DARPA recently joined us to talk about how UK academics can engage with them. Here is some practical advice from the talk.

The ISST recently hosted Dr Steven Walker, Acting Director DARPA, and Dr Stefanie Tomkins, Acting Deputy Director DARPA, for a talk on how academics can engage with the agency.

They gave us a quick overview of the agency along with some practical advice. I’ve summarised the talk here, along with some of the Q&A session which had some useful information.

High-risk research

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, was created in 1958 during the Eisenhower administration, spurred by the unwelcomed surprise of the USSR launching Sputnik 1 the year before. DARPA was formed to stop this happening again; the U.S. would be the initiator of strategic technological surprise, not the victim.

So DARPA is not very interested in incremental changes to technology, but wants ground-breaking ideas. This sentiment is echoed in their tag-line, Creating Breakthrough Technologies For National Security, and was emphasised throughout the talk.

This was pushed as a key piece of advice for academics looking to work with DARPA. As Dr Walker put it, “Don’t bring us something you know how to solve, bring us something you don’t know how to solve.”

So how do they work and what do they fund?

DARPA currently have three focus areas which each house numerous lines of investigation; 1) Rethink complex military systems; 2) Harness information; 3) Create technological surprise.

The research portfolio is managed by six technical offices, each with different specialisms (see their webpage), where Program Managers run programmes that align with their personal areas of interest. Program Managers change every 3-5 years, with new arrivals bringing new ideas and directions.

The programmes themselves typically last 2-5 years with funding varying from $10 million to $400 million per programme.

On a smaller scale, DARPA programme managers will also run several ‘seedling projects’; ideas that need fleshing out and further validation. These are great for building dialogue with DARPA and can lead to further, more sizable research projects. They could arise from ideas sent in by academics unsolicited, or more usually are offered through an Office-wide Broad Agency Announcement. 

How can you engage?

Be proactive

DARPA encourage academics with ideas to be proactive in engaging. The best way to do this is to identify the Program Manager whose interests are most relevant and send an email directly. This approach was encouraged several times during the talk.

The best place to start is probably the webpage of the most relevant Technical Office, where you will find a list of Program Managers and projects etc. The six offices are listed here.

Ideas can be anything, from a white paper to a something much less formed, so long as they fit with DARPA’s core mission of ground-breaking research. The aim is to open a dialogue. 

Respond to opportunities

The opportunities are numerous (often several per day) and varied, including calls for proposals, calls for information and special notices.

A list of select opportunities are listed on the DARPA website here. For the full list, DARPA points you to the Federal Business Opportunities website.

One recommendation from Dr Tompkins was to create an email alert for DARPA opportunities on the grants.gov website. You can do this here, by selecting Department of Defense under Select Agency, and then clicking the Select Sub Agency button to show the DARPA offices.

Q&A session

Do overseas institutions have to partner with U.S. counterparts?

No, there are no restrictions of this nature.

As a point of advice though, make sure only relevant parties are included in consortia, and that you show the strengths that make this consortia and proposal stand-out.

What proportion of the budget is available to overseas researchers?

No restrictions. DARPA funds the best ideas, wherever they come from.

What does success of a seedling project look like?

Provide enough information to lead on to a full programme. Program Managers want to be able to take seedling projects and solicit funds for a full programme.

How long is a typical proposal, what is the timeline?

It really depends on the call, and all come with specific terms. Calls often have several options, with some being lighter in load and timeline. We take in to account academic cycles.

If you are submitting a proposal always talk to the Program Manager first.

How does reporting work for overseas researchers?

Normally there are site visits once or twice per year, and all travel funding would be included in the grant.

There will also be regular phone calls, with the frequency depending on the Program Manager and the project, but these could be more than once per week with seedling projects for example.

DARPA are very involved and demanding.

What are the rules around IP?

DARPA give all rights to researchers for commercialisation. However, the U.S. Government retain rights to access IP if desired.

They also don't normally put restrictions on academics publishing research.