Gulf Research Program Early-Career Research Fellowship: Energy Track

Gulf Research Program Early-Career Research Fellowship: Energy Track is a grant from NOAA's Gulf Research Program that funds early-career researchers conducting interdisciplinary studies on legacy offshore energy infrastructure in the U.S. Gulf region.

The 2026-2028 application cycle focuses on Legacy Energy Systems and Pathways Forward, inviting proposals that develop new knowledge, tools, or technologies to assess and address environmental, engineering, and community risks from orphaned wells, aging platforms, and pipelines, and explore safe decommissioning and repurposing pathways. Each fellow receives a two-year award of $76,000 paid to their institution.

Applications opened March 17, 2026, with a deadline of May 5, 2026. Fellowships begin November 1, 2026. Eligible research must focus on communities in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas.

Energy Track: Early-Career Research Fellowship Fellowship/Professional Development Program Energy Track: Early-Career Research Fellowship For the 2026-2028 Application Cycle, the Energy Track focuses on Legacy Energy Systems & Pathways Forward .

This track invites interdisciplinary research that develops new knowledge, tools, or technologies for assessing and addressing the environmental, engineering, and/or community risks associated with legacy offshore energy infrastructure, including orphaned wells, aging platforms, and pipelines, and explore pathways for their safe decommissioning and/or repurposing.

All proposed projects must focus on communities within the U.S. Gulf region, defined as Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, consistent with the scope of the Gulf Research Program.

Until May 5, 2026 5:00 PM May 6, 2026 - August 14, 2026 Application and Review Process March 17, 2026: Applications open May 5, 2026, 5:00 pm ET: Application Deadline May-July 2026: Review of written applications and selection of fellows July/August 2026: All applicants notified of funding decisions November 1, 2026: Fellowships begin November 5, 2026: Required virtual fellowship orientation November 30, 2027: Progress reports due October 31, 2028: End of fellowship November 30, 2028: Final reports due An award of $76,000 is paid to each fellow’s institution in the form of a two-year grant.

Potential fellows must ensure compliance with their institution’s requirements for applications for external funding. Funds cannot be used on institutional overhead or indirect charges. Detailed information can be found in the Early-Career Research Fellowship sample grant agreement for public and private institutions.

$75,000 is available for the fellow to use for research-related expenses, including equipment purchases, professional travel, professional development courses, trainee support, salary, or any other costs directly related to the fellow’s research. The use of these funds for any other expenses requires pre-approval from the Gulf Research Program. The remaining $1,000 of the award serves as an honorarium for a mentor.

Applicants must identify a senior-level researcher at their affiliated institution willing to serve as a career mentor. All fellows will attend a required virtual orientation near the start of their fellowship term. Fellows may be required to attend other events/conferences during their fellowship term, which may include a fellows and/or alumni networking event.

Travel expenses for these events will be covered by the Gulf Research Program; they are in addition to the $76,000 fellowship award.

The Energy Track's goal invites interdisciplinary research that develops new knowledge, tools, or technologies for assessing and addressing the environmental, engineering, and/or community risks associated with legacy offshore energy infrastructure, including orphaned wells, aging platforms, and pipelines, and explore pathways for their safe decommissioning and/or repurposing.

Applicants must, at the time of application: Hold a permanent, fully independent position as an investigator, faculty member, clinician scientist, or scientific team lead in industry, academia, or a research organization. A postdoc is not considered a fully independent position. Be an early-career scientist who has received their eligible degree within the past 10 years (on or after January 1, 2016).

Hold a doctoral degree (e.g., PhD, ScD, EngD, MD, DrPH, EdD, DSW or DVM) in the engineering and physical sciences, earth and life sciences, social and behavioral sciences, health sciences and medicine, or interdisciplinary scientific fields relevant to the charge of the Gulf Research Program. Not be currently employed by the U.S. federal government. Applications can be submitted through our online application system .

Required application materials: Your resume or CV (up to 5 pages).

A series of personal essays that respond to the following prompts: Relevance (1000 words total): Using language for a lay audience, explain how your research has contributed to and will contribute to the Track Goal: This track supports interdisciplinary research that develops new knowledge, tools, or technologies for assessing and addressing the environmental, engineering, and/or community risks associated with legacy offshore energy infrastructure, including orphaned wells, aging platforms, and pipelines, and explore pathways for their safe decommissioning and/or repurposing.

In your response, describe: The knowledge gaps associated with the scientific, technical, policy, and/or legal understanding of managing legacy offshore oil and gas infrastructure. How your research addresses and will contribute to reducing risks associated with legacy offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

The scientific, technical, policy, and/or legal pathways toward decommissioning and/or repurposing legacy offshore oil and gas infrastructure. Research Portfolio (2,000-word limit): The Gulf Research Program Early-Career Research Fellowship funds people, not projects. Therefore, your research portfolio statement should include information about your research portfolio as a whole, not a specific project.

We encourage you to write your research portfolio statement in a way that is understandable to a scientifically literate lay reader and to make the best use of the space provided by utilizing the entire word count, rather than uploading images, diagrams, or figures. The use of references should be minimal and only when absolutely needed.

If references are included, they will be counted toward the total word count, and we do not have a preference as to citation style. Your research portfolio statement should include: A description of your relevant research and projects to date. A description of future work and the research goals you hope to accomplish in the next two years.

Please note, a budget is NOT required and should not be included in the research statement. You may upload a budget as a separate task if your university requires that one be submitted. Special Skill Essay (2 parts, 600-word limit): Describe your collaborative, crosscutting, and/or interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary experience.

Highlight the skills, partnerships, and/or research approaches you have used to integrate knowledge across disciplines or sectors. Discuss any anticipated challenges in conducting collaborative, crosscutting, and/or interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research focused on legacy offshore oil and gas infrastructure and how you would overcome them.

Personal Growth and Mentoring: How will the mentoring provided by the fellowship help you to address your career goals and challenges? What is your strategy to be a productive mentee? (400-word limit) How will you know when you have achieved professional success in your career?

What skills or characteristics do you need to work on in order to achieve this success? (350-word limit) How have your lived experiences, educational journey, and/or understanding of the world shaped your identity as a scientist and an early-career researcher? If applicable, we invite you to share your lived experiences of overcoming barriers in your academic journey, along with the strategies you employed to overcome these challenges.

(500-word limit) A statement (up to 1,000 words) from your selected mentor Your selected mentor must be in a senior-level position at your affiliated college, university, research institution, or organization. Do not choose a mentor for a research collaboration.

Choose a mentor who is willing and able to meet at least twice a month to provide guidance and advice on professional development and career topics beyond merely promotion and tenure, such as work/life balance, time and project management, teaching and mentorship, committee and other professional service, community engagement and outreach, lab and research management.

In their statement, your mentor should address how you, the applicant, will benefit from mentoring. Your mentor should consider your professional development holistically, beyond research productivity alone, and identify areas for improvement or potential growth.

If you are unable to find a mentor at your affiliated organization, the mentor honorarium will be waived, and you will be asked to answer an additional question justifying your selection of an external mentor. Once you have created an account and started an application, you can enter the contact information for your mentor.

The system will generate an email to the mentor with instructions for logging in and uploading the mentor statement. We encourage applicants to complete this task as soon as possible because final applications cannot be submitted until the mentor statement have been completed. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

All application materials, including the mentor statement, must be submitted through our online application system by May 5, 2026, at 5:00 PM ET. If you have difficulties submitting materials through our online application system, contact us at GulfFellowships@nas. edu .

Requesting mentor statement Once you have created an account and started an application, you can enter the contact information for your mentor. The system will generate an email to the mentor with instructions for logging in and uploading the mentor statement. We encourage applicants to complete this task as soon as possible because final applications cannot be submitted until the mentor statement has been completed.

Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. Fellows are selected based on a set of review criteria . The 2026 Early-Career Research Fellowship application review will be conducted in two stages.

Applications will first go through an eligibility review conducted by Gulf Research Program Fellowship staff. Applications that are eligible will proceed to the second review stage focused on relevance, merit, and impact and will be reviewed by at least three peer-reviewers.

In addition, the Gulf Research Program will be considering how applicants fit into our overall goals as well as balancing fellows across scientific disciplines and institutional affiliations. All applicants will be notified of final funding decisions in July/August 2026.

Before submitting an application, we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the review criteria and the fellowship grant agreement (sample for public and private institutions). Space, Security, and Conflicts Our peer-reviewed reports present the evidence-based consensus of committees of experts. Explore the Latest News and Stories The latest news and stories, with context you can trust.

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