Each year, the foundation administers more than thirty national and international programmes for scientists and research teams in Georgia. Grant support covers almost every stage of an academic career – from master's studies to large-scale international projects.
What is the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation?
The foundation was established in 2010 as the legal successor to the Georgian National Science Foundation (2005) and the Shota Rustaveli Georgian Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation (2007). Today it operates as a legal entity of public law under the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Georgia.
The foundation’s mission is to promote the integration of Georgian science into the international science, technology and innovation system. The number of annual calls has grown from 11 in 2011 to 24 in 2024.
Grants from the Rustaveli Foundation for fundamental and applied research
The foundation’s core activity is funding research projects across all fields of knowledge through several separate grant lines:
- grants for fundamental research
- grants for applied research
- grants for research involving Georgian scientists living abroad
- a targeted programme supporting engineering, exact and natural sciences
The foundation also separately funds research and international scientific events in Georgian studies. The terms and amount of funding are set individually for each call.
How can young scientists get a grant from the Rustaveli Foundation?
Supporting young scientists is another key area of the foundation’s work. Grants are available to master’s students, doctoral candidates and postdoctoral fellows at different stages of their academic career.
Postdoctoral fellows and doctoral candidates can apply for research grants, while master’s students have a separate grant programme for master’s-level research. There are also grants for research placements and academic mobility.
Such calls are announced regularly: in 2026, the foundation opened its latest call for grants for young scientists.
International cooperation and grants from the Rustaveli Foundation abroad
The foundation develops partnerships with foreign scientific organisations, expanding opportunities for Georgian scientists. Current areas of cooperation include:
- A joint fellowship programme with the German Academic Exchange Service.
- A joint Georgian studies research programme with the University of Oxford.
- Cooperation with the National Research Council of Italy.
- Partnership with the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.
The foundation also provides Georgian scientific organisations with access to the Elsevier and Clarivate Analytics databases, as well as to the infrastructure of the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
How to apply for a grant from the Rustaveli Foundation?
All calls are published on the foundation’s official website together with the terms, deadlines and list of requirements. Applications are submitted electronically through a unified grant management system.
Before submitting documents, it is worth reviewing the conditions of the specific call, since the amount of funding, project duration and required documents differ between programmes. Calls are announced throughout the year, so it is advisable to start preparing an application well in advance.
The Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation remains the main source of state funding for science in Georgia. A well-considered choice of programme and careful preparation of documents increase a scientist’s chances of receiving a grant and successfully carrying out a research project.
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