June Grant Cycle

The W. M. Keck Foundation Research Program supports early-stage, high-risk basic science with the  potential to open new fields or rewrite textbooks. The foundation does not fund disease-specific research, translational or applied work, optimization of existing techniques, or incremental extensions of established research directions or methods. It welcomes work that other funders consider too early, too speculative, or too far from the prevailing paradigm. It does not require preliminary data or evidence that a federal agency has declined funding for the proposed work.

Program Priorities: Focus on important and emerging areas of basic research that:

• Has potential to develop breakthrough technologies, instrumentation or methodologies
• Is innovative, distinctive and involves interdisciplinary team
• Demonstrates a high level of risk due to unconventional approaches, or by challenging the prevailing paradigm
• Has 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
• Does not focus on clinical or translational research, treatment trials or research for the sole purpose of drug development
• Falls outside the mission of public funding agencies
• Demonstrates that private philanthropy generally, and the W.M. Keck Foundation in particular, is essential to the project's success

Potential applicants are encouraged to look at abstracts of past awards on the Keck Foundation website (https://www.wmkeck.org/our-focus-research/#focus-abstracts-research). Please note that once it has funded a new idea, the Keck Foundation looks for the next thing. It does not typically fund a given topic or area or new technology more than once. 

Application Instructions

Please review the Keck funding priority guidelines:https://www.wmkeck.org/research-overview/#funding-guidelines

Please answer Yes or No:

Does your project support diagnostics or development of diagnostic tools?

Does your project focus on applications or translation of science or engineering (i.e., medical devices)?

Does your project focus on development of large language models/AI?

Does your project focus on public policy research?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your pre-application does not fit the Keck funding priority guidelines.  

• If your pre-application fits the funder’s guidelines, please submit as one combined pdf labeled with PI’s Lastname, Firstname a single-paged concept paper, in 12-point font with 1 inch margins, that includes the following:

1. Scientific Question: State the scientific question motivating this work in terms accessible to a scientist outside your field. Do not include methods, instruments, or field-specific frameworks.
2. Potential Impact: If the scientific question is answered, what changes? Provide two distinct downstream consequences.
3. Risks: Highlight potential risks to project success. Address how you will mitigate them in the Project Narrative.
4. Enabling Advances: Identify any novel advances or elements that make this research possible or timely.
5. New Area: If the project represents a new research area for your team, how is it distinct from your team’s prior work?
6. Peer Groups: List 2 to 4 peer groups and describe what they do and how this proposal differs.
7. Prior Support: If preliminary data or results are included, briefly describe all prior funding used to generate them.

• Include a  biosketch of the PI that covers current, pending and past funding and whether there is overlap with the present proposal. [AC1] 

to limitedsubs@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Wednesday, October 21, 2026. Proposals are due to the sponsor 12/7/2026, so you will need to have your materials in to the Office of Sponsored Programs by 11/24/2026 if given the go‐ahead by the review committee.