NSF astronomy grants: what is open to Ukraine

The U.S. National Science Foundation accepts proposals for Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants, opportunity number 22-624. The submission window runs from 1 October to 16 November 2026, and the archive date falls on 16 December 2026. The opportunity category is discretionary, so the programme announces no fixed grant size.

Here is the headline point for a Ukrainian reader: only a U.S. organisation can be the applicant. A Ukrainian institution cannot submit to NSF on its own or as a co-applicant.

A route into the programme does exist, and it is specific. Ukrainian researchers take part as foreign collaborators, and with separate justification a Ukrainian institution can receive a subaward from the U.S. applicant.

What the programme funds

The programme supports observational, theoretical, laboratory and archival research in astronomy and astrophysics, along with projects and tools that make astronomical work possible or improve it.

Proposals go to review panels in four broad areas: extragalactic astronomy and cosmology, galactic astronomy, planetary, exoplanetary and solar astronomy, and stellar astronomy and astrophysics. Proposals that fail to show the astronomical context of the work come back without review.

Because the category is discretionary, the foundation decides award sizes and numbers itself, depending on the quality of proposals and the funds available. Accomplishment-Based Renewal proposals do not go through this solicitation.

Who can apply

Proposals to NSF come from U.S. institutions of higher education accredited in and having a campus located in the U.S., U.S. non-profit organisations, and the other categories listed in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, Chapter I.E.

Researchers from foreign academic institutions who contribute essential expertise take part as senior or key personnel or as collaborators, though they receive no NSF support. The cover sheet identifies them as foreign collaborators, so they cannot serve as principal or co-principal investigators.

Conditions and requirements

NSF does allow subawards to foreign organisations, and the justification has to cover four points: why support from the foreign counterpart’s in-country resources is not feasible; why the foreign organisation can carry out the activity more effectively than a U.S. one; what unique expertise, facilities, data or geographic access it brings; and what U.S. science and engineering education or research gains from it.

The justification goes into the Project Description, and the cover sheet carries a tick box for funding a foreign organisation. The bar sits high, so a formal mention of collaboration does not clear it.

A practical note. If you are looking for funding for a Ukrainian institution, this call is the wrong instrument. The realistic aim here is different: join the project of a U.S. partner as a foreign collaborator and build a collaboration that later opens access to European programmes where Ukraine applies in its own right.

How to apply

Submission runs through Grants.gov or Research.gov. Proposals are due by 5 p.m. submitting organisation’s local time on the last day of the window, and the U.S. partner carries responsibility for submitting.

Senior and key personnel certify that they are not a party to a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program. This requirement applies to all NSF awards made after May 2024.

The window repeats every year, 1 October to 15 November. So two months before closing is time for negotiating with a partner, because anyone without an agreement now is planning for autumn 2027.

Solicitation: NSF 22-624. Opportunity page: grants.gov. Eligibility rules for foreign participants: NSF Guide, Chapter I.E.