Centers of Excellence in Ukraine – Request for Applications 2026: FAQs

Each Center of Excellence (CoE) should have a verifiable non-profit status in Ukraine or be part of a larger entity that has this status — a non-profit university or academic institute — where the CoE would have an independent operation and administrative structure. Each proposal should clearly delineate the envisaged status and structure of a CoE within a host institution or outside of it. CoEs may be located in any region of Ukraine in a physical space conducive to research in basic science and mathematics.

One application per CoE is meant to be submitted. Applications should be started and submitted under the applicant’s (the CoE Director’s) own account in SAM

The Director and PIs are expected to hold Ph.D.s, be excellent scientists with a strong record of internationally recognized scholarship, and be at the active stages of their respective research careers. Their scholarship should be comparable to those of assistant, associate or full professors in research at active U.S. universities. Research Scientists should all hold Ph.D.s. They will engage in research defined by the PIs and will also be afforded freedom to pursue research projects of their own relevant to the CoE.

Each CoE will be funded at up to $200,000 USD per year for three [3] years, for a total award of up to $600,000 USD, including indirect costs. Your budget should include three [3] years of funding.

Please see the RFA text for more details about the composition of a CoE. To summarize, each CoE may include:

• Five or six Principal Investigators (PIs), one of whom will serve as the Director of the CoE and the application lead. The Director will also serve as the point of contact with the foundation.
• Five to 10 Research Scientists (RS)
• 10 to 15 students from nearby universities
• One administrator

Yes. Indirect costs to the primary institution are limited to 20% of direct costs with the following exceptions: equipment, tuition and any portion of each subcontract in excess of $25,000 USD. The primary institution may take indirect costs on the first $25,000 USD modified total direct costs of each subcontract.

Yes, personnel can receive up to 20% of their base salary as fringe benefits. The exception is the Director’s stipend: fringe benefits are not allowed on this stipend. There is space to indicate fringe benefits within the personnel section of the budget.

Reasonable variations on both the structure and budget presented are permitted.

If other PIs within the CoE will be at different institutions from the CoE Director, they should be listed as subcontract personnel. Please select ‘Yes’ under ‘will there be a subcontract?’ to add the personnel. Please assign their role (e.g. Additional Principal Investigator) in the Add/Modify Project Personnel window. Once they have been added with a role, their names will be available to select in the budget drop-down.

Yes. Each subcontract institution will appear as a separate budget in the budget tab of the application. Subcontract budgets will populate into the main budget.

The page limit is 15 pages. Please use the Proposal Narrative template provided in SAM. The template asks for details on the following:

1. An abstract —a brief summary of an ambitious research and training program in cutting-edge computational, data-driven and theoretical basic science and in mathematics
2. A description of the proposed project
3. Preliminary results, when applicable
4. Project significance in a broader field
5. List of Principal Investigators
6. Timeline and milestones
7. Plans to become a hub of excellence for nearby institutions
8. Plans of partnership with institutions outside Ukraine
9. Plans for continuation of the proposed research project beyond the five-year period

July 1, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) Eastern Time, 18:00 Eastern European Summer Time. Please note that institutional sign-off is required and coordinate with your institution ahead of time.

Applicants must apply through Simons Award Manager (SAM). Informational videos on submitting applications in SAM can be found here.

Please refer to the How to Apply tab for detailed instructions about how to fill out your application in SAM.

No, proposals must be submitted online via the Simons Award Manager (SAM).

You must contact the Simons Foundation before the deadline to make changes to an application that has been submitted. Please email [email protected] if you would like to un-submit your proposal for any modifications.

Yes, adding a user to the Institution Administrative Contacts section of the application as an Institution Administrator will give them full access to edit an application and submit it for sign-off. To do so, the person who created the application would navigate to the Contacts and Personnel tab of the application. Under the Institution Administrative Contacts section, they would select the user and use the drop-down to indicate their role. If the user does not yet exist, click on the Create New Institution Official button, and add the newly created user as an Institutional Administrator.

Separately, to modify another user’s degrees and other support, the user must add them to the Profile Access tab of their profile.

Yes, a confirmation email is sent upon submission. Additionally, the proposal will be in the Submitted tab of the Applications in Progress table after submission.

The Check Application Progress button reviews your proposal for missing sections. The submission instructions list the required sections and attachments. You must complete the missing items listed in the error message. If you are still receiving error messages after completing and saving the indicated sections, please contact [email protected].

For programmatic or administrative questions, email [email protected]. For technical questions, email [email protected].