NRF Sejong Science Fellowship

NRF Sejong Science Fellowship is the postdoctoral fellowship track under the National Research Foundation of Korea's Young Scientist Grants umbrella, administered by MSIT and NRF for Korean basic research. It covers domestic training, overseas training, and return or recruitment paths for outstanding young Korean researchers, and the FY2026 first tranche was posted on 2025-11-13 with guidelines released on 2025-11-20. The program sits inside NRF's basic science and engineering portfolio rather than the university center tracks, so the unit of support is the individual fellow and the training plan around that person. Awards run from 100 million to 250 million KRW a year for up to 5 years, with the exact amount varying by track. The application route is Korean-only through NTIS, and the structured eligibility flags point to individuals as required, universities and research organizations as eligible hosts, and for-profit or nonprofit entities as ineligible. That makes the fellowship a fit for postdoctoral researchers who can anchor a project in Korea and present a clear development plan, whether the move is a domestic appointment, overseas training, or a return-and-recruitment path. The strongest applications should read like a career-stage research plan rather than a generic grant pitch. Reviewers will expect a coherent scientific direction, a host environment that can support the fellow's work, and a track choice that matches the applicant's actual stage and mobility plan. Because the call is published in Korean and the attachments carry the detailed deadlines and forms, applicants need to treat the language and document package as part of the fit, not a side issue.

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