FES Early Career Research Program

FES Early Career Research Program

Supports research teams and institutions for FES Early Career Research in energy systems and fusion research.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The DOE Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) Early Career Research Program FY2026 cycle is funded under FOA DE-FOA-0003602, a solicitation issued jointly across seven DOE Office of Science program offices. FES uses this vehicle to fund early-career plasma physicists and fusion scientists at U.S. academic institutions and DOE national laboratories for five-year research projects aligned with FES strategic goals: magnetically confined plasma science, fusion-compatible materials, high energy density plasma science, and fundamental plasma science. The program office is SC-34, reachable at sc.fes@science.doe.gov or (301) 903-4941.

For the FY2026 cycle, pre-applications were due March 24, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET via PAMS; only applicants who received written encouragement from DOE may submit a full application. Full applications are due June 2, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET via Grants.gov. Academic institution awards are approximately $875,000 over five years (approximately $175,000 per year). DOE National Laboratory and User Facility awards are approximately $2,750,000 over five years (approximately $550,000 per year). The total FY2026 pool across all seven participating offices is $79 million, with up to $145 million planned across the full five-year period subject to congressional appropriations.

Eligibility requires the principal investigator to be an untenured, tenure-track assistant or associate professor at a U.S. academic institution, or a full-time employee at a DOE national laboratory or Office of Science User Facility, and to have received their doctorate within the past ten years. For-profit companies cannot apply. The submission gateway is strictly gated: DOE must issue written encouragement after reviewing the pre-application before a full proposal may be submitted. Researchers should contact the PAMS helpdesk at sc.pams-helpdesk@science.doe.gov or (855) 818-1846 for submission support. Winning proposals demonstrate a focused five-year research plan aligned with FES programmatic priorities and a principal investigator at an early career stage with a strong publication record.