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Research Award for Graduate Students

The 2025-26 application cycle is now open.  

Request for Applications: Broad Research Award for Graduate Students
Application due: February 1, 2026
Next award period: July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027

Award Overview:
The Ruth K. Broad Foundation offers a prestigious opportunity for a year-long named graduate student award supporting a student conducting high priority, high potential, basic or translational research in neuroscience. The award covers the normal graduate student stipend, fringe benefits including health insurance, and tuition remission as defined by Duke University’s Tuition Remission – Average Rate Basis (ARB) policy for PhD student research assistants. The Foundation does not allow indirect costs for this award.

Applications will be evaluated on the quality of the science and the applicant. The potential for the proposed research to advance the understanding of neurodegenerative disorders and their relationship to Alzheimer’s disease is a strength, but not a requirement.

Students applying for funding will preferably be in their second or third year of study at the time of the application. The award is for a one-year period and requires a research report presentation at the Broad Foundation’s annual Board of Directors meeting in the spring of 2025 and a final written report at the end of the project. International graduate students are eligible for this award and are encouraged to apply.

How to apply:

If you do not receive an acknowledgment of your email within three business days, please contact Cathleen Durgin at cathleen.durgin@duke.edu.

Awardee Requirements:
The award may require research presentations at the Foundation’s annual Board of Directors meeting. A final written report is due by July 31, 2027. The Foundation also requests recognition on any publication emanating from funded research

Application Deadlines

In the 2025-26 fiscal year, RFAs will be accepted for the Broad Research Award for Graduate Students, Fellowship Award for Postdoctoral Fellows, and Human Brain Models Research Award at Duke. Applications will go live in October 2025 and are due by midnight February 1, 2026

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