Early Career Accelerator Award

COBRA’s mission is to accelerate the research on the structure, function, resilience, and ecosystem services of the crustal ocean biosphere to inform decision making and to train the next generation of leaders in ocean exploration, science, and policy. In pursuit of this mission, we support small accelerator awards for early career participants to accelerate their training. Accelerator awards can be used for any type of training activity, such as – but not limited to – learning a new skill or getting a new experience, visiting a lab to learn a new method or analyze samples, going to sea, or attending a professional society conference or policy-maker meeting. These awards are for early career members of the community – including senior graduate students, postdocs, junior faculty, or junior professionals – that would like to gain new skills and experiences that can be applied to COBRA themes. These training opportunities are expected to establish direct linkages among individuals, which are intended to result in a more well-connected community and the development of future COBRA researchers and leaders.

We anticipate ~5 awards of US$2,500 in 2026 (Year 5 of COBRA). This funding is available to individuals sponsored in both US institutions and abroad. For individuals not based at a US institution, the training opportunity must be tied to a US-based organization or activity. In addition, for individuals based at non-US institutions, funding is only available for travel to the US or US-based activities (i.e. transportation, accommodation and allowed per diem for meals). For participants based at US institutions, funding may be used for travel and other activities, including materials and supplies, etc. COBRA must consider appropriate balance in funding to reflect that the funding is US-based.

The application form will ask for the following mandatory information:

• Name and contact information
• Current institution, country of institution, and career stage
• Name of supervisor, if applicable
• Anticipated start and end dates of the proposed activities (we are accepting applications through September 2026 for trainings to be completed through September 2027)
• Your background in oceanography, marine science, ocean engineering, marine policy, or related field (200 words maximum)
• Your intended training activity and describe how it will advance your career direction or opportunities (300 words maximum)
• How your intended training activity aligns with COBRA themes and mission, i.e. how the training could contribute to advancing research on the structure, function, resilience, and ecosystem services of the crustal ocean biosphere to inform decision making while training the next generation of leaders in ocean exploration, science, and policy (200 words maximum)
• How you and/or your training opportunity is tied to a US-based organization or activity (e.g., you are based at a US institution, your training opportunity or collaborators are hosted by a US-based organization or activity) (200 words maximum)
• The use of funds and approximate costs (in line with the award distribution expectations below, i.e. stipend costs for participants based at US institutions or eligible travel costs for participants based at non-US institutions, 200 words maximum)
• A 2-page PDF document with applicant’s current resumé or curriculum vitae including:
  • Education background
  • Professional affiliations
  • Awards or honors
  • Service to or participation in scientific, education, mentoring or policy activities
  • Up to 5 relevant publications or other types of professional activities
  • Note: if you have not created a 2-page CV before, refer to this guidance from COBRA

The application form will also ask for the following voluntary information:

1. How do you currently describe your gender identity?
2. How do you describe your race and/or ethnicity?
3. What is your country of citizenship?
4. What is your current country of residence?
5. Can we have your permission to use the demographic information that you voluntarily provided above to help connect you with programs and opportunities that we are aware of? This is a service that COBRA would like to be able to provide to early career researchers, to help you expand your network and benefit from opportunities of COBRA partners.

Why do we ask for this information? Applicants are asked to provide some personal identity information to help COBRA to understand the demographics of the applicant pool to assess if our efforts to recruit new people are effective. We also request this information to help connect early career researchers with opportunities of our partners. Provision of this demographic information is voluntary, and the information will not be used in the decision-making process. Aggregated and anonymized demographic data may also be used in COBRA’s annual reports.

Eligibility Criteria:

A successful application will meet the following criteria:

• Have a background in oceanography, marine science, ocean engineering, marine policy, or related field
• Be a graduate student, postdoctoral scientist/researcher, untenured faculty, or an early career employee of a government, NGO, or industry with sufficient experience to benefit from the training opportunity
• Provide compelling reasons that the training will accelerate the applicant’s career opportunities
• Provide compelling rationale for how the training could contribute to advancing research on the structure, function, resilience, and ecosystem services of the crustal ocean biosphere to inform decision making while training the next generation of leaders in ocean exploration, science, and policy
• Provide a clear statement on how you and/or your training opportunity is tied to a US-based organization or activity
• Provide a clear statement on the use of award funds (in line with the award distribution expectations below)

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, i.e. there is no deadline to apply. We are accepting applications through September 2026 for trainings to be completed through September 2027. We anticipate making decisions on funding within 3 months following submission, with successfully proposed activities starting between 1-10 months following notification. The COBRA Co-Investigator leadership team (Orcutt, Huber, Wheat, Rotjan, and Fisher) will make selections based on responses to the eligibility criteria described above.

For participants based at US institutions, a training stipend of $2,500 will be distributed in two lump sums via direct transfer to the selected participant. One sum will be awarded at the start of the training, and the second within six months later after receiving a brief summary of the training opportunity outcomes.

For participants based at non-US institutions, funding is only available for travel to the US or US-based activities and the $2,500 award will be reimbursed after submission of eligible expense receipts (i.e. transportation, accommodation and allowed per diem for meals) and submission of a brief summary of the training opportunity outcomes. Reimbursement for economy/coach fares only is allowable and must comply with “Fly America” rules (flights from/to the US must be on a US airline carrier or code-shared flight).

If awarded, funds will be offered as either a bank account or PayPal transfer after submission of US Internal Revenue Service Forms W9 or W8, as appropriate depending on taxpayer status, to COBRA’s Managing Director. The COBRA Managing Director and other COBRA Co-Investigators on the team are not eligible for additional compensation.

See the dozens of awardees and their training activities here.

For questions regarding the general scope of this call and proposal submission, please contact: cobra@bigelow.org.