NRF Competitive Research Programme (CRP) - Frontier CRP Grant Call

​

Objective

The National Research Foundation (NRF) Competitive Research Programme (CRP) Funding Scheme seeks to foster the formation of multi-disciplinary teams in Singapore to conduct cutting-edge research of relevance to Singapore. This allows a coordinated, integrated and sustained way of bringing together complementary research groups in Singapore to conduct high-impact research. 

Frontier CRP (F-CRP) is a sub-category of the CRP that supports smaller-scale programmes to pursue innovative use-inspired¹ research, that can potentially enable paradigm shifts and/or breakthroughs in scientific knowledge. Proposals within this category will be assessed based on their conceptual novelty, originality and creativity of ideas, and feasibility of scientific hypotheses, which need not be backed by preliminary data at the point of application.

¹‘Use-inspired’ is defined as research that is (i) inspired principally by the quest to advance fundamental scientific knowledge and understanding; and (ii) motivated by an unmet need or the desire to address a practical problem, gap in capability or application. The research need not necessarily lead to immediate translation or commercialisation within the duration of the requested funding.

Funding Details

The F-CRP scheme offers funding support for projects of up to a limit of S$2M per proposal (including indirect costs), between a period of 3 to 5 years. 

• A stage-gated review will be implemented for awarded F-CRP projects at the 2-year mark, to evaluate their fulfilment of deliverables and progress towards validating their scientific hypotheses.
• Projects that pass the Stage-gated Review with satisfactory outcomes will proceed to completion, while projects that that do not will be given reasonable time to wrap up. 

Eligbility Criteria

Lead PI and Team PI(s) must fulfil the following requirements at the point of application and throughout the project duration:

1. Hold a primary and/or joint appointment(s) at eligible institution(s)/organisations(s)*, with a minimum time commitment of 9 months (per calendar year) in Singapore;
2. Be an accomplished PI with a track record of leadership ability in coordinating research programme(s) and providing mentorship to research team(s), as well as having productive research outcomes;
3. Be salaried by their affiliated institution(s). 

*Eligible institutions/organisations include public Institute of Higher Learning (IHL), public healthcare institutions, A*STAR Research Institute, CREATE research entities, or research institutes affiliated with the Autonomous Universities (AUs)/A*STAR. 

To note:

• Resubmission is allowed only once, except if the applicants are invited to resubmit by the F-CRP Evaluation Panel. Resubmissions with minimal or no revisions will be rejected without review.
• Private sector and other entities can participate as collaborators.

Submission

Please note that there is a limit to the number of submissions by NRF. All applicants must first submit their preliminary application (title, abstract and 1 page writeup) through their Host institution’s Research Offices to SingHealth Office of Research (OOR), attention to Khairunisa Binte Khaider at khairunisa.khaider@singhealth.com.sg by 13 April 2026 (Monday), 12pm for initial review and shortlisting of all the applications.

• NRF is inviting the submission of up to 1 nomination from the SingHealth cluster.
• Each SingHealth institution is limited to 1 submission to OOR.
• An internal shortlisting will be performed by SingHealth Research Domain’s Senior Leadership to nominate one submission for onward submission to NRF. The nominated applicant will be informed to submit their application online to F-CRP by 20 April 2026 (Monday), 12pm.
• SingHealth PIs are to please refer to your respective Institutional Research Administrators for guidance on internal deadlines and submission procedures set by your institution.

Submission for nominated applicant by SingHealth:

1. Nominated applicant by OOR must apply via the Research Grants Portal (RGP). Applicant must complete the online RGP application form and submit both the Video + Slides and Full Proposal (including appendices, please use the templates in Attachments 1 and 2). For more information on the submission documents, please refer to section 5 of the attached ‘F-CRP Grant Call Information Sheet’ PDF file.
   • The Full Proposal includes:
     • a 2-year plan covering the duration of the project up to the Stage-gated Review and
     • a Forward plan for the remaining duration of the project.  
   • Shortlisted applicants from NRF will be invited for an interview with the F-CRP Evaluation Panel.
   • Application must be submitted by the Lead PI and endorsed by the Host Institution’s Director of Research (DOR) via RGP by 18 May 2026 (Monday), 4pm. 
2. Lead PIs and Team PIs must be registered RGP account holders to submit the application. An authorised ORCID ID is required for the RGP User Profile Page. Please refer to attached ‘F-CRP Grant Call Information Sheet’ PDF file and/or RGP Resources for help.

Evaluation Criteria

Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Full Proposal: (i) breakthrough potential; (ii) impact; (iii) implementation; and (iv) team competency.
2. Time commitment:
   • Lead PI and Team PI(s) are expected to commit at least 20% and 10% of their total time commitment to the project, respectively. The time commitment of each team member dedicated to the project will be assessed as part of the evaluation criteria.
3. The following will be rejected without review:
   • Duplicates of proposal submitted to any other public funding agencies
   • Late submission or endorsement on RGP
   • Resubmitted Application with minimal or no revision
   • Proposal not within scope of F-CRP (Appendix D of ‘F-CRP Grant Call Information Sheet’ attached PDF file)
   • Ineligibility of Lead PI and/or Team PIs
   • Single investigator-led proposals

Contact Person on CRP

1. For enquiries on F-CRP, please contact the F-CRP secretariat at NRF_CRP@nrf.gov.sg.
2. For enquiries related to RGP, please refer to RGP Helpdesk or your Host Institution admins (institution research offices) for enquiries on registered RGP account.
3. For enquiries related to ORCID, please refer to ORCID website.

Additional Information
Please refer to the NRF's website or the or the following attachments for more information. 

1. F-CRP Grant Call Information Sheet
2. Attachment 1 - F-CRP Slides Template
3. Attachment 2 – F-CRP Full Proposal Template