Young Faculty Award (YFA) 2026

The Young Faculty Award (YFA) offered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is designed to identify and support the most promising junior faculty in academia and equivalent positions in nonprofit research institutions. The 2026 program, administered by DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office (DSO), seeks to introduce these early-career researchers to national security challenges and expose them to DARPA’s mission of preventing and creating technological surprises. The initiative aims to foster long-term relationships between DARPA and talented researchers who are still relatively new to the field and may not yet have extensive experience with the Department of Defense (DoD) research ecosystem. DARPA anticipates awarding multiple cooperative agreements under this announcement. Each award will support a 24-month base period, funded at a maximum of $500,000, and may include an additional 12-month “Director’s Fellowship” option period funded up to $500,000 for projects showing exceptional progress. A supplementary option of up to $350,000 may also be exercised for inclusion of a U.S. Person graduate student in a supporting role during the base period. This grant does not allow for evolutionary research but instead encourages bold, high-impact, and innovative proposals that could transform DoD capabilities. Awardees will be mentored by DARPA Program Managers whose expertise aligns with the proposed project areas. Eligibility for this opportunity is limited to U.S.-based researchers in tenure-track or recently tenured faculty positions (within three years of tenure) or equivalent roles at nonprofit research institutions (within 12 years of earning a doctorate). Applicants must not have received more than $500,000 from DARPA or $1,250,000 from all DoD sources combined. Prior YFA recipients, DARPA PMs, and individuals employed at FFRDCs, UARCs, national labs, or other government entities are not eligible. Applications from underrepresented institutions such as HBCUs, small businesses, and minority-serving organizations are welcomed but not set aside. Applicants are required to first submit an executive summary through DARPA’s Broad Agency Announcement Tool (BAAT) by October 15, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. ET. Full proposals are due by January 20, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. ET via Grants.gov. The program does not use letters of intent but treats executive summaries as a strongly encouraged gating step. Final awards are expected to begin around August 2026. Evaluation criteria include scientific and technical merit, relevance to DARPA’s mission, and cost realism. DARPA also emphasizes responsible budgeting and clarity around personnel involvement and deliverables. Applicants must follow detailed proposal instructions and use the specified templates provided in Attachments A through D. Required proposal components include a Statement of Work (SOW), budget justification, and institutional certifications. Travel to DARPA-hosted meetings in Washington, D.C., is expected. DARPA requires electronic submission through Wide Area Work Flow for payments and reserves the right to make awards with or without discussions, or fund portions of proposals. As part of the process, DARPA may also survey current and past recipients for program evaluation. The YFA program operates on an annual cycle and supports fundamental research only. The 2026 opportunity includes 24 defined technical topic areas across science, engineering, technology, and health-related disciplines. The next expected cycle will open around September 2026. This recurring structure enables early-career researchers to strategically plan for future submission cycles. The official point of contact for this program is reachable via YFA2026@darpa.mil.

Submitting an executive summary is strongly encouraged; proposals not recommended after summary review are discouraged; follow Heilmeier Catechism for framing research.