SA-Flanders (FWO) Collaborative Research Projects

SA-Flanders (FWO) Collaborative Research Projects

Funds South African and Flemish university teams to run multi-year fundamental research in any domain through shared governance.

Eligibility · South Africa, Belgium

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The SA-Flanders (FWO) Collaborative Research Projects call is a biennial bilateral funding programme jointly administered by South Africa's National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). It finances three-year fundamental research projects conducted by paired teams — one principal investigator based at a South African institution and one at a Flemish institution — across any scientific domain. The 2027–2029 cycle opened on 3 March 2026 and accepted submissions until 26 May 2026 (17:00 SAST/CEST); a maximum of six projects are funded per call.

The NRF contributes up to R1,500,000 ZAR per project over three years, structured as R1,070,000 for research activities, SA-team mobility, mini-sabbaticals for doctoral students, and science engagement, plus R430,000 covering one postdoctoral position at R215,000 per annum for two years. FWO contributes up to €85,000 per year on the Flemish side, with a minimum of €45,000 per year for staff and consumables at the main Flemish host institution. Per-project Flemish equipment may reach €150,000 as matching funding. South African applicants must hold a PhD, and PIs at historically advantaged institutions must partner with a historically disadvantaged institution from DHET's December 2021 list of eight HDIs. Private higher education institutions on the South African side are ineligible.

Review follows a two-stage process: remote international peer review at each agency independently, then a joint FWO/NRF selection panel that scores proposals on researchers (25%), project (50%), collaboration (25%), and diversity as a tiebreaker. Results are communicated by end of December 2026, with selected projects starting January 2027. Both sides must submit simultaneously via NRF Connect and the FWO portal — single-side submissions are rejected outright.