Centers of Excellence in Ukraine Grant

Simons Foundation
Since its founding in 1994 by Jim and Marilyn Simons, the foundation has been a champion of basic science through grant funding, support for research and public engagement.
Our Work
The Simons Foundation makes grants in four areas: Mathematics & Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Autism & Neuroscience, and Science, Society & Culture.
Objective
The Simons Foundation (SF) and Simons Foundation International (SFI) intend to continue supporting basic science and mathematics in Ukraine, with the goal of fostering research excellence and international collaboration.
Toward this goal, SF and SFI plan to initiate a new program to fund eight to 10 Centers of Excellence through a competitive open call to the research community in Ukraine.
Each Center of Excellence (CoE) is envisaged to be an academic unit with ambitious research and training programs in cutting-edge computational, data-driven and theoretical basic science as well as programs in mathematics. Proposals with experimental or observational science projects supplementing the primary computational, data-driven and theoretical programs will be considered for funding in exceptional cases.
Research output of CoEs is expected to be of the highest quality, impacting the development of each respective field, with well-defined scholarly deliverables disseminated via open access repositories and internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals.
Center of Excellence Composition Example
An example of the composition of a CoE is given below. Reasonable variations on the structure presented below will be permitted.
Each CoE may be led by five or six Principal Investigators (PIs) who will set the scientific agenda and be responsible for its fulfillment. The 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-active U.S. universities. Interdisciplinary groups of PIs are welcome. Up to two PIs with joint appointments in internationally recognized leading institutions outside Ukraine will be acceptable.
One of the PIs will serve as Director of a CoE, and be the person of contact with SF. The Director will be responsible for the academic administrative matters, including the budgetary oversight of a CoE.
The PIs in each CoE will collectively hire five to 10 Research Scientists (RS), who should all hold Ph.D.s. RSs will engage in research agenda defined by the PIs, and will also be afforded freedom to pursue research projects of their own relevant to CoE.
The PIs and RSs in each CoE will be expected to recruit 10–15 students from nearby universities, and to engage them with the scientific agenda of the CoE.
Each CoE will have an Administrator, who will report to the respective Director and who will work on logistics and budgetary matters of CoE.

Eligibility

Each CoE should have a verifiable nonprofit status in Ukraine, or be part of a larger entity that has this status — a nonprofit university or academic institute — where the CoE would have 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.
Each CoE is expected to benefit nearby institutions by welcoming other scientists to participate in scholarly activities, and by stimulating the work of younger researchers from those institutions. Each proposal should clearly outline concrete plans to become a hub of excellence for nearby institutions.
CoEs should seek scientific exchanges with those leading research institutions outside Ukraine that prioritize basic science and mathematics. Plans of partnership with institutions outside Ukraine with concretely identified resources supporting such partnerships would be an important consideration.

Ineligibility

Simons Foundation employees who receive a W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) from the Simons Foundation, including employees of the Flatiron Institute, may not apply as a Principal Investigator (PI) to any Simons Foundation or Simons Foundation International Requests for Applications (RFAs) released by the Simons Foundation. PIs and any project personnel listed on the application who will receive funding for salary, travel, support for students, postdocs or research staff, lab equipment, computing time or other individual expenses may not be employees of the Simons Foundation, which includes the Flatiron Institute.