URF Application will open January 12th, 2026

 
Student application deadline: Friday, April 24th, 2026 at 11:59pm
 

About the URF

The Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) is an opportunity for students who wish to conduct guided research in their field of study, to gain invaluable experience, credentials, and a faculty champion. Students may apply this spring semester to earn a 2026-2027 URF Placement.

The URF rewards students who enter—and show promise of significantly contributing to—faculty-led research environments. Such research will occur in a host of settings—whether in labs, or under individual faculty mentorship. The URF is a campus-wide opportunity open to undergraduate students of all majors.

Students, in joint petition with their professorial research mentors, will undertake competitive application for a URF. If accepted, Undergraduate Research Fellows will spend the academic year participating in research under the guidance of their identified faculty mentor. URF participants will receive a $500 award after presenting their research at the Scholars Day event in the Spring semester of the participating academic year.

Students may reapply for an Undergraduate Research Fellowship on a yearly basis and can earn up to four such awards during their undergraduate career.

Application Processing

While the URF is a campus-wide opportunity, the processing of submissions occurs within the Honors College (students do not need to be Honors College members to apply). Because different disciplines define research and creative expression in varied ways, criteria for admission into research endeavors will remain under the auspices of our several colleges and individual departments.

Students and their research mentors will be notified of the URF application outcome in the summer before the  2026-2027 academic year.

Course Credit (Optional)

The URF program does not require participants to take a corresponding course. If participants wish to earn course credit for their URF participation, they must pursue that option via other departments.

Applicants who are members of the Honors College may choose to earn Honors College course credit for their URF participation by submitting a proposal to join a Honors Mentored Research course (HNRS 2996/3996) for the fall  2026 and/or the spring 2027 semesters. Applicants who are accepted to the URF, who also requested to be enrolled in a section of HNRS 2996/3996 Mentored Research in their URF application, will be contacted by the Honors College with instructions on how to submit that proposal. Please note that students will be responsible for the tuition cost of the course.

For more details about earning Honors College credit for the URF, please reach out to HonorsCollege@unt.edu .

Summary of Eligibility

  • Applicants must be UNT undergraduate students, who will not graduate prior to May2027.

  • Incoming first-year TAMS students who have not yet started a semester at UNT are ineligible.

  • In cases where faculty mentors already have grants to cover the cost of student assistants, the student may become an Undergraduate Research Fellow, but without further remuneration.

  • Students are ineligible if they have already earned three Undergraduate Research Fellowships.

Fellowship Requirements

  • URF recipients must consistently participate in their research project, in accordance with the expectations set by their listed research mentor, for the entirety of the 2026-2027 academic year.

  • 2026-2027 URF winners must present their research, in the form of a poster presentation, an oral presentation, or a brief performing-arts production (when applicable), on UNT Scholars Day in Spring 2027.

  • Specific expectations of participation will be communicated by the student's research mentor. Continuation of the fellowship will depend on the mentor's assessment of the student's commitment and efficiency.

  • Students will lose their URF if they switch research mentors following the application period or if they fail to communicate on a regular basis with their research mentors. Only if a research mentor leaves UNT, or if health-related matters prevent mentors from continuing to supervise their students, will students gain permission to switch mentors or projects.

  • Research mentors may terminate mentorship at any time if they are dissatisfied with the student’s performance.

Application Requirements

  • In collaboration with their faculty research mentor, students must submit a 100-150 word statement describing their research project.

  • Faculty mentors must participate in the upload application process, indicating their willingness to mentor the student for the 2026-2027 academic year and confirming information relative to the project's IRB, IACUC, and IBC status. This form will be automatically emailed to the listed mentor at the time of the student's application submission. The mentor deadline is Friday, May 1st for the URF Mentor Form . Applications missing a mentor form by the mentor deadline may be disqualified.

The URF Applications are due on Friday, April 24th, 2026 at 11:59pm.

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