Keck Foundation Research Program 2027 (June Cycle)
| To: | Associate Deans for Research; College/School Research Administrators |
| From: | Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research |
| Date: | March 19, 2026 |
| Subject: | Keck Foundation Research Program 2027 (June Cycle) |
Deadline
| Deadline for Deadline for Internal Review: | April 30, 2026 |
Project Description
This internal competition announcement applies to both the grant areas supported by the Keck Foundation Research Grant Program: Medical Research, and Science and Engineering Research.
The Keck Foundation seeks to fund high-risk, high-reward projects that will have an outsized impact in advancing basic science. The Foundation is looking for projects that aim to deliver pioneering and fundamental scientific discoveries in important and emerging areas of research. They fund high-impact research in basic physical, life, and biomedical sciences, including limited instrumentation development and engineering approaches in service of answering basic scientific questions.
Funding is awarded to universities and institutions nationwide for projects in research 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 of observations, or altering perception of a previously intractable problem
• Fall outside the mission of public funding agencies (note that applicants must be prepared to document their inability to fund their project through federal grants by sharing reviewer comments on declined proposals, comments from program officers, etc. Based on past feedback from Keck Foundation, providing only rejection notices from federal agencies is not considered sufficient documentation)
• Demonstrate that Keck Foundation support is essential to the project’s success
Amount per Award: Awards are typically $1 – 1.3 million (indirect costs are not permitted)
Duration of Award: Up to 5 Years
Number of Awards: The number of grants made varies each year.
Interested PIs are encouraged to review prospective applicant information for additional information on program priorities and grant abstracts for examples of previously funded projects.
Eligibility
Up to eight Concept Papers will be submitted to the Keck Foundation for pre-application counseling. Following pre-application counseling, one PI in each of the two applicable grant areas of Medical Research and Science & Engineering Research will be selected to submit a Phase I application.
NOTE: Keck Foundation proposals require a substantial amount of institutional commitment (approximately 20-25% of the grant amount). This commitment can be met through a combination of unrecovered indirect costs and school/college, department and OVCR contributions. For this reason, your internal application must include the Keck Cover page signed by your Associate Dean for Research.
Website
The following link contains additional information on the program and specific application instructions:
https://www.wmkeck.org/research-overview/
Internal Competition Application Instructions
Applications for Internal Review
To submit your application, attach a single PDF to an email to: grants@research.wisc.edu
Please include the following information:
- Cover page signed by PI and Associate Dean for Research: Keck Cover Page
- 2-3 sentences on your plans for meeting the institutional commitment.
- Statement that the concept/project has been proposed to a traditional funding source (e.g., NSF, NIH) but has been unsuccessful in obtaining funding.
- A one-page Concept Paper using the template available here. Concept papers must be no more than one page in 12 point font with 1 inch margins.
The PIs of selected projects will work with the UW Foundation on submission of their Concept Papers. Up to eight Concept Papers will be submitted to the Keck Foundation for pre-application counseling by June 15, 2026. Following pre-application counseling, one PI in each of the two applicable grant areas of Medical Research and Science & Engineering Research will be selected to submit a Phase I application.
Sponsor Deadlines
Concept Papers are due to Keck Foundation by June 15, 2026. Applications are due to Keck Foundation by November 01, 2026.
Questions?
Contact grants@research.wisc.edu.