The Saudi Basic Industries Company (SABIC) provides annual research grants to KFUPM to support research related mostly to the petrochemical and chemical industry. KFUPM matches this fund with a similar fund under the name fast track (FT) to support research in other fields. The University Research Office under the DSR, manages all SABIC and FT grants and makes the announcement of the annual grants available. The SABIC/FT grants have a maximum duration of 18 months and a maximum budget of SR 100,000.

Although the SABIC grants are generally reserved for research in all areas of industrial research related to petrochemical and chemical products, the FT grants allow consideration of all technically meritorious proposals in other relevant areas.

Societal grants are similar to internally funded grants but are designed to support research in fields other than science, technology and business. The grant funds research related to topics of relevance to the Saudi society and is designed to enhance interaction of KFUPM with the society and to enhance KFUPM direct contribution to meeting societal needs.

As part of its policy on providing support and encouragement to the faculty for promoting scholarly work, the University financially and morally supports the authoring, translation and editing of books. Book-writing activities involve one of the following:

1. authoring a scholarly monograph or a textbook which is directed towards an audience of peers or students (graduate or undergraduate) or towards the more general public in both English and Arabic languages;

2. preparing a book with collected materials from various authors or cases;

3. translating relevant books or textbooks into Arabic.

The University gives priority to books authored by the faculty, which can be used as textbooks at the University. To promote the availability of good technical and scientific books in Arabic, the University encourages the translation of selected titles into Arabic.

The University's financial support for book-writing includes, among other things, summer compensation for the proponent(s) and/or a reduced teaching load during regular semesters, costs of typing and editing and other expenses related to book-writing. Additionally, faculty members authoring, editing, or translating books, which are published by a reputable publisher or by the University, receive a financial award.

For a book-writing activity, the faculty should submit a proposal with all necessary documents to the department chairman, who forwards them to the University Research Committee for evaluation.

The University encourages its faculty members to participate in “high-quality” conferences and professional meetings sponsored by leading professional societies and held both within the Kingdom and abroad. Attending such conferences or meetings permits a free exchange of new ideas, concepts and developments, and enables the faculty member to develop and execute his own research, and the University to be recognized as a center of academic excellence.

A faculty member may apply for a travel grant to attend a conference provided he meets any of these criteria: (i) attending a conference to present a paper, (ii) attending a conference on the basis of a published paper, (iii) attending a conference based on invitation, and (iv) attending a conference based on an approved research or book writing project.

The application along with all supporting documents should be submitted to the chairman of the academic department, who will forward it to the University Research Committee (URC) to seek approval to attend the conference. The application should be made well in advance, at least two months prior to the date of the conference and at least two weeks prior to the start of final exams in the Second Semester. In addition, to be entitled to receive financial support, the applicant should acknowledge KFUPM for assistance with facilities and finance provided for conducting his research.

The support for attending conferences ordinarily covers per diem (including the time required for travel) and conference registration fee. Faculty can be supported to attend as many as three conferences a year. In some instances, a faculty member might receive round trip tickets to attend the conference. Tickets are usually issued through Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA).

The main objective of sabbatical leave is to provide KFUPM faculty with a change of atmosphere in order to pursue scholarly activities and to furnish a better environment for academic recuperation and rejuvenation. Sabbatical leave also provides the means to interact directly with scholars in reputable academic and research institutions. Scholarly activities that are considered for sabbatical leave may include pursuing and extending some ongoing research, initiating research in new and diverse areas, working in industry in the area of research and development, gaining research-oriented experience or creating an engineering design or product, and, finally, writing a research-oriented book or monograph.

Saudi faculty and Saudi RI research engineers/scientists are eligible to apply for a one-year sabbatical leave after serving the University for a minimum period of 5 years. A one semester sabbatical leave may also be granted for those who have served the University for a minimum period of 3 years.

To be considered for sabbatical leave, the applicant should prepare a complete proposal that states clearly the objectives, research plan and budget of his research. The proposal should be submitted to the concerned Department Chairman or RI Center Director no later than six weeks after faculty reporting date and at least 9 months prior to the intended leave date. The proposal is then forwarded to the Deanship of Research for review prior to approval. A sabbatical leave report must be submitted to the appropriate chairman/RI center director no later than two months after the end of the leave. The report should include details about the leave and associated scientific activities conducted at the host institution.

The leave benefits might include full monthly basic salary, regular transportation allowance, return air tickets for the faculty member and his eligible dependents, book allowance, research support, and a limited medical allowance.

Expatriate faculty might be granted release time for one semester. However, the extent of support might differ from what is granted for Saudis. Such privilege is considered in lieu of sabbatical leave.

Four major scholar programs are open to Saudi faculty from all the universities within the Kingdom. A brief description of both programs is presented in the following paragraphs.

1. The British Council Summer Research Program (BCSP) is a post-doctoral program designed to encourage Saudi faculty members to execute their research projects in British Universities. The program carries a fixed financial grant of £5,250 towards the cost of travel and other expenses from the British Council, in addition to 16 days per diem support from KFUPM. The program duration should not be less than 8 weeks and cannot exceed 12 weeks. During the selection process, preference is given to those applicants who have never availed this opportunity in the past and also to those who have not obtained their Doctoral Degrees from the U.K.​
2. ​​​The Fulbright Scholarship Program, which is jointly funded by the University and the United States Information Service, is also a Post-Doctoral research grant designed to encourage Saudi faculty members to execute their research projects in reputable US universities. The grant includes financial support for a limited number of Saudi faculty members to spend between six months and one year in different host institutions in the U.S.A. The scope of research includes a wide range of subjects in the fields of science and technology.
   
3. Japan Petroleum Institute Exchange Program (JPI) As part of promoting technical cooperation with researchers of Universities and National Institutes of Petroleum Refining in oil-producing countries, The Japan Petroleum Institute (JPI) invites nomination of researches for the JPI Research Exchange Program once every year. JPI offers invitation to two researchers suitable to Japanese organization for researchers’ area based on the understandings between both parties and is open for both Saudi and Non-Saudi Faculty members.  The program duration is between 1 to 2 months depending on the program content. JPI provides the following benefits: 1) Daily allowance of ¥ 15,750 per day is granted for accommodation, meals and miscellaneous expenses, 2) Round trip air tickets (Business Class) and Official transportation fee, 3) Medical Insurance, 4) Conference Attendance within Japan. In addition to the listed benefits provided by JPI to the visiting researcher, KFUPM provides 16 days per diem to each of the participants upon delivering a seminar on the main findings of their research after their return from Japan and submitting a detailed report on their achievements. The nominated candidates (even more than the available slots) are forwarded to the JPI International Cooperation Committee, who will deliberate and decide the approved candidates for the program.
   
4. International Summer Scholarly Program (ISSP) The International Summer Scholarly Program is applicable to all professorial ranks of faculty members. It can extend for a period of one or two months during summer, and should not conflict with the reporting or final exam periods or with any other summer assignment.  The program aims at exposing faculty members to new experiences, new ideas and new opportunities for international academic and/or research collaboration. The selected eligible applicant will be entitled for the following benefits (1) Round trip air ticket to the host institution; (2) Monthly salary for the selected period. The program is based on competition and the applicant should show clear evidence of academic and/or research collaboration with the host institute/professor and highly reputed and should be different from the one he graduated from.