1,000+ Opportunities
Find the right grant
Search federal, foundation, and corporate grants with AI — or browse by agency, topic, and state.
The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research is designed to fulfill the mandate of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to promote scientific progress nationwide.
NSF EPSCoR facilitates the establishment of partnerships among academic institutions, government, industry, and non-profit sectors that are designed to promote sustainable improvements in a jurisdiction's research infrastructure, Research and Development (R&D) capacity, and R&D competitiveness of EPSCoR-eligible jurisdictions (i.e., states, territories, and commonwealths).
Eligibility to participate in the EPSCoR funding opportunities, including the EPSCoR RII: EPSCoR Research Fellows program, is described on theNSF EPSCoR website.
EPSCoR RII: EPSCoR Research Fellows directly aligns with the NSF EPSCoR strategic goal of establishing sustainable Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) professional development pathways that advance workforce development and effects engagement in STEM at national and global levels.
EPSCoR RII: EPSCoR Research Fellows provides awards to build researchcapacityin institutions and transform the career trajectories of investigators and further develop their individual research potential through collaborations with investigators from the nation’s premier private, governmental, or academic research institutions and/or centers.
The fellowship provides opportunities to establish strong collaborations through extended or periodic collaborative visits to a selected host site.
Through collaborative research activities with the host site, Fellows will be able to learn new techniques, develop new collaborations, advance existing partnerships, benefit from access to unique equipment and facilities, and/or shift their research toward potentially transformative new directions.
The experiences gained through the fellowships are intended to have lasting impacts that will enhance the Fellows’ research trajectories well beyond the award period. The benefits to the Fellows are also expected to improve the research capacity of their institutions and jurisdictions more broadly.
EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII): EPSCoR Research Fellows offers the following two tracks: 1)EPSCoR Research Fellows: NSF; and 2) EPSCoR Research Fellows: @NASA While the two tracks have similar goals, EPSCoR Research Fellows: NSF is open to a broad community and EPSCoR Research Fellows: @NASA supports faculty from eligible institutions (See Section"IV.
Eligibility Information" for more details) to collaborate with researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research centers. PIs who are eligible for both tracks may apply for only one track per competition cycle. Proposals from both tracks are submitted to and merit reviewed by NSF.
Awards in the EPSCoR Research Fellows: @NASA track are referred to NASA EPSCoR for distribution of additional NASA funds and other needed NASA coordination required for the award.
In both tracks, the EPSCoR RII: EPSCoR Research Fellows program provides opportunities for the participation of one trainee, who must be an undergraduate or graduate student enrolled full-time in an accredited degree program, or a postdoctoral researcher from an EPSCoR jurisdiction. Staff members, such as technicians or lab assistants could be considered as trainees when properly justified. Funding Opportunity Number: 24-528.
Assistance Listing: 47. 041,47. 049,47.
050,47. 070,47. 074,47.
075,47. 076,47. 079,47.
083,47. 084. Funding Instrument: G.
Category: ST. Award Amount: $15M total program funding.
Get alerted about grants like this
Get emailed when new opportunities from “U.S. National Science Foundation” or related funders appear. Free, weekly, unsubscribe anytime.
Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Eligible applicants: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification). *Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: - EPSCoR jurisdictions that are RII-eligible for the FY2024 competition are listed in the RII Eligibility table, which can be found<a href="https://new.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/epscor/epscor-criteria-eligibility">here</a>. Proposals may only be submitted by organizations located in RII-eligible jurisdictions, as follows: <ul> <li>Institutions of higher education (Ph.D.-granting and non-Ph.D.-granting), acting on behalf of their faculty members, that are accredited in and have a campus in the United States, its territories or possessions. Distinct academic campuses (e.g., that award their own degrees, have independent administrative structures, admissions policies, alumni associations, etc.) within multi-campus systems qualify as separate submission-eligible institutions.</li> <li>Not-for-profit, non-degree-granting domestic U.S. organizations, acting on behalf of their employees, that include (but are not limited to) independent museums and science centers, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies, and similar organizations that are directly associated with the Nation's research or educational activities. These organizations must have an independent, permanent administrative organization (e.g., an Office of Sponsored Projects) located in the United States, its territories, or possessions, and have 501(c)(3) tax status.</li> </ul> In addition, for the EPSCoR Research Fellows: @NASA opportunity, PIs must be employed by an institution that is from at least one of the following categories: <ul> <li>Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs), including two-year colleges, that award associate's degrees, bachelor's degrees, and/or master's degrees in NSF-supported fields, but have awarded 20 or fewer Ph.D./D.Sci. degrees in all NSF-supported fields during the combined previous two academic years;</li> <li>Institutions of higher education that are dedicated to serve students with disabilities, as listed in Table 1, page 5, of NSF’s 2008 Broadening Participation report (<a title="https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/2022-03/nsf_frameworkforaction_0808.pdf" href="https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/2022-03/nsf_frameworkforaction_0808.pdf">https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/2022-03/nsf_frameworkforaction_0808.pdf</a>); and</li> <li>Minority-serving institutions as in42 §USC 18901</li> </ul> *Who May Serve as PI: Principal Investigatorsmust either: <ul type="disc"> <li>Be in an early-career, or mid-career-track position at an eligible non-degree-granting organization or</li> <li>Hold a non-tenured or tenured faculty position at the Lecturer, Research Faculty, Assistant or Associate Professor rank (or in an equivalent position)at an institution of higher education.</li> </ul> Additional guidance on eligibility for both tracks: <ul type="disc"> <li>For the faculty category of the PI, the faculty ranking should be determined by the faculty rank at the proposal's deadline date.</li> <li>The PI must be positioned to build sustainable research capacity at the home institution during and beyond the fellowship, which generally takes three years or more.</li> <li>Non-tenured research assistant professors or lecturers are eligible to apply for this opportunity if they have a long-term appointment.</li> <li>A letter from an administrative manager at the home institution is required to verify PI eligibility.</li> <li>Only single-PI proposals will be considered. No co-PIs should be included in the proposal.</li> <li>Persons who hold transitional fixed-term postdoctoral appointments are not eligible to apply as PI, even if their organizations. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows $15M total program funding. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
Applications for EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII): EPSCoR Research Fellows are due April 13, 2027. Build your timeline backwards from this date to cover registrations, approvals, and final submission checks.
Yes — EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII): EPSCoR Research Fellows is offered by U.S. National Science Foundation and this listing comes from Grants.gov, an official U.S. federal source. Federal applications generally require registrations (for example SAM.gov or an agency submission portal), so allow extra lead time.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
Past winners and funding trends for this program
The UKRI Policy Fellowships 2025, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, offer 18-month placements for academics to co-design research with UK government and What Works Network host organizations. Awards range from £180,000 to £280,000 and support three fellowship tracks: core policy fellows, Natural Hazards and Resilience policy fellows, and What Works Innovation fellows. Applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent research experience, be based at a UKRI-eligible UK organization, and possess relevant subject matter or methodological expertise. Government-hosted positions target early to mid-career academics, while What Works fellowships welcome all career stages. Fellows work directly with policymakers to bridge academic research and policy development on pressing national and global challenges. The application deadline is July 15, 2025.
The Smart Data Research UK Fellowships provide up to £200,000 per project for researchers using smart data to address real-world challenges across the United Kingdom. Funded by UKRI through Smart Data Research UK, this program supports up to ten projects lasting 18 months, with start dates by February 2026. Applicants must be based at eligible UK organizations and demonstrate strong data skills with a compelling research question aligned to one of four SDR UK themes: productivity and prosperity, health and wellbeing, sustainability, or communities and places. Researchers at all career stages may apply, with early career researchers particularly encouraged. Projects may use smart datasets from SDR UK's six national data services or combine smart data with administrative and survey data sources.
NSF's TechAccess: AI-Ready America commits up to $224 million to build one AI-readiness coordination hub in every state, DC, and U.S. territory. Round 1 closed July 16, 2026 — but Rounds 2 and 3 are still open, and most states are still up for grabs. Here is how the hub structure works, who is eligible, why cost sharing is banned, and how to position an institution to own its state's hub.
Read articleNSF just put $83 million into six national-scale data systems through its Integrated Data Systems and Services program — the plumbing that makes AI-for-science actually work. Here is who won, how the three-category structure (national-scale, transition, planning) really functions, why the Category III planning grant is the on-ramp most teams should be aiming at, and how to build readiness before the next fourth-Tuesday-in-July deadline.
Read articleNSF's new AI Datasets solicitation puts up to $100 million behind a specific bet: that the bottleneck in AI-for-science is not models but data. Here is how the three award tiers work — Flagship up to $5M, Impact up to $2M, Planning up to $200K — who is eligible, why voluntary cost sharing is banned, and how to build a proposal that survives review before the November 4, 2026 deadline.
Read article