Air Force Office of Scientific Research · United States

Air Force Fiscal Year 2027 Young Investigator Program (YIP)

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Air Force Office of Scientific Research expects to make 50 awards of $150,000 – $450,000 each, from a total budget of $4.5 million. Applications close on 11 Dec 2026. Eligible applicant types include nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, for profit organizations other than small businesses, private institutions of higher education and 2 more.

Deadline: 11 Dec 2026 (in 26 days)
Grant amount: $150,000 – $450,000 per project
Total budget: $4.5 million
Funding rate: No mandatory cost sharing stated; funding percentage not stated
Total budget: $4.5 million
Expected awards: 50
Cost sharing: Not required
Likely applicant types: Non-profits, Universities & research, SMEs / start-ups, Companies From source categories or programme rules; the call decides.
Funder: Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Reference: FA955026S0003
Assistance listing: 12.800 Air Force Defense Research Sciences Program
Last checked: 13 Nov 2026

Open the official call ↗ Add deadline to calendar

About this call

This is a special Notice of Funding Opportunity Announcement (NOFO) sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), which will hereafter generally be referred to as “we”, “us”, “our”, or “AFOSR.” The Fiscal Year 2027 Air Force Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) intends to support individual early career scientists and engineers who have received their Ph.D. or equivalent degrees by 01 April 2019 or later showing exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. The program objective is to foster creative basic research in science and engineering; enhance early career development of outstanding young investigators; and increase opportunities for the young investigators to recognize the Air Force and Space Force mission and related challenges in science and engineering.

Individual awards are made to U.S. institutions of higher education, industrial laboratories, for- profit, or non-profit research organizations where the principal investigator (PI) is employed on a full-time basis and holds a regular, non-contractor position. A YIP PI must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. Researchers working at a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), or a Department of War (DoW) Laboratory are not eligible for this competition.

Read the full text

YIP awards are funded up to $150,000 per year for three years, for a total of $450,000. No single year may exceed $150,000. Please review the remainder of this announcement for additional information.

Under this competition, an anticipated thirty-seven (37) traditionally funded YIPs and three (3) YIPs funded in partnership with the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (LPS) in the Quantum Information Sciences research discipline may be awarded. There may be potential for an additional 37 YIPs funded from other AFOSR research funding. All actions are based on the availability of funds.

Proposers are encouraged to confer with the designated AFOSR Program Officer(s) prior to submitting a full proposal. We will evaluate proposals using an internal review panel. AFOSR reserves the right to select and fund all, some, or none of the proposals from any of the topics below. AFOSR provides no funding for direct reimbursement of proposal development costs. Technical and budget proposals (or any other material) submitted in response to this NOFO will not be returned. It is the policy of AFOSR to treat all white papers and proposals submitted under this NOFO as sensitive competitive information and to disclose their contents only for the purposes of evaluation.

White papers briefly summarizing the proposed institution’s ideas are required . Submit white papers to our whitepaper portal, which is linked below. The topic points of contact (POCs) will coordinate to provide feedback on the white papers.

The proposals will need to include a data management plan, outlining how samples and data collected in the program will be stored and managed. This includes but is not restricted to issues such as standards for data and metadata collection, content and format, data archiving, database management, and data sharing within, outside the awardee and beyond the lifetime of the grant. This precondition is modeled on the National Science Foundation Data Management Plan requirement (e.g., https://www.nsf.gov/eng/data-management-plans).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants should be alert for any amendments that may modify the announcement. Amendments to the original Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be posted to the Grants.gov Webpage: https://www.grants.gov/.

IMPORTANT DATES: Pre-proposal inquiries and questions, regarding white papers and the submission of those white papers, must be received in writing by electronic mail to the address(es) of this NOFO not later than 17 September 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time to be considered. The Government will respond to any pre-proposal inquiries or questions via public posting, or individual responses, no later than COB on 24 September…

Who can apply

Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
For profit organizations other than small businesses
Private institutions of higher education
Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education

Applicant categories are a starting point. The official call decides eligibility.

Topics

Science and Technology and other Research and Development

How to apply

Read the full notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) linked from the official page: eligibility, cost sharing and evaluation criteria.
Make sure your organisation has an active SAM.gov registration and Unique Entity ID (UEI); registration can take several weeks.
Register with Grants.gov and set up a Workspace for this opportunity, with the right roles for your organisation.
Prepare the required forms, narrative, budget and attachments exactly as the NOFO specifies.
Submit before the deadline and keep the tracking number. Check for amendments before you submit.

From the call text

Who can apply: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
Company stage: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
Single applicant or consortium: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
Where applicants must be based: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page
Where to apply: Not stated in the call text we hold — check the official page

Contact

Laura Plati · afosryip@us.af.mil · 703-696-9517

Where these facts come from

Fact	Value	How we know	Taken from the source
Deadline	11 December 2026	official data field	15 Nov 2026
Amount per applicant	$150,000 – $450,000	official data field	15 Nov 2026
Total budget	$4.5 million	official data field	15 Nov 2026
Funding rate	No mandatory cost sharing stated; funding percentage not stated	read from the official text	15 Nov 2026
Who can apply	Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education; For profit organizations other than small businesses; Private institutions of higher education; Public and State…	official data field	15 Nov 2026
Where to apply	Unknown — not stated in the source we hold	unknown	—

Official sources

Official call page

Facts on this page come from the funder’s official data, taken on 13 Nov 2026. The funder's own documents, including later amendments, always take precedence.