Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program

Faculty members can receive funds to lead an Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP) cohort to facilitate student engagement and support their research agenda. The application to receive IRLE URAP funds is in addition to the Berkeley URAP application process.

Award amount: up to $30,000

What IRLE Offers

  1. Four workshops for apprentices to discuss experiences, address concerns, and find community in IRLE. Workshops may include: (1) How to approach a writing project, (2) Research Methods, (3) Conducting a literature search and creating an annotated bibliography; and (4) Professional Development. IRLE can also offer additional support for specific software, methods, and data sources required for specific projects.
  2. Support for participating faculty and students in managing the apprenticeship relationship.
  3. Space and computer access at IRLE for apprentices to do work for faculty and to network with staff researchers.
  4. IRLE will organize and host a research showcase at the end of the semester for students to present their projects and faculty to facilitate the presentation.

Eligible Expenditures

  • Salary and/or fee remissions for GSRs to coordinate the activities and support the research of the URAP cohort.
  • Undergraduate student stipends worth up to $2,000 per each participating undergraduate student
  • Funds must be spent by May 30th, 2021.

Reporting Requirements and Expectations

  • Faculty are asked to require that their cohort attend all training offered through the IRLE-URAP support program. A calendar of activities will be made available at the start of each semester. 
  • Each URAP cohort is required to present the results of their research at an IRLE sponsored URAP showcase (details to be provided at the start of the semester for which funding is received)
  • In the event that URAP cohort research informs a working paper or publication, awardees are strongly encouraged to publish early versions of the work in IRLE’s working paper series, and are expected to inform IRLE about the eventual publication date and outlet.

Applicant Eligibility

  • Applicants who apply to IRLE for a URAP award are applying for funding only. They must still adhere to the URAP program process to establish themselves as a URAP project and be matched with students.
  • Applicants must be in residence at UC Berkeley and not on leave during the grant period.
  • Both ladder-rank and adjunct faculty are eligible.
  • Preferences will be given to junior faculty members, to applicants who have not received IRLE awards recently, and to applicants who have fully complied with all IRLE reporting requirements for past awards.
  • Applications from non-senate faculty members will be considered on a case by case basis.

Application Instructions

To apply, complete this form to submit the following: 

  • Cover letter that includes 
    • your interest and experience related to IRLE’s mission,
    • a short description (500 words) of the research project
    • a short description of how the URAP students will contribute to the research, and 
    • if you have received funding from IRLE in the past 3 years, the status of the research that resulted from those awards, including citation information for any publications.
  • Short budget that specifies how the funds will be spent.

Deadlines

We realize that URAP planning is subject to program deadlines set by the URAP program, which have not yet been announced for the 2020-2021 academic year. IRLE will consider applications recognizing that plans might need to be adjusted. If you don’t yet have an assigned cohort of students, you can still apply. The deadline for URAP cohorts is rolling.

2019-2020 Projects and Participants »

Questions? Contact Lori Ann Ospina, Associate Director of IRLE at lori.ospina@berkeley.edu.