Research Priority Program
Forecasted
Research Priority Program supports water-sector researchers with targeted research funding to address operational needs and emerging challenges across drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems.
Funder: The Water Research Foundation
Due Dates (Anticipated): May 2027 (RFP submission deadline)
Funding Amounts: Maximum award specified in each RFP; contribution of at least 33% of the project award required
Summary: Supports targeted water-sector research addressing operational needs and emerging challenges in treatment, resource recovery, infrastructure, and utility management.
Key Information: An organizational My Portal account is required; proposals submitted outside the online system are ineligible.
Description
The Research Priority Program is The Water Research Foundation’s (WRF) flagship research program, supporting work on broadly relevant subscriber issues, challenges, and opportunities. Projects address near-term operational needs and longer-term emerging challenges across drinking water, wastewater, reuse, and stormwater systems. Research is commissioned through competitive, project-specific requests for proposals (RFPs), rather than an unrestricted call for research ideas.
The program has five themes and 15 subtopics. Expert groups meet annually to identify knowledge gaps and research offering the greatest value to subscribers and the wider water sector. A two-year planning cycle shapes research priorities, while the Board-appointed Research Advisory Council provides strategic guidance and reviews and approves projects for funding.
