Simons Foundation Targeted Grants to Institutes 2027: Up to $750,000 Over Three Years for Mathematics, Theoretical Physics, and Theoretical Computer Science Centres Building International Scientific Contacts

Simons Foundation Targeted Grants to Institutes 2027: Up to $750,000 Over Three Years for Mathematics, Theoretical Physics, and Theoretical Computer Science Centres Building International Scientific Contacts

Most research funding follows a person or a problem. The Simons Foundation’s Targeted Grants to Institutes program follows a place — specifically, a place that already exists, already has a scientific mission, and already brings researchers together in a physical building. The money is not there to keep the lights on. It is there to let an institute do something its core budget cannot: bring in visitors from other countries, run a summer school it could not otherwise afford, fund postdocs on an exchange programme, or open a channel between its own community and a part of the world that is currently disconnected from it.

Applications for the next cycle are open, with a hard deadline of 30 September 2026 at 12 p.m. (noon) Eastern time. Decisions arrive by 31 January 2027, and awards begin between 1 June 2027 and 1 September 2027.

This guide sets out what the programme funds, the boundaries of eligibility that catch out otherwise strong institutes, exactly what goes into the application in the Simons Award Manager, and where proposals tend to lose ground with reviewers.

Key Details

What the Grant Is Actually For

The foundation states the purpose plainly: the programme supports “established institutes or centers in the mathematics and theoretical basic physical sciences through funding to help strengthen contacts within the international scientific community.” The aim is to let institutes “extend and enhance their missions.”

Two exclusions follow directly from that framing, and both are stated on the funding page. First, the programme “will not provide primary support for operating or establishing an institute.” If your proposal reads as a request for core operating funds, or as seed capital for a centre that does not yet exist, it is outside scope. Second, it “will also not support initiatives, consortiums or organizations that do not have a physical space.” A virtual network, however well-organised, is not what this programme funds.

What sits comfortably inside scope is a named activity that widens an existing institute’s reach. The awardee list makes the pattern concrete. The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics uses its award for the Simons Visiting Professors Program, which each year supports 40 distinguished scientists from outside Europe who combine an Oberwolfach workshop with a research visit to a European university. The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics runs a Simons Visiting Scientist Program for researchers leaving their home institutions for extended stays. The Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences at the University of British Columbia is supported for postdoctoral fellows, a summer research programme, and a travel award and institute exchange programme. The Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques funds two named chairs — the Global South Chair and the Jean Morlet Chair — that exist to move researchers between established and early-career communities.

In each case, the grant is attached to a programme with a name, a mechanism, and a number of people it will move. That is the shape reviewers are used to seeing.

Allowable Expenses

The foundation describes the funding as “relatively flexible” and driven by what the institute requests, subject to its general grant policies. The listed examples include:

• Salary support and related benefits for visiting scholars, postdoctoral fellows and research associates, and graduate students.
• Support for visitors, including domestic and international travel, meals, and lodging.
• Conferences, workshops, summer schools, and scientific meetings — meals, travel, lodging, and facility fees.
• Other expenses related to supporting and administering the funded activities, including administrative professional staff.

One explicit prohibition: PI summer salary for administrative support of programmes is not allowed. The foundation’s position is that administrative salary should be paid by the existing institutional structure. A separate FAQ answer rules out the cost of insurance to cover exchange-rate movement as a direct cost — a relevant detail for institutes budgeting in a non-dollar currency across three years.

The $750,000 ceiling is inclusive of 20 percent indirect costs, not on top of them. Build the budget accordingly.

Who Is Eligible

Applications may be submitted by established U.S. and foreign public and private educational and nonprofit institutes and research centres. Several qualifications matter:

Centres inside universities are eligible — but conditionally. The FAQ is direct: centres and institutes within larger universities can apply “as long as their main purpose is to support a field by strengthening contacts within the scientific community.” A centre whose primary purpose is to provide a focal point for the research of local faculty at that university is explicitly described as not appropriate for the programme. This is the single most common eligibility misread. If the honest answer to “who does this centre serve?” is “our own department,” the fit is poor regardless of the science.

Experimental national labs are excluded. The programme will not support national labs, or the equivalent, with a primary focus on experiments.

Chemistry is out of scope. An FAQ answer states that chemistry falls outside the purview of both the programme and the MPS division, which focuses on mathematics, theoretical physics, and theoretical computer science.

China-based institutions cannot be funded. The Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International do not provide funding to institutions in China, to fiscal sponsors or agents of such institutions, to subcontracts at them, or to consultants residing or working for them.

Foundation employees are excluded from PI and funded roles. Simons Foundation W-2 employees, including Flatiron Institute employees, may not apply as principal investigator to any Simons Foundation or Simons Foundation International RFA. Nor may any listed project personnel who would receive salary, travel, student or postdoc support, equipment, computing time, or other individual expenses be foundation employees.

On who signs as PI: the FAQ says the PI is “typically the director of the institute; although, this is at the discretion of the institute.”

Two further points that widen access. There is no limit to the number of times an institute can apply across years, and no limit on the number of applications per institution in a single cycle. And current awardees whose grant ends before 1 June 2027 — including any no-cost extension period — are welcome to apply for continued or new funding, competing on the same terms as everyone else.

How Institutes in Developing Countries Are Assessed

The foundation applies an additional lens here rather than a lower bar. Its FAQ states that for institutes in developing countries, it “will also consider how the grant can help stimulate the progress of science in those countries and how it can help connect developing countries to the scientific mainstream.”

The awardee record backs this up as a genuine priority rather than a line of text. Recent grants have gone to the African Academy of Sciences for continental collaborations in the mathematical foundations of semiconductors and quantum computing; the African School of Fundamental and Applied Physics for a summer school, policy forum, mentorship programme, and short-term U.S. lab visits for alumni; the ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research in Brazil for two tenure-track professorships co-funded with FAPESP; the International Centre for Interdisciplinary Science and Education in Vietnam for its Simons Astrophysics Group; and the Centre International de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées for fellowships and workshops aimed at young mathematicians in developing countries.

If your institute sits in one of these contexts, say explicitly what the connective effect is: which communities get linked, how many researchers move, and what remains in place after year three.

What the Application Requires

Everything is submitted electronically through the Simons Award Manager (SAM) at https://sam.simonsfoundation.org/. From the Funding Opportunities icon, select Create Application, then Begin Application. Applications should be started and submitted under the applicant’s own SAM account.

Formatting rules for attachments: single spaced, common typeface, font size no smaller than 10 points, and margins of at least half an inch on all sides.

The proposal itself has four components:

Proposal narrative. Six-page limit, plus up to two pages for references and figures, which may be embedded in the text. It should summarise the support requested, including the specific scientific goals, relevant background, and the significance of the proposed support. Up to two letters of support from collaborating institutions can be appended and do not count against the eight-page limit.

Key personnel biosketches. A PDF for each individual listed as Project Personnel, in SciENcv, NIH, or NSF-style format, or a two- to three-page CV. Each file must be named Last Name_First Name_Biosketch.

Current and pending support — for the institute only. A list of all financial resources directly supporting the institute’s research work. Formatting is at the institute’s discretion but must include at least the sources and dates of support, a brief summary of what each supports, and total funding provided. Individual key personnel support is not required here.

Detailed three-year budget in USD, with justification for each line item, including all personnel costs.

Two declarations are also required in the Proposal tab: the extent to which generative AI technology was used in developing the proposal and how, and whether the applicant or any listed project personnel are affiliated with the Simons Foundation or Flatiron Institute as a visiting scholar, independent contractor, or employee.

In the Application Details section, the title should include the name of the initiative for which funding is requested — the foundation’s own example is “Visiting Researchers Program at the Institute for Advanced Math” — and need not repeat the institute’s name. Award start and end dates entered here populate the budget automatically.

Contacts, Personnel, and the Sign-Off Chain

The Contacts & Personnel tab requires at least one Signing Official and one Financial Officer from the institution. The applicant cannot act as the signing official or the financial officer. This is the step that most often turns a comfortable timeline into a scramble, because it depends on someone in a research office who does not report to you.

Under Project Personnel, list the scientific personnel directly involved in the activities being funded, as known at the proposal stage. To explain each person’s specific role, select “Other” in the role drop-down within Add More Details, then clarify in the General Note field. Subcontracts are possible — select Yes to the subcontract question and add personnel — though the foundation notes these are not typical for this programme.

Submission runs through the Signing Official. Once the application is complete, click Send for Sign-off. The Signing Official receives an email from [email protected], provides an electronic signature in the Submission tab, saves it, and then clicks Submit Signature, which submits the application to the foundation. The applicant, Signing Official, and Financial Officer all receive confirmation email once this completes.

Before sending for sign-off, use the Check Application Progress button. Missing required information is listed at the top of the screen and must be corrected before submission is possible.

Budget Mechanics Worth Knowing in Advance

The budget tab has behaviours that cost people time if discovered late:

• Known project personnel only appear in the Personnel drop-down after they have been added under Project Personnel in the Contacts & Personnel tab and assigned an application role via Add More Details. You then need to close and reopen the budget for the change to appear.
• Do not select TBD when the personnel are known.
• Do not combine personnel on a single budget line. Multiple postdocs must be itemised individually.
• The copy-from-previous-period function adds to whatever is already in the later year rather than replacing it, so copying into a partly filled year 2 or 3 duplicates entries — and duplicates can only be removed one line item at a time.

The foundation’s warning on justification is unusually blunt and worth quoting: “the budget justification should be detailed and appropriate for the funds being requested. An insufficient budget justification will result in the proposal not being considered further.” Treat the justification as a reviewed document, not paperwork attached to a reviewed document.

Review Process and Timeline

Full proposals are reviewed by Simons Foundation scientific staff, the MPS Scientific Advisory Board, and an expert external review committee. Applicants are notified by 31 January 2027, giving four to seven months of lead time before the award start window of 1 June to 1 September 2027 — enough to line up visitor invitations and postdoc recruitment, but not enough to start from nothing.

A practical scheduling note: the foundation’s offices are closed 25–27 November 2026 and from 24 December 2026 through 1 January 2027. Those closures fall after this deadline but inside the review period, so do not read silence over the holidays as a signal.

On the deadline itself, the FAQ is explicit that times are not adjusted for time zones — all deadlines are Eastern time. The foundation recommends registering early and submitting well before the deadline hour, since site traffic can slow page loads. Applications cannot be submitted after the deadline passes.

Revisions are possible only before the deadline, via the Revise button. Critically, a revised full proposal must be sent for sign-off and signed by the Signing Official again in order to resubmit, and that must happen before the deadline. No extensions are granted for revisions. If you plan to tweak anything in the final days, your Signing Official needs to be available in those same days.

Common Mistakes

Framing the request as core support. The programme explicitly will not provide primary support for operating an institute. Proposals that read as budget relief rather than mission extension are working against a stated exclusion.

Applying as a faculty research hub. A university centre whose main function is to support its own faculty’s research is named in the FAQ as inappropriate for this programme, regardless of quality. If outward connection is genuinely part of your mission, the narrative has to demonstrate it with existing evidence, not aspiration.

Under-specifying the initiative. Successful awards attach to a named, mechanically clear programme — a visiting professorship, a semester, a school, a fellowship stream. “General international engagement” gives reviewers nothing to evaluate.

A thin budget justification. The foundation states directly that an insufficient justification ends consideration. Every line needs a reason tied to the activity.

Leaving the Signing Official until the end. No signature, no submission — and no extension.

Ignoring the AI-use declaration. It is a required field, not an optional disclosure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can an institute apply more than once in the same cycle? Yes. The foundation states there is no limit to the number of applications per institution.

Our current Simons grant is ending. Can we reapply? Yes, if the grant ends before 1 June 2027, including any no-cost extension period. The proposal is reviewed competitively alongside all others.

Can awards be renewed? No. Awards will not be considered for renewal, though awardees can reapply for new funding for a period after the current award ends.

We were declined last year. Can we apply again? Yes. There is no limit on the number of times an institute can apply.

Does the institute have to be in the United States? No. Both U.S. and foreign public and private educational and nonprofit institutes and research centres are eligible, with the China-related exclusions noted above.

Can we apply on behalf of an institute at a different university than the one in our SAM profile? Contact [email protected] for help updating the SAM profile so the correct institutional association appears on the application.

Is chemistry eligible? No. Chemistry is outside the purview of the programme and the MPS division.

Preparation Timeline

With roughly two months to the deadline, a workable sequence looks like this:

Now: Confirm eligibility honestly against the university-centre test and the field boundaries. Register the PI in SAM and identify the Signing Official and Financial Officer by name, then confirm their availability in the last week of September.

Weeks one to three: Settle on the specific initiative and its mechanism — how many people move, from where to where, for how long, and what happens when they arrive. Draft the six-page narrative around that. Request letters of support from collaborating institutions early; two are permitted and they do not count against the page limit.

Weeks four to six: Build the three-year budget in SAM directly rather than in a spreadsheet, so you hit the personnel drop-down behaviour early rather than the night before. Write the justification line by line. Assemble biosketches in the required naming format and compile the institute’s current and pending support list.

Final two weeks: Run Check Application Progress, resolve everything it flags, send for sign-off with real slack, and confirm the Signing Official has actually clicked Submit Signature. A signed-but-unsubmitted application is not an application.

Official Links and Contacts

• Programme page, RFA, how to apply, FAQ, and awardee list: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/targeted-grants-to-institutes/
• Application system (Simons Award Manager): https://sam.simonsfoundation.org/
• Programme or administrative questions: [email protected]
• Technical questions about SAM: [email protected]
• Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time, except designated holidays

One administrative note the foundation flags for applicants outside the U.S.: in the event of budgetary or other considerations, the Simons Foundation reserves the right to refer an application to The Simons Foundation International, Ltd. for consideration and funding. SFI grant recipients are subject to Simons Foundation policies and procedures, and SF provides SFI’s grant administration and payment processing. In practice, several international awards listed on the programme page are administered through SFI.

Verify all dates, figures, and requirements against the official programme page before submitting, since foundation cycles and policies can change between announcements.