NRF Bilateral Exchange Program

NRF Bilateral Exchange Program is the Korean Research Foundation's joint-research route for Korean researchers working with partner-country counterparts. It sits under the International Affairs directorate and is built around country-specific partner calls rather than a single global open pool. The current budget is 8.58 billion KRW, and the program's focus is research exchange between Korean teams and external partners through structured bilateral agreements. The standard project duration is 3 years, and the call structure is annual. The structured eligibility profile shows universities as required, research organizations as allowed, individuals as required, and for-profit or nonprofit entities as disallowed, with Korean and English documentation both appearing in the program record. Active FY2026 partner tracks span Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, Thailand, Türkiye, Vietnam, Germany through DAAD, France through ANR, Finland, Sweden, Austria through FWF, China, Spain, and Korea-EU arrangements. The best fit is a researcher who already has a named international counterpart and a specific collaboration plan that can be carried cleanly across the Korean and partner-country sides. Strong proposals will show a disciplined division of work, a clear reason for the bilateral structure, and a partner call that matches the scientific scope. Because the program is assembled from country tracks, applicants need to read the partner-specific rules closely instead of treating it as a generic mobility grant.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.