Young Faculty Award (YFA) 2026
Status: Forecasted
Posted date: September 30, 2025
Archive date: February 19, 2026
Close date: January 20, 2026
Opportunity ID: 360697
Opportunity number: DARPARA2502
Opportunity category: Discretionary
Agency name: DARPA - Defense Sciences Office
Agency code: DOD-DARPA-DSO
Award floor: $0
Award ceiling: $0
Cost sharing required: No
Funding Instrument Types
- Cooperative Agreement
Category of Funding Activity
- Science and Technology and other Research and Development
Eligible Applicants
- Others
Categories (use these for quoted searches)
- agency_code:dod_darpa_dso
- category_of_funding_activity:science_and_technology_and_other_research_and_development
- cost_sharing_or_matching_requirement:false
- eligible_applicants:others
- funding_instrument_type:cooperative_agreement
- opportunity_category:discretionary
- status:forecasted
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA) program aims to identify and engage rising stars in junior research positions in academia and equivalent positions at non-profit research institutions, particularly those without prior DARPA funding, to expose them to Department of Defense (DoD) needs and DARPA’s mission to create and prevent technological surprise for national security. The YFA program will provide high-impact funding to researchers early in their careers to develop innovative new research that enables transformative DoD capabilities. Ultimately, the YFA program is developing the next generation of researchers focused on national security issues.