Royalty Research Fund (RRF)
The University of Washington Royalty Research Fund supports innovative early- and mid-career faculty research likely to spark new scholarly insights or technologies and foster future external funding opportunities.
Funder: University of Washington
Due Dates: September 28, 2026 (Autumn round) | March 1, 2027 (Spring round)
Funding Amounts: Up to $40,000 per project; approximately $1M awarded per round; one-year project duration.
Summary: Competitive internal funding for innovative research by early- and mid-career University of Washington faculty and eligible professional staff.
Key Information: Full Professors are not eligible; only one proposal per PI/Co-I per round; strong preference for junior faculty.
Description
The Royalty Research Fund (RRF) is an internal, competitive awards program at the University of Washington, established to foster new directions in faculty research and enhance the overall research ecosystem across UW’s three campuses. Funded by royalty and licensing income from UW’s technology transfer activities, the RRF supports projects that are likely to generate significant new creative activities, scholarly understandings, data, or instrumentation, and that can serve as a springboard for future external funding or technology development.
The program welcomes proposals from eligible faculty and professional staff for projects with budgets up to $40,000 and a one-year duration. The RRF is particularly intended for early- and mid-career faculty and those in disciplines with limited external funding opportunities. Proposals are evaluated by faculty committees on research merit, alignment with UW’s mission, investigator capability, and technical soundness.
