformative impact such as the
founding of a new field of research, enabling new observations, or altering
perception of a previously intractable problem
*Fall outside the mission of public funding agencies
*Demonstrate that W.M. Keck Foundation support is essential
to the project’s success Limited Submission Instructions
Per the Keck Foundation’s guidelines (wmkeck.org), submissions
must fit to one page in a Microsoft Word document formatted with 12-point,
Times New Roman, font with 1 inch margins. Include:
1. Organization Name, Project Title, and Full Name of
Principal Investigator
2. An overview of the proposed project emphasizing any
unique aspects and pilot studies (indicate area of emphasis for project -
medical research or science & engineering research);
3. A description of the methodologies and listing of
key personnel;
4. A brief justification of the need for W.M. Keck
Foundation support; and
5. An estimated budget broken down, if possible, by
major areas, e.g., personnel, equipment, consumable supplies, etc. Budgets
should be between $1 million to $1.3 million and expenses should be rounded to
the nearest $100,000. A rough estimate is sufficient. Submit by 2/2/26 at 4pm to limitedsubmissions@ucr.edu. DO NOT
contact the Keck Foundation. Illustrations are not recommended at this phase as they take
space needed for text. If a reference is necessary, abbreviate it as (Science,
323, 45, ‘11). DO NOT USE (Jones et al., 2011). If space allows, the
authors are free to add other details (e.g., background to put the research
into perspective, description of the institution’s prominence in the field,
etc.) Selection Criteria: A successful Keck proposal:
- Focuses on a unique, important emerging area of research
Has the potential to develop breakthrough methodologies
Demonstrates a high level of risk due to unconventional
approaches, or by challenging a prevailing paradigm
Has the 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
Falls outside the mission of public funding agencies
Common reasons why concepts are rejected by Keck:
- The project is not ambitious enough (i.e., it represents
only a small advance vs. creating a new paradigm).
The proposal does not fully detail the scope of work and
potential impact.
The proposal lacks clear research methodology.- The project focuses on disease-related therapies or
treatments (in the case of medical research) as opposed to bench science.
The project is focused on a device as opposed to bench
science.
The project focuses on revision or scaling of existing
technology.
The project focuses on implementation or policy.
Things to note:
- For the limited submission, a one-page concept paper is
required (NOT the three pages that are usually part of UCR’s Limited Submission
process).
Ideally, proposals will have already been rejected by
federal funding agency with reviewer comments reflect that the research is
innovative, exciting, and would have a large impact, but is too risky or falls
outside the scope of federal agencies.
Questions may be directed to Kelly Kraus-Lee, Senior
Director of Foundation Relations Kelly.krauslee@ucr.edu
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