FY2027 AFOSR-Taiwan NSTC Frontiers in Materials and Nanostructures Research Grants
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) invite U.S.-Taiwan research partnerships to compete for three-year basic-science funding in AI-driven materials discovery, energy-efficient electronic and photonic materials, and quantum geometry in solids. The U.S. award is a grant to an eligible U.S. academic institution, not a vendor procurement contract. The separate Taiwan collaborator applies through NSTC.
Applicant funding and cost sharing
AFOSR plans approximately $1,200,000 per year in U.S.-side funding across selected teams, or approximately $3,600,000 over three years. This is the overall U.S. program pool, not an individual award. A successful U.S. principal investigator may receive up to $150,000 per year for three years (up to $450,000 total), subject to selection and final award decisions. Cost sharing is not required. Taiwan-side funding is administered separately by NSTC.
Who can apply
Eligible primary awardees are qualified U.S. academic institutions. Each proposed team must have a U.S. principal investigator (PI) and a Taiwan institutional PI, submitting the same joint white paper to both agencies. The U.S. PI must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident at submission, and ordinarily have a full-time permanent, tenure-track, or comparable non-contractor academic appointment; the NOFO permits a specified institutional commitment letter for certain temporary appointments. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers and individuals are not eligible primary recipients. All PIs must meet the detailed official eligibility conditions.
Critical two-stage deadlines
Mandatory joint white paper: Wednesday, November 18, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The U.S. PI must email it to AFOSR at alexander.kamrud.1@us.af.mil, while the Taiwan PI submits concurrently through the NSTC online system. Missing either submission makes the team ineligible for the full proposal stage. General questions close November 6, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EST. AFOSR expects to notify invited teams by January 15, 2027. Invited full proposals only: Friday, February 19, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. EST, through Grants.gov under FA955027S0002. Do not confuse the later invited-proposal deadline with the mandatory earlier white paper cutoff.
Application materials and important restrictions
White papers require a scientific narrative of at most three pages covering the problem, hypothesis, methods, novelty and potential payoff, plus PI biographies and simple budget appendices. Invited applicants receive a full-proposal template; the full proposal normally requires a research narrative of at most eight pages, CVs, detailed budget, and the federal forms and disclosures specified by AFOSR. Applicants must satisfy research-security and conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements. Active SAM.gov registration, UEI and CAGE requirements apply before award and payment. Costs must comply with the NOFO and federal research-grant cost principles; proposal-preparation costs may not be charged as direct award costs and no profit or fee is allowed. Funding is competitive and not guaranteed.
Official controlling document: AFOSR FY2027 Notice of Funding Opportunity FA955027S0002 (56 pages). Applicants should check Grants.gov for amendments and read the complete solicitation before applying. Verified October 28, 2026.