2026 Targeted Grants to Institutes Announced

A photo of the north side library extension at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach (MFO, Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics) showing a mostly glass building in a green landscape. — The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics, Germany, is one of the nine recipients of a support Grant from Simons Foundation. Verena Franke/MPO

The Simons Foundation’s Mathematics & Physical Sciences division announces the nine recipients of this year’s Targeted Grants to Institutes. The grants support established institutes and centers in the mathematics and physical sciences by funding efforts to strengthen contacts within the international scientific community. By providing stable, multiyear infrastructure support, these grants enable institutes to run ambitious long-term programs.

These grants will be funded by the Simons Foundation International (SFI) and administered by the Simons Foundation (SF).

This year’s awardees are listed below.

African School of Fundamental and Applied Physics (ASP)
SFI will provide support toward the sustainability of ASP activities. This includes a two-week intensive summer school, a forum to engage policymakers in physics education and research, a mentorship program, an international physics conference and short-term visits for ASP alumni to go to U.S. labs for four to six months of additional research training.

Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques
Funding will support two long-standing programs, the Global South Chair and the Jean Morlet Chair, facilitating exchanges between established and young researchers and encouraging collaboration between the international scientific community and researchers from developing countries.

ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research
SFI will continue SF’s support to the ICTP-SAIFR to fund two Simons-FAPESP (São Paulo State Research Funding Agency) tenure-track professors for three additional years.

Initiative for the Theoretical Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center (ITS)
SFI funding will allow the ITS to expand collaborations nationally and internationally through conferences, scholar exchanges, visiting programs and postdoctoral support.

International Centre for Interdisciplinary Science and Education (ICISE)
The grant will help build on the success of previous funding provided to the Simons Astrophysics Group at ICISE (SAGI), facilitating robust collaborative research in theoretical physics and astrophysics in Vietnam.

Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP)
SFI will provide funding for the Simons Visiting Scientist Program at the KITP. This program provides support to scientists leaving their home institutions for extended periods of time to visit the KITP and participate in its programs.

McWilliams Center for Cosmology & Astrophysics at Carnegie Mellon University
SFI funding will support the Keystone Astronomy & AI Visiting Fellows, a mentored international visiting postdoctoral program. The program will extend the ongoing activities of the McWilliams Center by catalyzing the development and application of AI methods to advance computational and data-intensive astrophysics and by providing a forum for rapid international collaboration and the dissemination of those methods.

Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics (MFO)
SFI will continue SF’s support of the Simons Visiting Professors Program at the Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics (MFO). Each year the program supports 40 Simons Visiting Professors — distinguished scientists from outside Europe who wish to combine an invitation to a workshop at MFO with a research visit to a European university.

Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS)
PIMS, headquartered at the University of British Columbia, will continue to receive support for postdoctoral fellows, a summer research program in mathematics, a travel award and an institute exchange program.