Announcement / February 2024

Cal Cybersecurity Research Fellowship 2024

CLTC is pleased to announce the 6th annual Cal Cybersecurity Research Fellowship. 

This award is typically up to $15,000, and potentially as much as $30,000, and is for UC Berkeley students or postdoctoral scholars to pursue cybersecurity research in security-related fields. 

This year, we are seeking research projects that aim to advance our understanding of how AI and machine learning technologies can help automate and amplify the capabilities of cyber defenders. Advances in SOAR (security orchestration, automation and response) – software solutions that leverage AI and machine learning to enable systems to detect and respond to cybersecurity vulnerabilities, threats, and events autonomously – is one potential area of inquiry, though this RFP is not limited to SOAR techniques and we encourage applications with new ideas that meaningfully push the envelope on machine learning for security. 

The award may support:

  • Seed Funding: generally below $15,000. These awards could fund an exploratory study, a small pilot, a PhD dissertation project, or other means of ‘prospecting’ a problem area; or
  • Discrete Projects: up to $30,000. These awards intend to fund projects that have defined boundaries with clear outcomes and impact potential. While the default will be that these grants have a one-year timeline, CLTC will entertain proposals for longer discrete projects when scientifically justified.

This award may be used only to support a current student or postdoc’s research efforts. The award funds are discretionary and can be applied to any legitimate research expenses, including but not limited to: student/postdoc salary on an official university appointment, conference registration and travel, research supplies, and other direct costs related to the project. 

You can see examples of previously awarded Cal Cybersecurity Research Fellowships here.

If you would like to apply for the Research Fellowship, please submit the following information to this form by March 17, 2024 at 11:59 PM PThttps://forms.gle/8DxJsudB9WyVqeuk7

  • CV
  • Project proposal (5 pg. maximum) including a project title, abstract, previous related work, research methods, and expected outcomes and impact.
  • Appendix: append a brief biography of you and your advisor(s) and a simple budget describing how you would use the award funds.

Questions can be directed to Matthew Nagamine at cltcgrants@berkeley.edu.