Simons Fellows in Mathematics – Request for Applications 2027: How to Apply

The applicant’s name and institution will appear in this section. The institution will default to the user’s primary affiliation in their SAM profile. Please ensure the listed institution is the one to which funds must be administered if selected for funding. If the institution or applicant must be changed, please refer to the SAM Frequently Asked Questions for assistance.

• Applicant Details: Enter all required fields, including your ORCID iD. The applicant may edit information via the ‘Edit Profile’ button as needed. To add your ORCID iD, navigate to the ORCID tab of the user profile, and select the ‘Create or connect your ORCID iD’ button to link to your ORCID profile. Applicants must complete their profiles by clicking the ‘Complete Profile’ button on the user profile in order to submit.
• Degrees: Enter degrees (optional).
• Title: Enter the title of the application. This should reflect the nature of the applicant’s research and sabbatical plans.
• Start and End Dates: Enter the award start and end dates, which should reflect the full sabbatical leave period. These dates will automatically populate in the budget. Please be cognizant of the end date requested. The foundation will not allow extensions of an award to address sabbatical-related trips or expenses that occur or end after the end date of the award, or for other administrative reasons. Fellowship awards and sabbatical periods may begin no earlier than July 1, 2027, and no later than January 1, 2028.
• Proposal: Proposal attachments should be single spaced and in a common typeface and font size no smaller than 10 points. Margins must be at least half an inch in all directions.
  • Certification Questions: Answer sabbatical certification questions. Sabbatical approval is not required at the time of application but must be provided to the foundation at least three months prior to the start of the applicant’s award. Answering ‘No’ to “Is the PI currently approved for a leave…” question does not render the application ineligible.
  • Statement of Recent Work (two-page limit, plus up to one page for references and figures, which can be embedded within the text): Upload a statement explaining the candidate’s most significant scientific work over the previous five years.
  • Statement of Sabbatical Plans (two-page limit, plus up to one page for references and figures, which can be embedded within the text): Upload a statement summarizing the applicant’s plans for the entire leave period, the institution or institutions at which the leave is to be spent and the main scientific goals.
  • Applicant Biosketch: Upload a PDF of the biosketch for the applicant. Biosketches must be in SciENcv, NIH, or NSF-style format or a two- to three-page CV.
  • Students List: Upload a list of current or recent (past five years) graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and Ph.D. students, as applicable, including their dissertation topics and likely date of completion.
  • Letter from Other Institution (if applicable):
    • If the leave is to be taken at another institution or institutions and will last longer than one month, confirmation must be submitted from the host institution(s) in the form of a letter signed by relevant department chairs or other appropriate university authorities stating that the visit is approved and briefly describing the facilities that will be made available to the applicant.
    • If the letter of confirmation from the prospective host institution(s) cannot be obtained, then the application must include a backup plan describing what would be done if the visit(s) were not possible. The location of the sabbatical must be confirmed, in the form of the above-mentioned letter, to the foundation at least three months prior to the start of the applicant’s award.
    • The location must be at either the originally proposed host institution or at the institution(s) specified in the backup plan, unless explicit permission is obtained from the foundation no later than three months before the start of the leave. Please use the ‘Letter from Other Institution’ as the attachment type if including a backup plan.
  • Indicate the extent to which, if any, generative AI technology was used and how it was used to develop your proposal.
  • Indicate if the PI or any project personnel listed on this application are affiliated with the Simons Foundation or the Flatiron Institute as visiting scholars, independent contractors or employees.

Institution Administrative Contacts: At least one Signing Official and one Financial Officer must be added to this section.

• Click the ‘Edit/Modify button‘ to add a detailed, one-year budget in U.S. dollars. In the ‘Personnel Costs‘ section, provide the applicant’s known or expected academic-year salary for the full year of the sabbatical leave period as the ‘Base Salary.’ If this is not yet finalized, please note this in the justification column and include the expected date of salary increase.
• The percentage of salary covered by the fellowship, requested salary, fringe rate and fringe cost should reflect the amount that will be covered by the fellowship during the full sabbatical leave period. These fields are required.
• For ‘Leave Related Expenses,’ provide a brief itemization of anticipated expenses and corresponding justification, not exceeding $10,000. An insufficient budget justification may result in the proposal not being considered further.

• Technical Abstract: Provide a brief summary of where the applicant’s requested leave will take place and the main scientific goals during this time.
• Keywords: Click on the ‘Add/Modify Keywords’ button to select up to two tags as it applies to the applicant’s research in the last five years. Please note that your choices will be used to select the most suitable reviewers.

• Publications: Provide a list of up to five accepted or published papers from the previous five years via the applicant’s SAM profile or PDF upload. If using a PDF upload, please name the PDF as Last Name_First Name_Publications.
• Other Support: Please follow instructions for providing the current and pending support for the applicant via PDF upload or via the applicant’s SAM profile.
  • Provide all of the applicant’s current and pending external PI or co-PI support, which includes all financial resources, whether federal or nonfederal, available that are in direct support of this applicant and their research. It is not necessary to include internal funding or this current application.
  • If providing via SAM profile, please select Yes and then choose the option to ‘Select Other Support from Profile.’ Click the ‘Assign Other Support for this Proposal’ button to add other support to this application. This will display all other support related to the applicant that was previously added to their SAM profile. Reporting overlap is required to submit an application. While overlap is not a consideration for funding in this program, please click on the ‘Report Overlap’ button for each entry and select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ as appropriate.
  • If using PDF upload, NSF format is sufficient and should at least provide the award number, source of funding, title of award, dates of project and total costs for each support item listed. Please name the PDF as LastName_FirstName_Support.pdf.

Click the ‘Check Application Progress’ button to verify that all required information and files have been submitted. Any missing requirements will be listed at the top of the screen and must be corrected before the application can be submitted.

When the application is complete, please click the ‘Send for Sign-off’ button to send the application to your Signing Official for signature. You will not be able to send the application for sign-off if any application requirements are missing. The Signing Official will receive an email from [email protected] notifying them that an application requires their signature. The Signing Official must electronically sign the application via the ‘Submission’ tab of the application. Once their signature is entered and saved, the Signing Official must click the ‘Submit Signature’ button. This will officially submit the application to the foundation. A confirmation page will appear for the Signing Official once the application is successfully submitted, and the application will now appear in the ‘Submitted’ tab of the ‘Applications and Awards’ table. The applicant, Signing Official and Financial Officer will receive an email from [email protected] when the application is signed and submitted. Please note that you will not be able to submit an application if the deadline has passed.

Once your application has been submitted, the Simons Foundation staff will be in touch if we require any additional information or revisions to your application.