Executive Summary

The VCR joins the institution at a pivotal moment. Poised to lead new discoveries and solve complex global challenges, Berkeley aims to push the boundaries of knowledge, foster innovation, expand opportunities, and cultivate a welcoming environment for individuals of all backgrounds over the next decade. The VCR has the opportunity to engage with UC Berkeley's Strategic Planning , which includes fundamental inquiry, use-inspired research for global grand challenges, and enhancing research sustainability.

Working closely with other campus leaders and a broad range of stakeholders across campus, the VCR will advance research across the campus by promoting and supporting discovery, scholarship, innovation, entrepreneurship, and interdisciplinary collaboration while addressing administrative complexities, research compliance requirements, and upgrades to research facilities and services. The VCR will also collaborate with external stakeholders, nationally and internationally, relevant to Berkeley's research mission.

Research At UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley is a world-renowned R1 public research university, which champions groundbreaking, interdisciplinary research to tackle society's toughest challenges. Berkeley's prize-winning faculty and researchers bring in over $900 million in sponsored research funding per year on average from federal (over $315 million), state, industry, and nonprofit sources across disciplines from hard science to the arts and humanities. Berkeley is also the home of innovation and entrepreneurial research, ranked #1 in the world by Pitchbook in 2025 for the number of venture-backed companies founded by undergraduate alumni and students. Berkeley's world-leading research institutes and centers bring together researchers from multiple disciplines and from around the world to drive new insights across a wide array of fields, including genomics, labor policy, space science, ethics, global engagement, public health, transportation, development, human health, to name but a few. The campus also hosts notable innovation hubs, connecting startup companies with Berkeley faculty and students to accelerate groundbreaking solutions in biotechnology, energy and materials, and health, and fosters engineering, materials science and transportation research at its nearby Richmond Field Station. Berkeley researchers are also actively engaged in public-impact, community-engaged research to drive lasting change.

Berkeley research collaborations extend beyond the campus to leverage synergies with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), located adjacent to the campus, and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), located across the Bay. The campus has deep connections and history with Silicon Valley entrepreneurship.

Berkeley's core research community is made up of roughly 1,600 full-time ladder-rank faculty, 33,000 undergraduate and 13,000 graduate students, 1,200 postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars from around the world, and over 2,500 other research staff who participate in our vibrant research ecosystem of academic departments, laboratories, museums, field stations, and research centers. Many of the 30,000 undergraduate students also participate in the campus's cutting-edge research, either as part of their coursework or as research and laboratory assistants. In addition, there is a comprehensive infrastructure of highly-skilled technical and administrative staff and non-faculty researchers who support the University's research enterprise. This enterprise takes form in the University's 130 academic departments and in its numerous research institutes, centers, supported by a rich ecosystem of world-class museums/research collections, libraries, field stations, and shared-user facilities.

Role of the Vice Chancellor for Research

Reporting directly to the Chancellor and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost (EVCP), the VCR plays a critical role in advancing Berkeley's research excellence. The VCR has the overall leadership, through vision and shared governance, of the research enterprise at Berkeley. The VCR provides line management and operational oversight for the Research Division encompassing more than 3,000 staff and affiliates (approximately 2,600 in the Research Units, Museums and Field Stations, and 460 in research administration, compliance and campus support units).

Scope of Oversight

The VCR holds direct management responsibilities for:

• Organized Research Units (ORUs) : The Associate Vice Chancellor for Research (AVCR) portfolio includes more than 25 multidisciplinary research units-which encompass many more nested research centers and institutes-as well as research museums and field stations.
• Museums & Field Stations : Eight research museums and science centers, alongside seven remote research field stations.
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship : The Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer (CIEO) portfolio, which includes Intellectual Property & Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA), entrepreneurship programs, and startup incubators.
• Research Administration & Compliance Offices : Overseeing the Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) in managing research contracts and grants, animal/human subject protections, research security (including export control), and conflicts of interest, and eight research compliance committees.
• Research Support Units : Research Integrity (with the AVCR); Environmental Health & Safety (with the Vice Chancellor for Administration); the Office of Laboratory Animal Care; Research Information Technology, and the Visiting Scholar and Postdoc Affairs Office.
• Research Development: Berkeley Research Development Office (including limited submission opportunities); stewardship of philanthropic and internally funded research programs.

VCR Division Financial and Operational Portfolio (FY 2026 Data)

• Central Budget Allocation: $67 million.
• Contributes over one-third of campus indirect cost revenue , and accounted for 18% of philanthropic funds raised in the most recent Capital Campaign.
• Total Division Headcount: 2,417 employees and 688 affiliates.
• Intellectual Property: Holds more than 873 active U.S. patents, 1391 active foreign patents, and 863 products commercialized, with 387 under active license.

Key Responsibilities

The VCR serves as UC Berkeley's senior executive leader for research policy, planning, and administration, leading the research division and partnering with faculty, deans, and other campus leaders to advance the University's broader research mission. The VCR provides strategic and administrative leadership for the research enterprise and executive oversight of the research administration, integrity, compliance, and support functions that enable research across the Berkeley campus.

• Strategic Vision & Research Excellence:
  • Partner with the Chancellor, EVCP, deans, and faculty to help ensure the continued excellence of Berkeley's research mission in an ever-evolving research environment.
  • Catalyze interdisciplinary and cross-campus research initiatives, bringing together faculty, schools, colleges, research units, and external partners around emerging opportunities and areas of strategic importance to Berkeley.
  • Help the campus anticipate changes in the research landscape and develop new approaches to research funding, partnerships, infrastructure, and institutional support.
  • Enhance the value of Berkeley research for private industry (technology licensing, startup companies, and industry partnership), public policy, and direct engagement with communities.
  • Advance the visibility of Berkeley's research enterprise, partnering with campus communications, academic leaders, and other stakeholders to elevate faculty scholarship, research accomplishments, and Berkeley's contributions to society.
  • Serve as a spokesperson for Berkeley research.
• Organizational Leadership & Management:
  • Provide strategic oversight of over 100 interdisciplinary research institutes, centers, museums, field stations, research support units, shared user facilities and other organizations reporting to the VCR, ensuring strong leadership, effective stewardship of resources, strong engagement of campus faculty and researchers, and alignment with campus research priorities.
  • Lead efforts to modernize and streamline research administration, reducing inefficient administrative burden and improving the systems, processes, and services that enable faculty and researchers to conduct research effectively.
  • Lead and support organizational change, systems transformation, and process improvement across the research enterprise, working with campus partners to develop more effective and flexible ways of operating.
  • Maintain a strong leadership team and delegate effectively so that the VCR can maintain strategic focus while ensuring the organization has the capacity to manage its substantial operational and compliance responsibilities.
• Research Administration, Integrity & Compliance:
  • Provide executive oversight of the infrastructure, policies, services, and compliance functions that support Berkeley's research enterprise, including sponsored research administration, research integrity, human and animal research protections, research security, export controls, conflicts of interest, environment, health and safety, and other areas of regulatory compliance.
  • Ensure that Berkeley maintains the highest standards of research integrity and that campus research complies with applicable federal, state, University, and institutional policies and regulations, while promoting processes that enable and support the research mission.
  • Strengthen Berkeley's ability to attract, secure, and effectively administer external research funding, working with faculty, research administrators, government agencies, foundations, industry, and other partners.
  • Provide strategic leadership for the entrepreneurship ecosystem, intellectual property, technology transfer, industry research relationships, and other mechanisms that broaden the reach and impact of Berkeley research.
  • Provide leadership on campus research policy and ensure that policies and practices appropriately balance research opportunity, institutional risk, regulatory requirements, and the needs of faculty and researchers.
• Campus Governance & Collaboration:
  • Serve on the Chancellor's Cabinet and the Provost's Council, among other campus leadership groups.
  • Act as a principal liaison to the campus's Academic Senate on research matters.
  • Navigate Berkeley's decentralized, shared-governance environment and build alignment across faculty, staff, deans, campus leaders, and other stakeholders.
  • Partner closely with deans and other academic leaders to support research across Berkeley's schools, colleges, and divisions, serving as a catalyst and partner in shaping research strategy rather than its sole owner.
  • Foster close cooperative relationships with academic deans to support research conducted across Berkeley's schools, colleges, and divisions.
  • Represent the Chancellor or EVCP, as appropriate, on campus committees and initiatives addressing research-related infrastructure, fundraising, budget, policy, and other matters affecting Berkeley's research enterprise.
• System-wide & National Representation:
  • Represent Berkeley on the UC Council of Vice Chancellors for Research; the APLU Committee on Research; and the AAU Senior Research Officer groups, and in other organizations involving university research leaders.
  • Anticipate and respond to changes in the federal research funding a