Funding Programmes Open to EU-Based Researchers/Institutions

Updated information (April 2012)

The Link2US project has identified eleven funding programmes within three U.S. federal government entities that are open to European Union (EU)-based researchers/institutions.  Funding programmes are characterized as “open” if any programmes or mechanisms can directly fund EU-based researchers/institutions; these programmes lie within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the National Institutes of Heath (NIH).  The below database is available to assist you in finding a relevant funding programme.  To consult the PDF of the printed catalogue, please click here.

In order to identify the U.S. funding programmes that can directly fund researchers and research organisations based in the EU, eleven U.S. federal government entities have been surveyed though web resources, in-person interviews as well as interviews via telephone and email. While the United States has more than eleven federal government funding entities that fund R&D, this number surveyed represents the largest civilian funders.  As of April 2012, those entities in bold below have current programmes open to EU-based researchers/institutions.

The entities surveyed were the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Transportation (DOT), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Important Note
In this database, “open” means that EU-based researchers and research organisations can directly receive funds from the U.S. federal agencies, after having submitted proposals and having been selected to receive an award, according to the rules of the U.S. federal entity.  This database does not explore scientific mobility (e.g., post-doctoral fellowships in the United States, lab visits and/or use of U.S. research facilities), and only lists research funding opportunities that are open to EU-based researchers and research organisations.  Moreover, whether or not a particular U.S. federal government funding entity can directly fund foreign-based researchers and research organisations, all of them recognize the importance of international collaboration and welcome cooperative projects involving U.S. and foreign researchers and research organisations.  In many of these cases, the researchers are funded by their own country’s research funding entities.

Database of U.S. Federal Entity Opportunities