Hellman Fellowship Program 2025-2026
The Hellman Fellows Fund has contributed funds to establish the UC Riverside Hellman Fellows Endowed Fund to provide support and encouragement for the research and creative activities of promising faculty at the Assistant Professor rank who exhibit potential for great distinction in their area of expertise. The purpose of the fellowship is to support research and creative activities that will promote career advancement and enhance the individual’s progress toward tenure.
HELLMAN FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM APPLICATIONS FOR 2025-2026 WILL OPEN IN JANUARY 2025.
Eligible faculty will receive an invitation in January, 2025. Please refer to the information below for program guidelines.
For questions or more information, please send an email to apwebmaster@ucr.edu.
Eligibility
- Full-time Assistant Professors and Assistant Professors of Teaching in the colleges of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering or the School of Education are eligible if they have completed at least two but not more than four full years of service by July 1, 2025. In addition, candidates may not be under consideration for tenure at the time the fellowship is awarded and will not be under consideration for tenure while holding a Hellman Fellowship. Please note, faculty who are eligible will be notified and sent an invitation to apply by the central Academic Personnel Office. If you were not sent an invitation and you believe you are eligible, please contact the central Academic Personnel Office at apwebmaster@ucr.edu. You must receive an invitation in order to apply.
- If a full-time Assistant Professor, or Assistant Professor of Teaching, has a partial FTE appointment in the colleges of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering or the School of Education and a partial FTE appointment in a non- qualifying academic unit, they can apply using the qualifying college/department.
- If an applicant spent one or more years at a research 1 or research 2 university before coming to UC Riverside, that time may be counted toward the minimum only appointment criteria for the purpose of determining eligibility.
Selection Criteria
- Preference in awarding Hellman Fellowships will be given to faculty who show great promise in research/creative activities and have outstanding proposals, but who may have only modest means to support their scholarship and have never received other young investigator awards. Many government agencies (i.e., NIH, NSF, etc.) and professional societies give research grants called “Young Investigator Awards,” specifically designated for researchers in the early period of their careers. Because these awards provide recognition and funding for researchers at the Assistant Professor level that may duplicate the purpose of the Hellman Fellowship, those applicants who hold such awards will be given lower priority for a Hellman Fellowship.
Fellowship Information
- Awarded Hellman Fellowship funds may be used for any research-related expenses, such as research assistants, equipment, materials, conferences or travel. The award may also be used to pay for up to one month of the Fellow’s salary and benefits.
- Expenditures must be proposed in the UCR Hellman Application 2025-2026 Fillable Form. (Refer to application process, #1.c.) Any changes to the award budget must be approved in advance by the Office of Academic Personnel
- The maximum award amount for 2025-2026 is $30,000. A budget justification for the amount requested is required. The duration of the award is normally one year, but if the awardee does not expend the entire award in the first grant year, they may request permission to carry forward any remaining balance to the next academic year. In any event, award recipients are required to spend all funds before their tenure case is put forward for consideration.
- The application form and additional information can be found below. Submit completed applications electronically to your Dean's Office with a copy to Academic Personnel Office: apwebmaster@ucr.edu.
Awards Will Be Based On:
- Excellence of the proposal
- Funding need
- Candidate’s record of scholarship
Due Dates:
- All 2025-2026 completed Hellman Fellowship Applications (that includes the Chair’s and the Dean's signatures) that are received in APO by the final due date of Friday, April 18, 2025 will be considered on- time and will be reviewed for consideration.
- Please send an email to apwebmaster@ucr.edu if you have any questions about the due dates.
| Date | Who | Action |
| Tuesday, April 1, 2025 | Eligible Applicant |
Applicant combines fillable application and all attachments as a single PDF file |
| Friday, April 18, 2025 | Dean's Office | Dean's Office Reviews application package for completeness, obtains Chair and Dean signatures, and uploads to Google R'Docs by this date. |
| Thursday, May 1, 2025 | VPAP | APO sends applications to Hellman Review Panel. |
| Friday, June 13, 2025 | VPAP | 2025-2026 Hellman Fellows announced. |
| Tuesday, July 1, 2025 | Hellman Fellows | Hellman fellowship begins. Funds will be available for disbursement during the fall quarter 2025-26AY |
Application Form and Related Documents
For best results use Adobe Reader version 7 or later. Fillable forms do not always function properly with Mac Preview.
- Hellman Application PDF Fillable Form (pdf - Download and open with Adobe Reader)
- Hellman Application Criteria (pdf)
- Hellman Fellowship Program: Frequently Asked Questions (pdf)
- Hellman Application Review Process (pdf)
Questions regarding the Hellman Fellowship Program should be emailed to the Academic Personnel Office at apwebmaster@ucr.edu (email).