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Future CoRe is NSF CISE's consolidated core research solicitation, merging eleven previously separate programmes into a single entry point, and it is the broadest available route to funding for foundational artificial intelligence and machine learning research in the United States.
It supports foundational computing research and education with strong emphasis on AI and machine learning - theory, algorithms, systems and applications - alongside the rest of the computing research portfolio. The structural change that matters most to applicants is the move away from hard deadlines.
Proposals may be submitted at any time, but target dates have been added to organise review into batches, with target dates of 10 September 2026 and 4 February 2027 for the relevant tracks. In practice a proposal submitted well away from a target date waits longer for a panel, so the target dates function as soft deadlines for anyone who needs a timely decision.
The solicitation covers small, medium and large project classes with different ceilings; the figures here reflect the medium class, where most AI and machine learning foundations work is funded.
For researchers whose work does not map onto a named NSF AI programme - the AI Institutes, the AI infrastructure hubs, or the geosciences and health collaborations - Future CoRe is the default home, and the eleven constituent programmes within it offer meaningful choice over which review community sees the proposal.
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Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Open to US institutions of higher education and US-based nonprofit non-academic research organisations, following standard NSF eligibility under the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide. The solicitation consolidates eleven CISE core programmes into a single vehicle covering foundational computing research and education, with artificial intelligence and machine learning foundations - theory, algorithms, systems and applications - among the central areas supported. Awards run up to 1,000,000 dollars total across durations of up to four years, with typical medium-class projects at approximately 150,000 to 250,000 dollars per year for three to four years. The programme advertises roughly 280 million dollars supporting 400 to 600 awards across its constituent programmes. There are no hard deadlines: proposals may be submitted at any time but are reviewed in batches organised around target dates, with target dates of 10 September 2026 and 4 February 2027; submitting near a target date materially shortens the wait for panel review. Applicants must select which constituent programme within Future CoRe the proposal is directed to, and that choice determines the review panel, so it should be made deliberately rather than by default. Confirm the current target dates, project class ceilings and constituent programme descriptions in the live NSF 25-543 solicitation before submitting, as CISE has revised this structure recently. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows awards run up to 1,000,000 dollars total over durations of up to four years, with typical projects funded at roughly 150,000 to 250,000 dollars per year for three to four years - hence amount_min 150,000, representing a single-year award at the low end, and amount_max 1,000,000 for the full-term ceiling. The programme advertises approximately 280 million dollars across 400 to 600 awards spanning eleven constituent programmes, which makes it one of the highest-volume funding vehicles in US academic computing. That volume is the strategic point: the per-award size is modest by federal standards, but the acceptance rate implied by 400 to 600 awards is considerably friendlier than a named centre competition, and a Future CoRe award is a standard route to establishing a track record before competing for larger institute-scale funding. The consolidation of eleven previously separate CISE programmes into one solicitation also means the choice of which constituent programme to target - and therefore which panel reviews the proposal - is now an explicit strategic decision rather than an administrative one. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
Applications for NSF CISE Future Computing Research (Future CoRe) Solicitation NSF 25-543 for Foundational Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Research are due February 4, 2027. Build your timeline backwards from this date to cover registrations, approvals, and final submission checks.
NSF CISE Future Computing Research (Future CoRe) Solicitation NSF 25-543 for Foundational Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Research is funded by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
NSF's Robust Intelligence (RI) program advances the science of intelligent computational systems that perceive, learn, reason, and act robustly in complex, uncertain, and adversarial environments. It funds core AI and machine learning research spanning computer vision, natural language processing, knowledge representation, planning, and the foundations of trustworthy and robust AI. Awards typically range from about $500,000 to $1.2 million over three to four years, with proposals accepted on a rolling or annual basis depending on the current solicitation.
NSF Robust Intelligence (RI) Program for Core Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Research is sponsored by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). Advances the science of intelligent computational systems that perceive, learn, reason, and act robustly in complex, uncertain, and adversarial environments.
Robust Intelligence is NSF's core foundational artificial intelligence program and, for an academic AI researcher without a domain application or a national-security angle, it is the most direct federal funding route that exists. NSF describes it as encompassing the foundational computational research needed to understand and develop systems that can sense, learn, reason, communicate, and act in the world, and it spans five research areas: artificial intelligence covering learning, abstraction, inference, knowledge representation, reasoning, planning and multi-agent systems; machine learning covering algorithms and models that generalize from data; computer vision; human language technologies covering analysis and generation of text and speech; and computational neuroscience. Two exclusions define the program more sharply than its inclusions, and both are stated explicitly by NSF. First, RI does not fund projects that simply apply existing techniques to a specific domain - a proposal that takes an off-the-shelf model and points it at a new dataset is not responsive, however useful the application. Second, RI does not fund robotics research, which NSF directs instead to the Foundational Research in Robotics program. Those two boundaries account for a large share of misdirected proposals, and getting on the right side of both is the main framing task before writing. RI is administered through the CISE Core Programs solicitation, NSF 25-543, which is the same vehicle that carries Human-Centered Computing and other CISE core programs and which sets the Small and Medium project classes, budget bands and submission arrangements. In recent CISE core cycles proposals have been accepted without fixed annual deadlines, but that arrangement has changed between solicitation versions, so confirming the current submission rules in the active solicitation is essential rather than optional. Program contact is cise-ri@nsf.gov.
The NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering: Future Computing Research (Future CoRe) program (NSF 25-543) supports foundational computing research and education with a strong emphasis on AI and machine learning. The program funds research that advances the foundations of computing including AI/ML theory, algorithms, systems, and applications. Future CoRe supports small to medium-sized research projects that can have significant impact on computing foundations. The program has target dates of February 5, 2026 and September 10, 2026 for proposal submissions (note: these are target dates, not deadlines, meaning proposals may be submitted at any time but will be reviewed in batches around these dates). Investigators may not serve as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel on more than two proposals submitted within any consecutive 12-month period across all Future CoRe programs. This is one of NSF's primary mechanisms for funding fundamental AI and machine learning research at U.S. academic institutions, covering areas such as machine learning theory, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics foundations, and human-AI interaction.
The ONR Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (N00014-25-S-B001) is the Office of Naval Research's primary mechanism for soliciting research proposals across all naval science and technology priority areas. The BAA accepts proposals on a rolling basis through September 30, 2026 and covers ONR's full spectrum of research interests with particular emphasis on AI-related topics including autonomous maritime systems, human-machine teaming, machine learning for sensor fusion, cooperative autonomous swarm technology, undersea autonomy, and AI-enabled decision superiority. Proposals can be funded through multiple mechanisms including individual investigator grants, the Young Investigator Program (~$510K over 3 years for early-career faculty), and Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards ($1.5M/year for 3-5 years for research teams). ONR recommends contacting relevant program officers before submitting to discuss alignment with current research priorities. The BAA supports basic research (6.1), applied research (6.2), and advanced technology development (6.3) across the full range of naval-relevant science and engineering disciplines.
DE-FOA-0003600 is the DOE Office of Science's FY 2026 open, rolling solicitation for financial assistance, providing roughly $500 million across seven program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, and Isotope R&D and Production. AI and machine learning research is supported directly through Advanced Scientific Computing Research, while Biological and Environmental Research funds atmospheric process research, environmental systems process research, and earth-energy systems modeling — making this a major channel for AI-enhanced climate and earth system modeling work. DOE anticipates 200 to 350 new awards ranging from $5,000 to $5 million each, with project periods from six months to five years. The FOA opened September 30, 2025 and accepts applications on a rolling basis through the end of FY 2026.
RET Sites close October 14, 2026 — about nine awards from $5.8 million, capped at $600,000 over three years, with a PI eligibility rule that disqualifies most of the people who write outreach proposals. RET Supplements reach the same money for $15,000 a teacher and are not a competition.
Read articleNSF 26-523 folds 12 core physics programs and three cross-cutting ones into a single solicitation with $180 million and roughly 300 awards. Proposals are accepted anytime, but AMO-Experiment and Gravitational Physics still target November 25 and QIS targets December 8. Cost sharing is prohibited, indirect cost rates are now a tiebreaker, and NSF reserves the right to phase out long-duration efforts after comparative review.
Read articleFuture CoRe (NSF 25-543) advertises $280 million and 400 to 600 awards across 11 programs, with a September 10, 2026 target date. The directorate behind it is running 43 percent below its own four-year average, $1 billion of NSF's budget is locked in a central account, and the two-proposal cap is enforced with no exceptions. Here is how to read the gap between what the solicitation promises and what the directorate is actually paying for.
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