Become a Merit/Peer Reviewer

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program delivers financial assistance in the form of grants and cooperative agreements to states, local and tribal governments, universities, nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, and individuals. In accordance with Federal requirements, it is DOE’s policy that all discretionary financial assistance actions are to be awarded through a merit-based selection process.

BER conducts peer reviews of funding applications to obtain an independent assessment of the scientific and technical merit of the proposed research. Reviewers are selected based the following considerations:

  • Individual reviewers should have the appropriate scientific expertise.
  • Conflicts of interest should be avoided.
  • Review panels should include an appropriate mix of disciplines.
  • Panels should have a balanced demographic diversity, including affiliation, geographic location, research sector, gender, and career level
  • Program Managers consider applicants’ requests to include or exclude specific individuals as reviewers.

Being a reviewer provides insight on how financial assistance applications are evaluated and builds relationships with DOE personnel and others in the energy industry.

To be considered for becoming a reviewer

For more information, visit https://www.energy.gov/justice/become-doe-meritpeer-reviewer