The CNRS-University of Chicago International Research Center for Fundamental Scientific Discovery (IRC Discovery) supports all areas of collaboration between UChicago and CNRS collaborators, from individual mobility and early-stage network-building to organizing events, implementing research, setting up laboratories, and disseminating findings. We work closely with UChicago Global and many other units across campus to ensure that scholars have the resources they need to build impactful partnerships with French partners.

The University of Chicago

UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Programme

This joint call for proposals between CNRS and UChicago supports three-year collaborative research programs for up to 10 new PhD students per year, including students from UChicago and from French universities that host a CNRS research unit, under the supervision of two primary investigators, one from UChicago and one from CNRS.

France-Chicago Center Humanities and Social Sciences Funding

The France Chicago Center invites IRC-Discovery-affiliated research teams in the Humanities and/or Social Sciences to apply for funding (up to $7,500) to help seed promising collaborative research initiatives in their early stages. These grants are best suited for funding activities taking place mostly on the Chicago campus.

International Institute for Research in Paris Faculty Grants

This program from the new International Institute for Research in Paris aims to activate and amplify networks and collaborations among members of the University research community and members of creative, scholarly and research communities in institutions across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

France and Chicago Collaborating in the Sciences (FACCTS)

France and Chicago Collaborating in the Sciences (FACCTS) is designed to enhance science at the University of Chicago by encouraging closer relations between UChicago scientists and high-level research teams and institutions of higher education in France by providing seed funding for new and potentially fruitful project-based collaborations. Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab are also eligible for FACCTS support

CNRS Opportunities

International Research Networks

The purpose of an International Research Network is to structure an international scientific community around a common theme or research infrastructure. It promotes the organisation of international workshops and seminars, as well as thematic schools organised by the network partners in France and abroad. It brings together, for a duration of five years, researchers from one or more French laboratories, including at least one from the CNRS, as well as from several international partner laboratories.

International Research Projects

International Research Projects are collaborative research schemes between one or more CNRS laboratories and one or two laboratories from foreign countries. They strengthen previously-established collaboration through short- and medium-term scientific exchange. They are aimed at organising working meetings or seminars, developing joint research activity including field research, and supervising students. The French and foreign teams concerned must have already shown their capacity to collaborate (for example through one or more joint publications). These programmes have a duration of five years.

International Emerging Actions

International Emerging Actions are PI-to-PI projects whose purpose is to explore new fields of research and international partnerships through: short-term mobility of scientists, the organisation of working meetings, and the initiation of early-stage joint research works for shared scientific projects. These actions have a duration of two years.

Embassy of France Opportunities

Chateaubriand Fellowship Program

The Chateaubriand Fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States. It supports outstanding PhD students from U.S. institutions who wish to conduct part of their doctoral research in France for a period ranging from 4 to 8/9 months. Chateaubriand fellows are selected through a merit-based competition, with expert evaluation in France and in the United States.

Transatlantic Research Partnership

The Transatlantic Research Partnership is a flagship program bringing together talented young researchers in France and in the United States designed to foster forward-looking collaborative research that addresses pressing global challenges. The program supports two-year collaborative projects related to one or more United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

European Commission Opportunities

Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding program for research and innovation, which facilitates collaboration and strengthens impact in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges. The Horizon Europe program covers a broad range of efforts including increasing scientific excellence, addressing global challenges and European industrial competitiveness, and building Europe’s innovation ecosystem.

European Research Council

The European Research Council, set up by the EU in 2007, is the premiere European funding organization for frontier research. It provides attractive and flexible funding to enable talented and creative individual researchers, with an emphasis on early stage researchers, and their teams to pursue the most promising avenues at the frontier of science, on the basis of EU-wide competition based solely on the criterion of excellence.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are the EU flagship programme for doctoral and postdoctoral training, equipping researchers with new knowledge and skills through mobility across borders and exposure to different sectors and disciplines.

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